How do you set yours?
Hey guys just want to know… when you mix your songs do you set your master EQ flat or in V form? I’m talking about the EQ setting for the monitor spkrs.
Flat. That said you must be use to what you monitor on. If you listened for years to a set of speakers with the loudness button pushed in, to just pop it out now because it’s flatter with it out would probably cause problems at mixdown time. That said, it really depends on the speakers, and the room to a lesser degree. Sometimes EQ is needed to compensate for less than perfect frequency response – no speakers are perfect, but some are a LOT worse than others. Home speakers are not made to be flat (they are made to sound impressive, with boosted lows and highs most of the time), while studio monitors make an attempt at being flatter. If you need the EQ to make regular CDs sound the way you think they should sound then you should leave it on when mixing. Sometimes to know what tyou need to do all you need to do is compare you mixes to CDs on other systems. If your mixes consistantly have less lows than CDs then you probaly have you monitors lows boosted to much, or you are loosing your point of reference while mixing. That’s REALLY easy for that problem to creep in. That one bites me all the time.
just wondering cause when i listen to my radio system i set my eq on V form (not always but it’s setting # 1). now on N when i mixdown the freqncy is flat, so when i pop the cd in the system (using Setting # 1) the bass & trble responce ofcourse is high though i can adjust them i want to leave the V setting for its the common seting. (at least here in our place) and rock music just sound great on that setting. so do you take this concern regarding eq when doing mixdown? hope this make sense, its hard for me to explain it in words. by the way phoo, thanks for your response i’ve been waiting for answers for hours & you came! Thanks Man…
peace…
Yes, that’s a big concern during mixdown, but it’s also a big part of mastering. Overall EQ added to a mix, not EQ to the monitor but EQ added to the mixed wave, is something better left to mastering usually. But, if it’s a dull mix overall it’s better to add highs to just the tracks that need it instead of doing it to the overall mix. Is that what you’re asking?
And, yes, I’d say that if your are listening on your system with the V shaped EQ most of the time then you should leave it that way when mixing. In the long run it might be better to retrain your ears to listen with the EQ off all the time (flatter), but that is a slow process. Until your ears get use to the “new sound” everything will sound crappy and that’s not good. And, depending on your speakers and room the V shape might actually be flatter than with the EQ off.
It’s very subjective, and comparative. As long as your stuff sounds about the same as CDs of the same kind of music on the same speakers and monitor EQ setting it doesn’t matter if the EQ is on or off as long as THAT EQ is not being added to the final mix.
thanks phoo you got it!!!
peace…