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I use beyerdynamics dt770 to mix.

I heard someone say that there was a problem with my EQing.

When I eq what I do is, I sweep for sounds that make the audio in question seem too resonant, like boxy then I reduce those.

I then compress and sweep for the sweet spots in the audio in question.

I pan most instruments that take up the mid range, so I don't obstruct the vocals. So if I have a piano, I will duplicate the track and pan one left and right.

Kicks and anything in the low range are centred.

My DAW is Logic Pro by the way. I use waves plugins to compress, and the Logic Pro native channel Eq to Eq.

I use he CLA2 and or the CLA76 on vocals and the CLA3A on instruments.

Thanks!

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  • A few random things, I don't know how helpful they will or won't be. Bring the instruments forward -- you only have two of them after all. The drums could afford to punch a little more, and so could the chords. It might also not hurt to have a pad playing chord roots softly in the background to fill things out a little more. Finally, it seems to me that the vocal needs some reverb or delay. There are all sorts of arrangement tricks you can use to make things more interesting. Maybe mult some key vocal lyrics to a separate track with some overdrive, for example.
    – Linuxios
    Apr 6, 2016 at 4:24
  • @Linuxios hey, thanks for the response. So there is nothing notably wrong with my eqing?
    – user17962
    Apr 6, 2016 at 8:00
  • sounds like there is room reflections stealing presence from the vocals. maybe try getting closer and/or switching it out for another one.
    – Scott Russell
    Apr 6, 2016 at 14:20
  • @ScottRussell what about the instrumental itself? Minus the vocals. In your opinion is it EQd and compressed correctly?
    – user17962
    Apr 6, 2016 at 14:27
  • @WeCanBeFriends: Nothing that I immediately hear. In general though, if you're making any big cuts or boosts without a specific reason to do so, it's probably doing your mix no favors. You also don't necessarily need to compress synth instruments -- most of the time their levels are so consistent that you don't need it for dynamic control.
    – Linuxios
    Apr 6, 2016 at 15:56

2 Answers 2

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I wouldn't say you have problems with EQing here necessarily.

A couple things I hear:

1) The vocals sound very much like you recorded them in a room and not in a studio environment. Try hanging some heavy blankets and try to create an environment where you won't have as many reflections. 8. Minimise the room's influence on your sound. The mic picks up both direct sound from the singer and reflected sound from the room. Reduce the room's contribution by keeping away from the walls and by improvising screens using sleeping bags or duvets behind and to the sides of the singer. (from a Sound On Sound article: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct98/articles/20tips.html)

2) There's some mysterious background noise around ~1:04 that sounds like the wrong chords being played by something quietly? Do you hear that?

3) The main keyboard sound is a bit thin in general, and not too interesting. For example: try mangling the sound a little bit -- make an Aux send and put some distortions, maybe the amp simulator on the Bus and then through a reverb or delay (wet turned to 100%) and maybe a tremolo or something, then sidechain (

) that to the original chord sound.

Hope it helps!

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  • Hey, thank you for replying! I hear the wrong chords, I hear the wrong chords! I downloaded the sampled keyboard. I should have processed it a bit. Or maybe it was because I planned it left and right. Thank you for all the advice! I will definitely record in a closet or try to dampen the surrounding sound! Thank you!
    – user17962
    Apr 7, 2016 at 20:25
  • For sure ^__^ feel free to mark my answer as the correct answer to your question, I'm trying to get some rep in the stackexchange world
    – trevor
    Apr 8, 2016 at 17:31
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Vocals sound a little dry to me, maybe add some subtle reverb or delay. The method of EQing you're doing sounds right. Dullness usually comes from a lack of top end, maybe add a couple of DBs of top end to the vocals to bring them out a touch.

You could also bring the instruments forwards in the mix, and arrangement wise maybe add a bass instrument of some kid to fill out the bottom end.

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  • Haha I did take out some of the top end, instead of using a de-esser for the s's and f's.. Could it also be the singer's articulation and the way he is talking/singing/rapping? Thanks for the insightful answer!
    – user17962
    Apr 8, 2016 at 16:00
  • when you say bring the instruments forward what do you mean, louder or some eq changes?
    – Gurnard
    Dec 4, 2019 at 10:04

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