Singing in the Rane

Parametric equalization is really powerful when applied to solo voice tracks, and I usually plan on dedicating a channel of parametric (maybe two channels – you can cascade them if you need more bands) to each lead voice track, along with a compressor, during mixdown. I find there are two parts to it:

• First I try to “define” the voice quality of the singer, enhancing and balancing the “fundamental” range of the singer’s voice (that’s the range of fundamental frequencies that the singer is singing on the track – middle C is 261 Hertz, for instance, and a typical rock tenor might have a fundamental range on a specific track from 150 to 450 Hz.), and balancing (i.e. adjusting for reasonably constant quality and level) the first couple of octaves of overtones. At the same time, I also will try to improve intelligibility with a gentle low Q boost out around 3 - 4 KHz.
• Second, I try to fit the singer’s voice to the particular song being sung. This is a little harder, and it is done in conjunction with a dedicated compressor/limiter. The idea is to “tune” the resonances of the voice to the key of the song by gently boosting resonances that relate to the tonic or dominant (especially the dominant) of the song (you’ve got to be really restrained doing this – otherwise the singer will begin to “honk” on particular notes), and also enhance the singer’s “fit” to various parts of the song where he or she might be encountering troubles. Sometimes, bands of the equalizer might be switched in and out during the mix, or even varied if a changing timbre is called for.

Voice is particularly tricky because, unlike the guitar we discussed above, the formant of the voice changes over time, so the sonic situation is really pretty complex. Prepare to spend a lot of time finding the exact frequency and bandwidth you want, and a fair amount of time on the amount of boost or cut. Depending on the singer and track, I usually try to establish the fundamentals supported by the “chest resonance” of the singer, and then balance in the mouth/nose or vowel resonances. These are done with medium Q boosts and cuts between 500 and 2,000 Hertz. The goal is bring out the character of the singer’s voice, while losing any undesirable qualities or resonances. From 2,000 Hertz on up, I use the eq to bring out syllables and intelligibility, as mentioned above. Usually, I use only one band of eq for this.

As the singer sings in different parts of his or her range, the tonal quality will change. The eq should be trimmed to enhance the “good” changes and minimize the “bad” changes. The chest resonance eq may be boosted to help support and give body to strained high notes, for instance. If you get the bandwidth too wide, the voice will begin to get thick and muddy; too narrow, and it will get uneven.

As you equalize a voice track, keep in mind that context is really important. Most of your serious eq decisions should be made while the mix is playing, not when the track is being soloed. Further, I use a compressor in conjunction with this kind of extra fussy tone control, and the two processing realms end up interacting strongly in terms of the resulting impact and vocal intensity of the track. Finally, when equalizing this way, keep in mind that elements of the eq are going to need to be changed when mixing the next song. Keep very clearly in mind which elements of the eq setup that you’ve established are going to be constant from song to song, so that you can maintain continuity and not draw attention away from the singer’s performance in the final multi-song product.

Ra-da-da-da, di-di-di-di, du-du-du-du, dummm!

When working with drums, high Q becomes really useful, both to add resonances to sounds and to remove them. Often, snares will have a ring that you want to suppress. Simply set a band of eq to high resonance and boost, and sweep until you find the ring’s frequency. Then simply cut, or notch, it out. This “notching” technique can be used for all manner of offending resonances. It’s a little tougher to use when you are trying to get rid of an annoying buzz, because such a sound has many frequency components, so you are going to need a heap o’ equalizers to notch out all of the offending overtones.

On the opposite side of the coin, I’ve found that boosting key-related tones in the toms really can improve the tom sound. Sometimes, by tuning just below the resonant sound (say a quarter- to a half-step), you can help the tom to “bend” downward on the decay – the parametric-tuned frequency will now takes longer to die out than the initial frequency just above it which predominates when the tom is struck.

Devoting a parametric equalizer to the kick drum (especially along with a compressor) can yield some powerful results. Remember that the kick has musically significant energy across all ten octaves, so you can have lot of fun precisely developing the exact crack of the attack, the punch of the bottom end, whatever resonance you want, and so on. Careful work with the attack time on the compressor (set the release to fast) and the threshold, can help you define the sharp eq of the attack while maintaining a powerful, thick punch across the bottom of the spectrum during the decay of the sound, however fast it is.

I Can’t Hear The Bass Because Of All The Low Frequencies!

I’ve found that one of the most useful things you can do with electric bass is boost the harmonics ranging between about 700 and 1100 Hertz. Again, careful tuning of bandwidth to smooth the range of notes being played in the given track, combined with careful attention to how much you boost, will help you from thinning out the bass sound too much. The bottom end will still be there, but in context you will be able to hear pitch and definition of the bass that is gone otherwise. This will be particularly true for playback on bass-deficient speakers (i.e. boomboxes, bookshelf units, etc.). Careful high-frequency adjustments can help with defining string snaps and other attack noises, while you can easily define the bottom end in terms of range and thickness with some medium Q low frequency tweaking. A slow attack compressor can also really help to stabilize levels, once you have the timbre where you want it.