EQ techniques

> Step by step 2. How to explore EQ techniques with DDMF IIEQ CM

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Now it’s time to get specific and look at how to use EQ in different circumstances. Our tool for this is going to be DDMF IIEQ CM, which you operate much like AF2-10 CM, and once again we’ll make use of audio from the tutorial files if you want to follow us. We will also use Scope CM from Keilwerth. 2

First we’re going to look at the sound Beats – Snare from the tutorial files. We’ve loaded up our EQ plugin followed by Scope CM, setting it to Spectrum mode. Using a spectrum analyser is a great way to learn what makes up different sounds and we absolutely recommend using one, even if only to confirm what you think. 3

Beats – Snare is an isolated snare sound which we can sculpt using EQ. It already has quite a lot of low frequencies, and if you set the Scope CM Peak Reset to minimum (Hold), you will get a static view of the frequency content. The first thing we do is use a low shelf to gently remove some of the lows. 4

Our low shelf is cutting 5.3dB at 179Hz. The sound is also a bit too harsh in the high frequencies, and we can tailor this using a broad peak shape cut at 12kHz. Our final change is to boost the knocky sound at 1kHz by 3dB. We’ve narrowed the peak (Q=3.76) to make this quite precise. 5

Now load up the Beats – Kick. The sound has quite an obvious low pitch, but we can pick out and boost the octave above that. Create a peak band and boost it by 10dB, then sweep the peak between about 100Hz and 200Hz. This exaggerated sweep has helped us find 172Hz, which we boost to taste (+8.1dB). 6

Let’s try some bass — we’ve loaded the Acoustic Bass audio. It’s not unusual for acoustic instruments to have certain notes that are more dominant. This can be down to the instrument or the recording and sometimes dynamic processing can fix it. Listening to our bass, the third note is unusually loud and annoying. 7

Scope CM shows the harmonic content of the bass very clearly. We’re ignoring the fundamental pitch, and by hovering our cursor over the display, we can see our target is around 150Hz. Now, by selecting a notch filter on the EQ and setting it around this frequency, we can reduce this annoying note. 8

Sometimes we simply want to sweeten up a sound. A good starting point is to use a low shelf and high shelf and boost them to taste to create a ‘smiley’ EQ. On our Beats – Loop demo audio, we’ve set +4.5dB at 227Hz and +2.9dB at 4.7kHz, and both have very wide Q at 0.40. 9

Finally, to get the most out of your EQ, you need to use it to both cut and boost frequencies, and often cutting undesirable frequencies is the best way to go. Here we’ve loaded the Keys Blend audio, which is quite bright and fizzy, and then gently shelved down the high frequencies -4.1dB at 5.3kHz.