Yeah, I was checking out the neural DSP email about EQ last night. It’s amazing how many guitar players don’t realize how important EQ is in band mixes, and especially with different volumes.
EQ'ing can seem really boring but the difference it can make in expressing your playing and what you are trying to convey is massive. If you EQ right you can make your guitar sound like distant and gentle almost like a layer for a genre like lofi or Jazz. Then you can go the other way to making a guitar with just a mild overdrive sound huge, in your face full of rich overtones and a presence you cant ignore.
The trouble with boosting low frequencies especially when recording you increase energy that will cause cause issues with overloading a mix even if you can't hear much. High pass filters are useful here. Also you need to pay attention to the Q. This is important when using a parametric eq. Graphic eqs are not always that useful as you don't have control of the width (Q) of the frequencies being boosted or cut. I find the most important frequencies for guitars are 600 to 800. Use parametric eqs and learn how to use the Q (Width) control. The shelving you are talking about is High Pass (low end cut off) or Low pass (High End Cut off) filters.
I suggest using a Parametric EQ rather than a graphical one. It may not be as Immediately intuitive, but they typically give more control. With a Parametric EQ, you set the centre frequency of each band. So, if you want to target 3kHz, rather than being stuck with a 2kHz and 4kHz slider, you can set the band to 3kHz (or any other frequency) exactly. With a Parametric EQ, you can also adjust the width of the band (known as "Q") which is also useful for targeting specific problem areas. The width of the bands on graphic EQs are fixed. With Parametric EQs you can do clever things like put a band in with a big boost or cut and a fairly narrow width, and then sweep the frequency around the range you are interested in to zone in on problem areas. As an example, when I have done sound for some local bands, the mixer I use has a real-time analyser and parametric EQ. I can turn up the mic gains on the vocal mics until they start to feed back, which shows up as an increasing spike on a specific frequency. I can then grab that frequency and pull it way down, with a narrow Q to eliminate the feedback without impacting the rest of the audio (this is often called "ringing out" the monitors). Similar techniques can be used for guitar to target the areas described in the Neural email. The Studio Rats have done a couple of good YT videos about using EQ, especially on the Boss Katana (which has pretty powerful EQ capability). Look for "Boss Katana TONE TRICKS - Parametric EQ"
Yeah, these general bands doesn't make much sense for guitars, do they? We need 80hz for fundamentals/ sit with the kick, 120hz to make guitars sit with the bass, 350hz to dip mud, 800hz again to mix with the bass, 1,5khz to mix with the bass, 2khz to dip under male vocals, and 3khz to sit with female vocals. The EQ options here can cause more problems than they solve, but fortunately we have other EQs in a DAW.
Thank you John. I've never used EQ before now. Your video and the Neural Email will get me going in exploring this tool. Also, just want to let you know how much I appreciate all your videos and your playing is inspirational.
EQ is indeed a powerful thing and it defines the tone of a plug-in or real amp (I mean hidden EQ stage that's not controllable). And you don't need all those plug-ins, neural models and so on as the REAPER has its own EQ (ReaEQ). Just an EQ before and after the hard clipper and that's how you could get your "amp" emulation (+IR of course if you're listening through monitors/headphones not through a guitar speaker). That hard clipper is the only "plugin" you'll need, I'm putting it into quotes because it is achievable with some really-really simple math, literally a single line in REAPER JSFX and that line would even include odd/even harmonics proportion you would get in a typical tube amp. So, ReaEQ > JS plugin with one-line calculation > another ReaEQ and you won't distinguish the result from, say, Marshall JCM800. REAPER has the delay, REAPER has gate, REAPER has a built-in IR loader and many other stuff. Plug-ins are convenient but not necessary at all, not many people realize this, they think emulating amp sound especially tube amp sound is some rocket science.
And its all subjective, until its in a mix, and its still subjective. I play in a three guitar group, people have always given me compliments on how my guitar sounds, I attribute that to having a parametric eq and having a bit more mid clarity and top end "bite" as I call it. That tone you have dialed in is stellar!
Now we need a video like this for compression :) Not that I don't have a decent understanding of it, I just feel like it's another one of those topics that mystify a lot of guitarists, esp. when they're in the early days of their journey, and that a lot of your subs could benefit from hearing your takes on that topic. Including me of course.
I don’t really find it boring or difficult to understand at all. For a tone fanatic like me, it’s essential and extremely powerful. If I were starting my guitar journey again for the first time, the very first effects I would buy would be a good multi-band parametric EQ (with Q controls) and a fully featured compressor.
@@jakollee They mathematically double each octave you go up. So, A 110 becomes A 220, then A 440, then A 880, etc. The other interesting thing is that each note on a guitar string is actually made up of many simultaneous pitches. These are usually called Harmonics, and are quieter than the main "Fundamental" note, but are also affected by EQing.
Good one! I picked up a GFI System ENIEQMA equalizer pedal and it's pretty amazing. I like having the EQ control on the pedal board and also using plugins to continue tone shaping as things pass down the chain.
All people talk above "digital fizz" - but fizz has always been there! I can't find it now but there was a great video with isolated guitar tracks from 70s, 80s, 90s to demonstrate fizz was there. One of the prime examples was For The Love of God (S. Vai). The thing is in the mix it was not felt as "bad", on the contrary! It helped to sit in the mix better
Hey John! Excellent demonstration. This is a more "Adult" topic. I liked to use an MXR 10 band EQ with my Bassman to tune the room or to adjust my Dirt sounds.. Thanks!
I never really paid much attention to (or understood) EQ until I started using a Helix. Playing around with the Helix has allowed me to mess around with EQ and find out what different frequencies do. One piece of advice I read, about sculpting a tone - if you are using something like a 10 band EQ and you are not sure what each value will do to the sound, turn each frequency up all the way, one at a time. Do you like that sound or is it bad to your ears? One trick I use all the time on the Helix is to use the bass and treble cutoff frequencies on the speaker cabs. Can make a huge difference.
You have no idea how much I needed this video 😂 trying to get really good tones out of logic and I understand pretty basic EQ, but it always just sounds flat to me
Thanks for the video. I was struggling just with that subject today. I would like to see a video from you on how to make a present on the gt1000 that has a clean platform and a high gain sound while keeping the trails to all patches. Keep up the great work!
I find 2.8k is great at pushing clarity for a gained up lead tone. Just 1-2db . I hi cut down to 6.5k (a real guitar speaker in a cabinet only outputs up to around 5k ish) and low cut up to 80hz if I’m playing in standard tuning as the lowest fundamental frequency of E is 80hz
For those mixing, don't use these freq points, nor these gain amounts or direction. The chances that these will be the right moves are low. Some of what they say is you may need to add or reduce, and that's good, but still not good enough with the frequencies they say. Maybe you can get some better but not ideal sounds if you're not a mixer and you want to show a better tone/song, but for actual mixing, you will need to know where to attack, which can be literally anywhere from sub, mid bass, upper bass, low low mid, up low mid, lower core mids, upper core mids, upper mids, low sheen, glass, air, etc., and where exactly in each region, by how much, with what Q, would dynamic eq / soothe be better, etc.
i do. ampwise its best to put every eq to 11. make shure its says „marshall“ on the amp. guitar wise a fender and a gibson seem to complement eachother in a fourpiece band. something to do with those magnetic thingies…
Interesting video - I'd like to have seen a visual representation as well. For example, when you cut all the bands except the low end (guessing 40hz ish) which you boosted, there were still higher frequencies coming through? What's going on there? Thanks - interesting stuff.
Great video, very instructive. Have you ever checked out the J Rocket Melody OD (Mark Lettieri’s signature pedal)? It has a 6-band EQ built in instead of tone knobs. I always thought it was a bit gimmicky (and never liked the look of it, because I’m shallow that way), but now I’m thinking it might be a really useful feature.
So where can i get my hands on that opening jam/track??? that was sick. First exposure to your vids i'm subbing just for that playing before i even watch the video.
Great video! Off topic but was wondering if anyone could answer this question for me. I’m new into the electric guitar world after playing acoustic for many years. I have my electric guitar, pod go, and a cheap beginner amp, whenever I plug my pod go into that cheap amp it doesn’t sound all that good when there is any drive whatsoever. What should I look at getting to plug my pod go into? What does John Cordy plug his into when he records his playing at the beginning of his videos?
I’m not really qualified to answer this, but seems to me that by plugging your Pod Go into the cheap amp, the amp’s pre-amp section is dominating the sound, over-ruling the Pod Go. If you can find an inexpensive amp with an effects loop, I think you could plug the Pod Go into the effects return and then you’d only be using the power section of the amp to power the Pod Go, so you would hear the sounds you’ve set up with the Pod Go. Or use the “4 cable method”? Someone please correct me here!
It's funny how dsp tells us what to cut or boost, but the values aren't available in their plugins... 80, 150, 300, 800, 3k etc. If those frequencies work best for guitars, why didn't they implement them in the plugin EQ? If not, why not tell us what we CAN do in the plugin?
I feel like at least some guitarists should know how to talk to a woman, such as Emily and Theresa from Warpaint, or Gina Gleason, or Liz Buckingham - might be better to make jokes that don't enforce the stereotype that guitarists are by definition men, even if it's funny to imagine them as hopeless shut-ins
Yeah, I was checking out the neural DSP email about EQ last night. It’s amazing how many guitar players don’t realize how important EQ is in band mixes, and especially with different volumes.
Boring subject but so important and so often overlooked. Really glad you did this. Thanks
Dialing in the Parametric eq on a modeler is FOUNDATIONAL to a great tone.
EQ'ing can seem really boring but the difference it can make in expressing your playing and what you are trying to convey is massive. If you EQ right you can make your guitar sound like distant and gentle almost like a layer for a genre like lofi or Jazz. Then you can go the other way to making a guitar with just a mild overdrive sound huge, in your face full of rich overtones and a presence you cant ignore.
They way it was explained to me when I just dismissed it as “boring” is that EQ helps your live rig sound like a produced track
The trouble with boosting low frequencies especially when recording you increase energy that will cause cause issues with overloading a mix even if you can't hear much. High pass filters are useful here. Also you need to pay attention to the Q. This is important when using a parametric eq. Graphic eqs are not always that useful as you don't have control of the width (Q) of the frequencies being boosted or cut. I find the most important frequencies for guitars are 600 to 800. Use parametric eqs and learn how to use the Q (Width) control.
The shelving you are talking about is High Pass (low end cut off) or Low pass (High End Cut off) filters.
Learning eq is critical! Eq for what volume you’re playing at as well., thanks for posting!
I suggest using a Parametric EQ rather than a graphical one. It may not be as Immediately intuitive, but they typically give more control.
With a Parametric EQ, you set the centre frequency of each band. So, if you want to target 3kHz, rather than being stuck with a 2kHz and 4kHz slider, you can set the band to 3kHz (or any other frequency) exactly.
With a Parametric EQ, you can also adjust the width of the band (known as "Q") which is also useful for targeting specific problem areas. The width of the bands on graphic EQs are fixed.
With Parametric EQs you can do clever things like put a band in with a big boost or cut and a fairly narrow width, and then sweep the frequency around the range you are interested in to zone in on problem areas.
As an example, when I have done sound for some local bands, the mixer I use has a real-time analyser and parametric EQ. I can turn up the mic gains on the vocal mics until they start to feed back, which shows up as an increasing spike on a specific frequency. I can then grab that frequency and pull it way down, with a narrow Q to eliminate the feedback without impacting the rest of the audio (this is often called "ringing out" the monitors).
Similar techniques can be used for guitar to target the areas described in the Neural email.
The Studio Rats have done a couple of good YT videos about using EQ, especially on the Boss Katana (which has pretty powerful EQ capability). Look for "Boss Katana TONE TRICKS - Parametric EQ"
100%. I have one preset on my MS70 where I just chained four two-band parametric EQ models to make one massively powerful 8 band parametric EQ.
Yeah, these general bands doesn't make much sense for guitars, do they? We need 80hz for fundamentals/ sit with the kick, 120hz to make guitars sit with the bass, 350hz to dip mud, 800hz again to mix with the bass, 1,5khz to mix with the bass, 2khz to dip under male vocals, and 3khz to sit with female vocals. The EQ options here can cause more problems than they solve, but fortunately we have other EQs in a DAW.
Thank you John. I've never used EQ before now. Your video and the Neural Email will get me going in exploring this tool. Also, just want to let you know how much I appreciate all your videos and your playing is inspirational.
EQ is indeed a powerful thing and it defines the tone of a plug-in or real amp (I mean hidden EQ stage that's not controllable). And you don't need all those plug-ins, neural models and so on as the REAPER has its own EQ (ReaEQ). Just an EQ before and after the hard clipper and that's how you could get your "amp" emulation (+IR of course if you're listening through monitors/headphones not through a guitar speaker). That hard clipper is the only "plugin" you'll need, I'm putting it into quotes because it is achievable with some really-really simple math, literally a single line in REAPER JSFX and that line would even include odd/even harmonics proportion you would get in a typical tube amp. So, ReaEQ > JS plugin with one-line calculation > another ReaEQ and you won't distinguish the result from, say, Marshall JCM800. REAPER has the delay, REAPER has gate, REAPER has a built-in IR loader and many other stuff. Plug-ins are convenient but not necessary at all, not many people realize this, they think emulating amp sound especially tube amp sound is some rocket science.
And its all subjective, until its in a mix, and its still subjective. I play in a three guitar group, people have always given me compliments on how my guitar sounds, I attribute that to having a parametric eq and having a bit more mid clarity and top end "bite" as I call it.
That tone you have dialed in is stellar!
Now we need a video like this for compression :)
Not that I don't have a decent understanding of it, I just feel like it's another one of those topics that mystify a lot of guitarists, esp. when they're in the early days of their journey, and that a lot of your subs could benefit from hearing your takes on that topic. Including me of course.
Saw this blog from Neural and its very useful. Great video as always Jon
I don’t really find it boring or difficult to understand at all. For a tone fanatic like me, it’s essential and extremely powerful. If I were starting my guitar journey again for the first time, the very first effects I would buy would be a good multi-band parametric EQ (with Q controls) and a fully featured compressor.
Here are the frequencies of the guitar open strings from thickest to thinnest strings:
E: 82 Hz, A: 110 Hz, D: 147 Hz, G: 196 Hz, B: 247 Hz, E: 330 Hz
Interesting; any idea what they’d be at the 12th fret?
@@jakollee They mathematically double each octave you go up. So, A 110 becomes A 220, then A 440, then A 880, etc. The other interesting thing is that each note on a guitar string is actually made up of many simultaneous pitches. These are usually called Harmonics, and are quieter than the main "Fundamental" note, but are also affected by EQing.
@@picksalot1 thanks!
Good one! I picked up a GFI System ENIEQMA equalizer pedal and it's pretty amazing. I like having the EQ control on the pedal board and also using plugins to continue tone shaping as things pass down the chain.
All people talk above "digital fizz" - but fizz has always been there! I can't find it now but there was a great video with isolated guitar tracks from 70s, 80s, 90s to demonstrate fizz was there. One of the prime examples was For The Love of God (S. Vai). The thing is in the mix it was not felt as "bad", on the contrary! It helped to sit in the mix better
"Digital" and "fizz" are just derogatory buzzwords from a bygone era, most typically used by people who have never put a mic to a guitar speaker.
Exactly:)
Hey John! Excellent demonstration. This is a more "Adult" topic. I liked to use an MXR 10 band EQ with my Bassman to tune the room or to adjust my Dirt sounds.. Thanks!
I never really paid much attention to (or understood) EQ until I started using a Helix. Playing around with the Helix has allowed me to mess around with EQ and find out what different frequencies do. One piece of advice I read, about sculpting a tone - if you are using something like a 10 band EQ and you are not sure what each value will do to the sound, turn each frequency up all the way, one at a time. Do you like that sound or is it bad to your ears? One trick I use all the time on the Helix is to use the bass and treble cutoff frequencies on the speaker cabs. Can make a huge difference.
1:27 the lick
Got the email from them and immediately thought of you - thanks for the vid! Helped a ton, since I don't record much and am often overwhelmed
You have no idea how much I needed this video 😂 trying to get really good tones out of logic and I understand pretty basic EQ, but it always just sounds flat to me
Outstanding episode. Thank you for this great explanation and demo. 👍
Thanks for the video. I was struggling just with that subject today.
I would like to see a video from you on how to make a present on the gt1000 that has a clean platform and a high gain sound while keeping the trails to all patches.
Keep up the great work!
I find 2.8k is great at pushing clarity for a gained up lead tone. Just 1-2db . I hi cut down to 6.5k (a real guitar speaker in a cabinet only outputs up to around 5k ish) and low cut up to 80hz if I’m playing in standard tuning as the lowest fundamental frequency of E is 80hz
Excellent video!
want a what-to-learn roadmap to be able to play as beautifully as you do!
For those mixing, don't use these freq points, nor these gain amounts or direction. The chances that these will be the right moves are low. Some of what they say is you may need to add or reduce, and that's good, but still not good enough with the frequencies they say. Maybe you can get some better but not ideal sounds if you're not a mixer and you want to show a better tone/song, but for actual mixing, you will need to know where to attack, which can be literally anywhere from sub, mid bass, upper bass, low low mid, up low mid, lower core mids, upper core mids, upper mids, low sheen, glass, air, etc., and where exactly in each region, by how much, with what Q, would dynamic eq / soothe be better, etc.
Excellent video tutorial on EQ. very very important info
i do. ampwise its best to put every eq to 11. make shure its says „marshall“ on the amp. guitar wise a fender and a gibson seem to complement eachother in a fourpiece band. something to do with those magnetic thingies…
Very helpful…thank you.
Thank Neural DSP - a great little blog I thought!
Oh no! If you teach guitarists how to use EQ then the majority of all guitar products become irrelevant!
Very informative video👍🏿
if only there was some sort of guitar pedal where. you could adjust eq based on different bandwidths.
Thanks for the link to the Nueral article, but I can't find the Empress EQ bit you brought up. Can you point me in the right direction?
Interesting video - I'd like to have seen a visual representation as well. For example, when you cut all the bands except the low end (guessing 40hz ish) which you boosted, there were still higher frequencies coming through? What's going on there? Thanks - interesting stuff.
Great video, very instructive. Have you ever checked out the J Rocket Melody OD (Mark Lettieri’s signature pedal)? It has a 6-band EQ built in instead of tone knobs. I always thought it was a bit gimmicky (and never liked the look of it, because I’m shallow that way), but now I’m thinking it might be a really useful feature.
So where can i get my hands on that opening jam/track??? that was sick. First exposure to your vids i'm subbing just for that playing before i even watch the video.
I admit. I am eq illiterate. That’s why I play acoustics now. I can’t even set up an electric guitar amp😂.
Dose EQ Block should be at the start or the end of your chain? I never understood it were is better.
Thx for the video❤
I’m e been thinking about getting an EQ pedal to fine tune my tone. If I do that, where would I set the 3 band EQ on the amp?
How many price this guitar
Great video! Off topic but was wondering if anyone could answer this question for me. I’m new into the electric guitar world after playing acoustic for many years. I have my electric guitar, pod go, and a cheap beginner amp, whenever I plug my pod go into that cheap amp it doesn’t sound all that good when there is any drive whatsoever. What should I look at getting to plug my pod go into? What does John Cordy plug his into when he records his playing at the beginning of his videos?
I’m not really qualified to answer this, but seems to me that by plugging your Pod Go into the cheap amp, the amp’s pre-amp section is dominating the sound, over-ruling the Pod Go. If you can find an inexpensive amp with an effects loop, I think you could plug the Pod Go into the effects return and then you’d only be using the power section of the amp to power the Pod Go, so you would hear the sounds you’ve set up with the Pod Go. Or use the “4 cable method”? Someone please correct me here!
I would have stopped by just to hear the crack about how to talk to a woman 😵💫
iZotope’s Neutron
It's funny how dsp tells us what to cut or boost, but the values aren't available in their plugins... 80, 150, 300, 800, 3k etc. If those frequencies work best for guitars, why didn't they implement them in the plugin EQ? If not, why not tell us what we CAN do in the plugin?
Mastodon sludge hehe 😮
Can’t really hear it.
I feel like at least some guitarists should know how to talk to a woman, such as Emily and Theresa from Warpaint, or Gina Gleason, or Liz Buckingham - might be better to make jokes that don't enforce the stereotype that guitarists are by definition men, even if it's funny to imagine them as hopeless shut-ins
Wait, you talk to women? 😂😂😅