When Should You Apply EQ

Equalization can be a great tool when engineering sound and used correctly. But it can also be a very dangerous tool and can quickly destroy a mix. It is important to know when you should use EQ and when you should not because it can save you a lot of hassle down the road.The first trick is to keep all your EQ’s in the flat position while you’re recording. You don’t want to anything to change the sound before you start a mix. This gives you the most control possible and keeps options open when mixing. There is no set way to do a mix, it is a very creative process that should be fun. If you destroyed your sound by EQing during the recording session, you might find mixing very stressful.

EQ is not a fixing tool. During a recording session you should never tell yourself that you’ll fix a problem in the mix. It is not a bandage to doctor up problems. Keep in mind that its a creative tool. If you have a problem while recording, try to fix it by repositioning the mics, overdub a track or simple rerecord the track or entire song. Sometimes there are exceptions  like there’s no time or money to redo things, or the track is amazing and must be used, the track was recorded a week ago and can’t get the musicians back to the studio.

The Idea behind EQ is to take away unwanted sounds and leave the good. It can also be used to give each instrument and voice its own frequency range.  This will can help a sound to stand out instead of getting buried by other sounds. I’ll write a whole blog in the future on how to do this.

Last thing to remember is that when you record everything flat, it can make it difficult to tell which tracks are the good takes. So it might become necessary to do a monitor mix for playback to help the artists, and yourself, decide which takes they like. This will keep your recorded tracks flat and easier to work with later.