or Who’s job is it really?
Say you put down a comp that you feel has the stuff to
hold a listener. After that, you start EQ’ing.
But are you EQ’ing to get the right levels of each
instrument or voice? or are you sonically colorizing?
My idea of a good mix is one where all instruments
and voices can be heard individually if you let your
ears listen for that particular instrument or voice.
But to me, that’s getting the levels right.
I would offer Steve Winwood. Both on recorded media or
live, he always seems to get the levels right.
So what I’m asking here, - Do you EQ to achieve the correct
levels? or do you think it’s much more than that?
I feel that once the levels are correct, then it’s up to
the listener to post-EQ it to their taste.
Does anybody do that anymore?
Quote:
My idea of a good mix is one where all instruments
and voices can be heard individually if you let your
ears listen for that particular instrument or voice.
That's the goal IMO. I like to get the "tone" going in when I record the audio. However, you have to carve out space in the frequency mix so instruments and/or voices don't become lost. It has taken me while to learn but I have found a few CUTS instead of BOOSTS go a long way in making a particular instrument of voice more "present" in the mix without kicking the level up and making it obnoxious.
D
As an experiment, do a song and don’t use ANY EQ on any individual tracks. Use only volume level.
Get that mixed and wait a week or two. DON’T LISTEN TO THAT MIX EVEN ONCE DURING THAT TIME.
Remix it again, using EQ that seems reasonable for the performance. Yes, this includes using volume. You could avoid using volume, but it can be argued that volume is EQ that works on all frequencies equally.
Get that finished and put it on the shelf for two weeks. DON"T LISTEN TO EITHER ONE DURING THAT TIME.
Do a very quick, as in 5 seconds of each. Which one instantly grabs you as better in the quick test?
That will answer your question. 
The reason to take the time off is to totally clear your ears of prejudice. Your ears are the stupidest sense by far. It takes 30 seconds or less for them to “learn” what it right. After listening for 30 seconds of almost anything, whatever follows will be right or wrong depending on what you are after.
For example, if you listen to something that is known to have a great overall EQ response for 30 seconds, then you play the exact same things through the same speakers with JUST A LITTLE MORE bass and brightness immediately after, the second play will be more impressive and will instantly sound better. Stupid ears.
This stupid ear thing is why EQ can be such a pain, and why it’s so easy for us to mess things up by over EQing.
Both D ad phoo make great points. I rarely boost an Eq setting, mainly cut frequnecies to help the instrument sit or have it’s own signature space.
Phoo makes an excellant ear fatigue point.
Phoo, that’s an EXCELLANT experiment!
Yaz