The biggest game changer of a tip ive ever learned is: 1. Duplicate the bass into 2 tracks, Low and high, low pass the low at 200htz and high pass the high at 350htz. 2. Limit the low end at about - 10db with something like an L1 and set the release on the limiter really slow, but make the release meter falls in time with the song (so somewhere between 700ms-1000ms). This works on about 90% of mixes. You can process the high track however you want then (chorus, doubler, 1176 eg.). This evens out bass so nicely, espically with a subwoofer. Id be interested to hear anyones thoughts who try it!
Hi Mark, yes! I’ve been teaching how to mix Bass like this since my earliest videos! It’s wonderful to see it being adopted by so many people! Many thanks, Warren
@@Producelikeapro indeed, I suppose in rare circumstances such as a 20hz / 20khz cut, 30hz / 18khz cut, etc you can rely on just the numbers there because we know frequencies below 20hz and above 20khz cannot be heard, and are therefore unnecessary and you can't use your ears to listen in that scenario, either lol. i guess that's one case where you'd use your eyes to EQ. I've seen some people commenting that they can hear below 20hz or above 20khz and I've got my doubts about that, but who knows, they're not my ears lmao.
@@largepoodle6036 My speakers don't pick it up so definitely using my eyes to rule out those sub frequencies and the upper frequency limits. I do listen for how much further in from 20kHz I can cut but yeah that's just being pragmatic. I agree with you
You can also use sweep EQ to find good frequencies. Once found, optionally revert the boost in the first source and apply a cut at the same frequency bands in competing sources to create more room for the first source in that band.
@@steamer2k319 this is much more effective but people told "cut dont boost" too dogmatically. The prob with sweeping for these notches of resonance to cut, is high Q scanning always is AWFUL SOUNDING- you basicaly ending up notching any prominent overtone because they all suck when listening to a high Q boosted, scanning. If anything dont boost to scan, just cut to scan for a cut- then maybe once found use the boost scan to fine tune.
I generally sweep by cutting rather than boosting. I don’t generally do it, but if I can’t find a frequency without sweeping, I find it’s a lot better to turn a band down and sweep until I don’t miss what is being cut, then back off. In my experience, it will always sound like there is a hole in the frequency response until you hit the right frequency, and if you never hit that point, no cutting is really needed.
I hate videos with titles like, "You're doing this wrong!" Because they're usually just rebranded "one weird trick" type things with clickbait titles to get views. I appreciate the subtle difference in title here, "We all do this" instead of the accusatory "you're doing this wrong". Wouldn't have clicked on this if it wasn't this channel. And I'm glad I did because I learned a lot. Thanks, Warren!
A great way to avoid these kinds of mistakes (especially 1 and 2) is to always do a balance mix, using the faders and pan controls only, before you ever load a single plugin of any kind. All of these decisions need to be made in the context of the mix; the time for soloing tracks to get more surgical happens later.
I definitely sweep, but not to discover a rogue frequency, just to find one I've already identified and can physically sing. I also occasionally do some broad notching out when two instruments are arguing over an EQ space, perhaps notching out 2 dB on one whilst boosting the other by 2dB or something like that...
Slopes are EVERYTHING. Selecting the right slope filter (shape AND rate) made the biggest difference to the overall sound. This became much more apparent with large format digital consoles in the live scenario. Once my ears got dialled into exactly what you're talking about, my channel strips consisted of gain, high pass, low pass and pan. My mixes had never been better.
This is the best EQ tips I’ve seen on TH-cam. These first points are simple basic stuff but sometimes missed and affects the whole mix on a fundamental level. Basically you just made your starting point a lot worse, which you can’t really make up for despite your best efforts. Sadly I learned (and still learning) this 25 years in, and if I’m really honest, to some degree I’m still doing it. I feel this video was made just for me.
Wonderful tips, absolutely agree with the sweeping ! Was lucky to get a golden tip when I started Mixing to avoid sweeping and rather listening and guessing the frequency that I like to take out from the track: EQ off, subtract/add frequency, turn EQ on in the track - adjust - takes more time, but more time always pays out on a long run !
I think the best advice I've ever gotten is high pass filtering nearly everything but the bass and kick, to give the their own space. It's such a simple thing but it's amazing what it can do for the clarity of a mix.
in my beginning in mixing sweeping helped me to hear some frequencies better. But I'm guiltiy of equing way too much. But the sweeping trained my ears - at least I think it. Now I am trying to hear it without sweeping and without soloing the instrument. I am getting better at it, but it is still a long way. Thanks for the video, greetings from Austria
Thanks for confirming my instincts regarding eq low and hi cuts, which I've been too uncertain about to fully trust, due to not finding any real affirmations, until now. Love your videos!
WOW!! This is so useful. I've been sweeping EQ's looking for 'bad things' for 20 years! You've explained this mistake so well I now see the error of my ways. Thank you Warren.
Great stuff as usual, Warren! Top Notch! 1) Sweeping IS great for "Search & Destroy" - if you detect a problem with an unwanted pitch or resonance, before you're even thinking about EQ'ing, sweeping to find the precise frequency to scoop out is a great technique! But I agree, it should be used sparse, and not as a tool to go look for trouble! 2) The key to a clean mix is definitely in the realm of filtering - mainly high passing! Although, it is not something that partout should be added to every track IMHO! If there's no bothering low end information on the track, I wouldn't filter it! Optionally double check on an FFT. I often see people try to filter some low end information that's not even there, with steep steep 96dB filters, and it'll create horrible filter resonances and cause phase shifting like hell, which could severely harm your tracks. It might not be audible right away, but low cutting something unnecessary could make your tracks peaks significantly louder because of phase shifting, which could then distort or trigger dynamic processings in unwanted ways etc. Not many people seem to know about this - maybe a topic for a future video? Also, sometimes shelves can do wonders too! 3) Fantastic tip! Creative use of EQ, and in a small way the EQ actually be comes a part of the compositional work! Great!
I learned the sweep technique D E C A D E S ago and, ya know what? It never worked for me so I abandoned the approach. I literally thought it was me, not the approach, that wasn't working right. What a relief after years of not being able to figure out why I thought it sounded worse instead of better. I'm now to the point where my favorite EQs are the Waves API 550 EQs. Clickable settings baby, now that works just fantastic for me. I spend less time obsessing and more time making better, more efficient decisions. YMMV of course.
Great Sweep eq tips. People forget its boosting to the point everything sounds bad. Use it to ‘help’ identify a freq thats still horribly present when the eq isn’t engaged.
I swear when I first started recording at home my mixes were great even with cheap equipment. Once I started doing too much mixes got horrible. I think we forget dont get too technical and enjoy the music.
Finally someone said it!!! I've thought about this on sweeping eq notching for a while. What happens when the pitch changes on the source material? Eq needs to be dynamic
I totally get what he's saying here, and I agree with his philosophy about trusting yourself to judge the sound as a whole, but my approach to EQing often is not about getting rid of "offensive" sounds. It's about getting it to sound as close as possible to what I envisioned when I first imagined the music.
I find your vids very helpful ! At this time I'm forced to do everything with apps in my android phone. It's hard, lost all my equipment in a fire, miss my dog; but trying to stay creative. Thanks
Your Vlogs are amazing tutorials Ive paid a truck load to learn a tenth of what I've learned watching these Videos Waren. Much appreciated. Sending these to my son who lives in the Studio and is starting out. Going to sign up for your course also. The sound on the vlog is perfect accept it drops slightly on the music inserts. . Having said that it could be this shit box of a tv I'm watching on. Have an incredible day Warren.👍
Its helpful to look at the frequency spectrum and you can pretty easily see the really loud areas. That doesn't mean that you want everything to have a flat spectrum but it's just another piece of information when tweaking.
oh god.. thank you. So many tutorials from people that are just searching for ugly frequencies and I tried it myself - ending up being super confused. It's not a fun thing to do and it takes away the character of a sound. Thank you, this was refreshing. And btw: I love how worn your headphones look like and the whole ambience of your studio. Rly sympathetic :) stay healthy!
My own EQ lessons I’ve learnt (and always apply) are; 1. proper use of High Pass Filtering, and EQ’ing “within a mix” and not in solo. 2. Offensive frequencies on their own might not actually sound offensive within the mix 3. Matching Gain 😎👍👍🎤🎤
I just had a teaching a couple of weeks ago, a friend contacted me and my producer collegue. He wanted to know how we made our mix´s because he couldnt get it to shine properly. So we went to hes place and took 2,5 hours of showing him just 1 trick. Why, how, and where. LPF and HPF !!! It was like an whole world was opening up, right before his eyes and mindset of mixing. It was a beautiful and powerfull EUREKA moment for him. Keep up the AWESOME job you are doing. Your tips are MARVELOUS!
This was immensely freeing and reassuring to watch 😄 all that sweeping just to find dirt when u can’t even hear it in the first place lol.. thanks Warren!
I also discovered this whole sweeping myth because I've seen this technique been taught on youtube videos, however it seemed abit off to me. Every frequency has a purpose. These days I'm only thinking about it in the sense of brightness and darkness, I'm not scooping everything like back in the day.
you sweep for ringing-frequencies that would pinch your ears with the contamporary listening devices. but you need to know what they really are. some come from cheap mics, some come from poorly prepared recording rooms, some are perhaps a trait from the vocalist. do resonances support the music in this instrument or vocal, or do they distract? the auto-de-ring algorithm (Nectar; TDR Nova GE..) probably does not know this well enough.
Breeeeeliant advice. Even better hands-on showing us how you do some of it ....low and high passing...invaluable! Shaping low end like a sculptor digs into clay. Thank you!!
The video we didn't know we all needed. I often find myself doing EQ sweeps before I even really hear anything particularly wrong, so this was a wakeup call!
when I realized years ago that it didn't help, in fact it muffed the mix, I stopped doing it myself. Of course back then I was compressing hi-hats - laughs
I think you've hit the nail on the head, for me at least, alot of things I've recorded I've either over listened to or have tried to "perfect" by going by guidelines and not my own ears
These are 100% spot on. I've fallen victim to the "overly sweeping for offensive freqs" far too many times instead of letting the mix tell me what's offensive. Great video, as always. -dustin phillips
Ear training doesn't just apply to music theory. I can (finally!) hear a sound and think "something sounds weird around 400-ish", and it'll be pretty close, no need for endless sweeping that will confuse you and bring out any harmonic you touch. EQ needs practice. I think the key is to be quick about it. You don't wanna listen to the same stuff in detail too much, it leads to instant blindness. Quick and rough EQ moves, keeping in mind the simple concepts of darker, brighter, less mud, things like that. It's 90% of the EQ work for me, and it's done during the first 10 minutes. Details come later, if it's even needed. And for god's sake, use the shelf more. High pass out the useless junk, but use the shelf to control the level of the fundamental notes instead of getting rid of them completely.
Simple yet brilliant & something I feel like im learning for the first time every time i am reminded because its so easy to give in & forget while lusting for those quick fix deep EQ cuts that dont stand the test of even a few bars let alone the whole song lol. Dynamic EQ & gentle corrections is the way to go for dynamic signals...strong musical corrections are better for percussion & other repetitious notes that stay in the same key & range the entire song. I truly learned this lesson by simply changing the pitch of the whole song...immediately all my work was undone or sounded even better...I quickly learned that there was more of a 3 dimensional way of looking at the mix than my 2d mindset.
The one thing I always keep to when mixing track's, is to start with your levels first. We are trying to create that sound of instruments we hear when recording. EQ to me is that each instrument has a frequency which we use EQ to bring that instrument sound out. Drums are more in demand of EQ because there's a lot of over spill or bleed from Tom's or snare to kick. So using EQ to focus each drum sound is important. Low end for kick, getting that snare sound to snap through etc. I do us EQ for almost everything unless it's midi sounds, which sometimes it has it's own EQ already set. So watching this 3mistakes in mixing with swiping for unwanted noise, I agree. You can lose your over all sound in your mix. Guitars and normally where swiping can get over used. Love to hear more, so keep your thoughts coming.
Why BOOST when sweeping? I've learned to SOLO the suspect frequency as it IS. But that's easier when soloing the track. So, 'context' is important? (I am a relative novice; so I've learned from A.I. (Izotope) and great guys like you, to do these things myself.) Thank you.
Instead of automating, I tend to prefer to split the take in separate tracks. Maybe the verses, chorus, and solo all need completely different signal chains, and if I want to modify the volume of a part, it's a lot more handy to have it in its own fader.
This is great stuff. It took me years of frustrating confusion to figure this out the hard way. Now my ears are better, I dont go looking for dirt... you wont find much gold if you look for dirt!
Yes this is about all its good for, and this is done in pre mixing and gain staging, it is very tedious and boring, it can take a lot of time but, the end results can be well worth the time.
I like to use dynamic low shelves, one within the other very gently. And I emphasize very gently when sculpting lows along with the appopriate roll off or low cut for want of a different term. I smashed the like button as well for you bring da good stuff as usual.
Warren, I am always amazed and curious how someone has the notion to "thumbs down" a tutorial like this one. Do they disagree on substance or some abstract reasoning? Maybe they don't like the ambient lighting, Ha!!!!!!
1: All that notching and you might as well mute the track :P I still need to train my ears to hear when to automate frequencies. That's the one thing I haven't done with an EQ yet.
@@randychurchill9426 I don't think it would be any different than doing volume automation on a vocal or anything you want to bring up or take down or turn off completely.
@@AnitaPotterProductions Possibly, but what if you identify multiple troublesome frequencies on the same track? Watching a Soothe2 frequency feedback and imagining trying to do that with automation makes my head spin. lol
Hi Randy Churchill you’ll still have to automate it on and off! Soothe 2 is amazing! I highly recommend it, however the point of this video shows that sometimes you need that additional fullness to reinforce thinner sounding notes! So you’d have to turn off and therefore automate Soothe during those moments!
Love your first point. Don't look for bad - listen. Tip - poss/prob listed already...in Protools, some EQ plugins allow: CTRL+SHIFT when clicking on EQ bands, to make all other EQ s DIP. Brilliant, rather than boosting to hear the band you want! Great ear/speaker saving feature that I hope I can find in other DAWs as well.
I am so glad i watched this! Cause i used to do this all the time but eventually figured out ,just like you show here, that every frequency sounds horrible when boosted,lol. Glad I trust my ears. Thanks 🙏
Man this video is such a relief! I've been getting worse and worse results using that sweep technique. Literally demolished some guitar tracks just yesterday with it and had to start back from scratch. Not the biggest deal but the worse part of it all was why it sounded worse afterwards and what was I doing wrong after seeing it done so many times in videos and have been successful myself but it has always been a hit or miss and confused me. Was both depressing and frustrating. Can't say how much I appreciate this video
Sometimes I tell myself that engineers in the 60s and 70s used three band EQs (or none whatsoever, ask Al Schmitt!) with just one bell and two shelves. They couldn‘t sweep even if they wished to do. Still some of the best sounding mixes have been created back then, especially in terms of energy, excitement and balance. Of course not so loud and polished like nowadays, yet amazingly sounding.
This is the video I needed to see. Most rappers or artist are taught this “sweeping” technique and then get terrible mixes and wonder why, or at least that happened to me. People need to watch this who are trying to learn.
So very true! No 1 is disguised as "hunting for resonances". With a sufficiently high Q band, everything sounds like a tone generator. Most of the time, I find that annoying. Great video! Thank you so much.
The thing that impresses me with Warren Huart's mixes is how important the concept of "GIGO" (Garbage In Garbage Out) is, when I first heard the mix on this song I thought to myself "damn near perfect already, sounds like he spent 10 hours on it" only to quickly find out he recorded the sources (at least the guitar, which sounds great!). Here most of us garage/bedroom mixers are lucky to get our final product half that good; especially on remote mix contracts where we don't even know what microphones were used and how they were placed. On those contracts I HAVE to notch filter on guitars because of rooms being mediocre and placement being unprofessional. Regardless of whether it sounds better because I had to notch EQ it still sounds more lifeless - but I had to, and that's the point! A good mix only happens when you don't have to do those things - which means having a good recording in a decent room with good microphone knowledge in the first place. Somewhat related is an idea I had - I would love to see Warren (or Glenn, or Fluff; any of those guys) do a rescue mix contest! We vote on a bands tracks based on a few criteria: Has to be recorded live instruments, has to have many sources of audio (mic'd up drum set) and has to sound like it's very hard to make it sound good. Many bands could provide this! It's pretty much what most of us budget mix guys have to mix all day and it would be much MORE eye opening seeing how someone like Warren deals with these HUGE problems that can come with remotely recorded mixes done by amateurs trying their best.
Exactly. Good recording is probably more than half the battle. I like the competition idea, epecially if it comes with a pedagogical element of teaching people good recording practice and technique.
Well now, don't all you guys who've been saying boost-sweep-cut for years feel foolish? And....why is it that all of a sudden all the TH-cam teachers are now saying don't do it...seems like just in the last few weeks they're all saying don't do it that way.
Hi Ed, I wonder who's been saying that? Every professional I know (list hundreds of names we all know ever! Haha) not one of them uses this technique, unless they are specifically trying to pin point a frequency that are unable to hear, maybe once every year or two? Haha
Hi@@RudalPL are you suggesting I'm copying someone? Haha Who's posting these videos? I do love TH-cam, it's amazing, however I don't have enough time between recording and mixing to see what the professional TH-camrs are doing! I would love to know! Many thanks, Warren
Hi@@Jake_Godsil_Music yes, it's something we shouldn't be teaching to beginners, it's not making the mixes better. The best to learn is to do less and learn how to do more when you can hear the differences you are creating!
So thats why when I go from strumming on my acoustic to a lead line...my acoustic sounds so thin....pulled out all those low mid nasties to prevent low end feedback....not needed for solos. So thank you....great session. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
I track and mix mostly in Reason 11 - I like the SSL console style mixer because it, for one, it sounds good, but also because it makes you mix with your ears. Visual EQs like the FabFilterQ can be very useful esp for surgical cuts, but the traditional console EQ weened me off of mixing with my eyes. It also steered me away from my beginner habit of doing narrow Q, notched frequency sweeps to find "problem" frequencies - I saw this technique on YT videos when I started about 10 years ago, but I never got musical results and I no longer do this for mixing. Great video, very helpful info.
I fully agree here. May times I find that the organic life is missing in music because people have been mixing all life out of it. So many times i see that people have comp and eq on things and they bypass it and no better sound at all.
Thank you so much Warren for all of your valuable tips and trick I use everything you show in your tutorials in my production and it works perfectly for my mixes.
What are some of your favorite EQ tricks?
Having a distorted bass with low and high pass, boosting the mids for more clarity !
eq on toms.. there always "tong" 'tong".. 😂
Reverbs need always an eq. Tracks no.
I've really been cheating a lot with AI lately
Splitting a channel and processing the highs different from the lows :)
The biggest game changer of a tip ive ever learned is: 1. Duplicate the bass into 2 tracks, Low and high, low pass the low at 200htz and high pass the high at 350htz. 2. Limit the low end at about - 10db with something like an L1 and set the release on the limiter really slow, but make the release meter falls in time with the song (so somewhere between 700ms-1000ms). This works on about 90% of mixes. You can process the high track however you want then (chorus, doubler, 1176 eg.). This evens out bass so nicely, espically with a subwoofer. Id be interested to hear anyones thoughts who try it!
Works well, do the same trick with the bass drum as well :)
@@PinballLunatic never thought that, cool!
Hi Mark, yes! I’ve been teaching how to mix Bass like this since my earliest videos! It’s wonderful to see it being adopted by so many people! Many thanks, Warren
PinballLunatic yes, we have a video with Bob Marlette showing that technique as well! Works wonderfully
@@Producelikeapro A friend showed me that, he must have learned it from you! Great tip, thanks Warren!
Here's the biggest EQ mistake of all time - eqing with your eyes instead of your ears.
Agreed 100%!! Find the frequency using your ears!
@@Producelikeapro indeed, I suppose in rare circumstances such as a 20hz / 20khz cut, 30hz / 18khz cut, etc you can rely on just the numbers there because we know frequencies below 20hz and above 20khz cannot be heard, and are therefore unnecessary and you can't use your ears to listen in that scenario, either lol. i guess that's one case where you'd use your eyes to EQ. I've seen some people commenting that they can hear below 20hz or above 20khz and I've got my doubts about that, but who knows, they're not my ears lmao.
@@largepoodle6036 I can hear sub 20 on good days, but I'm 46 and I'm lucky if I can make out anything around 14kHz!
@@largepoodle6036 My speakers don't pick it up so definitely using my eyes to rule out those sub frequencies and the upper frequency limits. I do listen for how much further in from 20kHz I can cut but yeah that's just being pragmatic. I agree with you
@@JoeySchmidt74 so it's just 14kHz you have trouble hearing? Or you can't hear anything above 14kHz in general?
'Don't go looking for things to be offensive.' Great EQ tip. Try telling Twitter users the same, though. xD
Haha genius Jie Pon!!
Oh, yeah >_
@@yrussq hahaha
I totally agree I’ve stop doing that unless I hear something really annoying during the mix
haha I thought the same thing - you can apply that basic axiom to all of your life: don't go looking for things to be offensive!
I don't sweep to pull out offensive stuff. I only do it to identify the frequency of something offensive that I already hear.
Perfect! That is exactly right my friend!
Yup that's how it should be done. I'm not sure why ppl sweep in order to hear bad frequencies. If they're in there, you should already hear it lol
You can also use sweep EQ to find good frequencies. Once found, optionally revert the boost in the first source and apply a cut at the same frequency bands in competing sources to create more room for the first source in that band.
@@steamer2k319 this is much more effective but people told "cut dont boost" too dogmatically.
The prob with sweeping for these notches of resonance to cut, is high Q scanning always is AWFUL SOUNDING- you basicaly ending up notching any prominent overtone because they all suck when listening to a high Q boosted, scanning.
If anything dont boost to scan, just cut to scan for a cut- then maybe once found use the boost scan to fine tune.
Yes sir.
the first couple of minutes when you swept through the frequencies really made me laugh
Haha great! That was exactly my intention!
@@Producelikeapro made me laugh too 😀😀
Yes LOL ugly, oh ugly again !
😂
I was watching that, and thinking... who the hell does that? But I guess if you've seen it happen, then er... someone does. LOL!
I generally sweep by cutting rather than boosting. I don’t generally do it, but if I can’t find a frequency without sweeping, I find it’s a lot better to turn a band down and sweep until I don’t miss what is being cut, then back off. In my experience, it will always sound like there is a hole in the frequency response until you hit the right frequency, and if you never hit that point, no cutting is really needed.
I hate videos with titles like, "You're doing this wrong!" Because they're usually just rebranded "one weird trick" type things with clickbait titles to get views. I appreciate the subtle difference in title here, "We all do this" instead of the accusatory "you're doing this wrong".
Wouldn't have clicked on this if it wasn't this channel. And I'm glad I did because I learned a lot. Thanks, Warren!
A great way to avoid these kinds of mistakes (especially 1 and 2) is to always do a balance mix, using the faders and pan controls only, before you ever load a single plugin of any kind. All of these decisions need to be made in the context of the mix; the time for soloing tracks to get more surgical happens later.
Great GREAT advice. I do this and my mixes always come out really crisp and accurate. I think simple is better.
Truth! In a very beginning I was mixing like this too, cutting a lot of things with a narrow shape band dips, and every time it was ruining the sound.
Thanks ever so much for sharing
I definitely sweep, but not to discover a rogue frequency, just to find one I've already identified and can physically sing.
I also occasionally do some broad notching out when two instruments are arguing over an EQ space, perhaps notching out 2 dB on one whilst boosting the other by 2dB or something like that...
Nice
Explaining while demonstrating in real time made this a treat to watch! Even a Cro-Magnon like myself can learn something. Much thanks! 🙂
Slopes are EVERYTHING. Selecting the right slope filter (shape AND rate) made the biggest difference to the overall sound. This became much more apparent with large format digital consoles in the live scenario. Once my ears got dialled into exactly what you're talking about, my channel strips consisted of gain, high pass, low pass and pan. My mixes had never been better.
Fantastic! Agreed 100%! Very well said
Dude!! Your Chanel is pure gold!! You have. I idea how much knowledge I get every time I watch your videos 🙏🏽
Wow! Thanks ever so much
Spot on. Finding homes for each instrument especially utilizing HP and LP filters first is the best advice - great topic!
This is the best EQ tips I’ve seen on TH-cam. These first points are simple basic stuff but sometimes missed and affects the whole mix on a fundamental level. Basically you just made your starting point a lot worse, which you can’t really make up for despite your best efforts. Sadly I learned (and still learning) this 25 years in, and if I’m really honest, to some degree I’m still doing it. I feel this video was made just for me.
Wonderful tips, absolutely agree with the sweeping ! Was lucky to get a golden tip when I started Mixing to avoid sweeping and rather listening and guessing the frequency that I like to take out from the track:
EQ off, subtract/add frequency, turn EQ on in the track - adjust - takes more time, but more time always pays out on a long run !
This is a lot like life. If you go looking for problems you'll find them. Look for solutions. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Very well said!!
"Don't be afraid to automate". That's something for on a t-shirt ;)
Thank you Warren, great tips!
I think the best advice I've ever gotten is high pass filtering nearly everything but the bass and kick, to give the their own space. It's such a simple thing but it's amazing what it can do for the clarity of a mix.
And this is why I’ve just signed up to your Produce Like A Pro academy. Everything you explain is thorough and makes complete sense!! Thanks Warren 😊
18 minutes of genius wisdom 👌🏻🙏🏻
Aw shucks!! Thanks ever so much James!
in my beginning in mixing sweeping helped me to hear some frequencies better. But I'm guiltiy of equing way too much. But the sweeping trained my ears - at least I think it. Now I am trying to hear it without sweeping and without soloing the instrument.
I am getting better at it, but it is still a long way.
Thanks for the video, greetings from Austria
Thanks for confirming my instincts regarding eq low and hi cuts, which I've been too uncertain about to fully trust, due to not finding any real affirmations, until now. Love your videos!
WOW!! This is so useful. I've been sweeping EQ's looking for 'bad things' for 20 years! You've explained this mistake so well I now see the error of my ways. Thank you Warren.
Thanks for watching. I'm glad it was helpful
Great stuff as usual, Warren! Top Notch!
1) Sweeping IS great for "Search & Destroy" - if you detect a problem with an unwanted pitch or resonance, before you're even thinking about EQ'ing, sweeping to find the precise frequency to scoop out is a great technique! But I agree, it should be used sparse, and not as a tool to go look for trouble!
2) The key to a clean mix is definitely in the realm of filtering - mainly high passing! Although, it is not something that partout should be added to every track IMHO! If there's no bothering low end information on the track, I wouldn't filter it! Optionally double check on an FFT. I often see people try to filter some low end information that's not even there, with steep steep 96dB filters, and it'll create horrible filter resonances and cause phase shifting like hell, which could severely harm your tracks. It might not be audible right away, but low cutting something unnecessary could make your tracks peaks significantly louder because of phase shifting, which could then distort or trigger dynamic processings in unwanted ways etc. Not many people seem to know about this - maybe a topic for a future video? Also, sometimes shelves can do wonders too!
3) Fantastic tip! Creative use of EQ, and in a small way the EQ actually be comes a part of the compositional work! Great!
wow thank you. that sweeping eq section made me embarrassed of myself
It’s ok we’ve all done it!!
I’ve actually seen a lot of folks do that, you get a great sounding track and suddenly it seems crap.. 😅
I learned the sweep technique D E C A D E S ago and, ya know what? It never worked for me so I abandoned the approach. I literally thought it was me, not the approach, that wasn't working right. What a relief after years of not being able to figure out why I thought it sounded worse instead of better. I'm now to the point where my favorite EQs are the Waves API 550 EQs. Clickable settings baby, now that works just fantastic for me. I spend less time obsessing and more time making better, more efficient decisions. YMMV of course.
So happy that you showed how ridiculous the frequency sweep technique is. Cheers to that!
This might be the most important eq video I’ve ever watched!! xD
Thanks ever so much Connor!! That is an amazing compliment!!
Same
Fr
First three minutes, hilarious "arggh ugly, urgggh ugly!"
Haha thanks Philip!
🤣🤣🤣
"... and don't be afraid to automate." I needed to hear this.
Great Sweep eq tips. People forget its boosting to the point everything sounds bad. Use it to ‘help’ identify a freq thats still horribly present when the eq isn’t engaged.
Do you know why it's obnoxious? Because the frequency's too loud! 😆
Hahahaha Exactly my friend!!
He knows that i think
I swear when I first started recording at home my mixes were great even with cheap equipment.
Once I started doing too much mixes got horrible.
I think we forget dont get too technical and enjoy the music.
Finally someone said it!!! I've thought about this on sweeping eq notching for a while. What happens when the pitch changes on the source material? Eq needs to be dynamic
I totally get what he's saying here, and I agree with his philosophy about trusting yourself to judge the sound as a whole, but my approach to EQing often is not about getting rid of "offensive" sounds. It's about getting it to sound as close as possible to what I envisioned when I first imagined the music.
I find your vids very helpful ! At this time I'm forced to do everything with apps in my android phone. It's hard, lost all my equipment in a fire, miss my dog; but trying to stay creative. Thanks
Sorry to hear that! Wishing you all the best
Your Vlogs are amazing tutorials Ive paid a truck load to learn a tenth of what I've learned watching these Videos Waren. Much appreciated. Sending these to my son who lives in the Studio and is starting out. Going to sign up for your course also. The sound on the vlog is perfect accept it drops slightly on the music inserts. . Having said that it could be this shit box of a tv I'm watching on. Have an incredible day Warren.👍
www.swvstudios.com wow!! Thanks ever so much for your wonderful comment!!! You Rock
Its helpful to look at the frequency spectrum and you can pretty easily see the really loud areas. That doesn't mean that you want everything to have a flat spectrum but it's just another piece of information when tweaking.
oh god.. thank you. So many tutorials from people that are just searching for ugly frequencies and I tried it myself - ending up being super confused. It's not a fun thing to do and it takes away the character of a sound. Thank you, this was refreshing.
And btw: I love how worn your headphones look like and the whole ambience of your studio. Rly sympathetic :) stay healthy!
"this incredibly horrible weird phasy mess of disgustingness" xD
Haha thanks!!
Yeah, i loved that one too.
Comb Filter Central!
Yeah I completely stopped doing this years ago. I focus more on getting a good original sound and correcting things from the start.
Amazing! Thanks ever so much for sharing
When cash permits I promise to take your class. Thank you for all the tips, I am learning so much.
My own EQ lessons I’ve learnt (and always apply) are; 1. proper use of High Pass Filtering, and EQ’ing “within a mix” and not in solo. 2. Offensive frequencies on their own might not actually sound offensive within the mix 3. Matching Gain 😎👍👍🎤🎤
Nice tips! I sweep rather with a cut than with a peak to find where the sound opens up :)
Thanks ever so much for sharing
I laughed pretty hard at the 4th and on "Ugly! Horrible! Let's cut that"
Haha thanks ever so much Stephen!
I just had a teaching a couple of weeks ago, a friend contacted me and my producer collegue. He wanted to know how we made our mix´s because he couldnt get it to shine properly.
So we went to hes place and took 2,5 hours of showing him just 1 trick. Why, how, and where. LPF and HPF !!!
It was like an whole world was opening up, right before his eyes and mindset of mixing.
It was a beautiful and powerfull EUREKA moment for him.
Keep up the AWESOME job you are doing. Your tips are MARVELOUS!
This was immensely freeing and reassuring to watch 😄 all that sweeping just to find dirt when u can’t even hear it in the first place lol.. thanks Warren!
I gave you the Like number 400, and I love your stuff.. I hope you are doing marelously well too.. Best studio teacher on the web.
Thanks ever so much Jack!!
I also discovered this whole sweeping myth because I've seen this technique been taught on youtube videos, however it seemed abit off to me. Every frequency has a purpose. These days I'm only thinking about it in the sense of brightness and darkness, I'm not scooping everything like back in the day.
Haha exactly! It's unfortunate that people are teaching things they yet have to learn themselves! Haha C'est la vie!
@@Producelikeapro So true haha!
Heinrich The Guitarist exactly!!
you sweep for ringing-frequencies that would pinch your ears with the contamporary listening devices. but you need to know what they really are. some come from cheap mics, some come from poorly prepared recording rooms, some are perhaps a trait from the vocalist.
do resonances support the music in this instrument or vocal, or do they distract? the auto-de-ring algorithm (Nectar; TDR Nova GE..) probably does not know this well enough.
Breeeeeliant advice.
Even better hands-on showing us how you do some of it ....low and high passing...invaluable!
Shaping low end like a sculptor digs into clay.
Thank you!!
The video we didn't know we all needed. I often find myself doing EQ sweeps before I even really hear anything particularly wrong, so this was a wakeup call!
when I realized years ago that it didn't help, in fact it muffed the mix, I stopped doing it myself. Of course back then I was compressing hi-hats - laughs
"Trust your ears" as had the biggest impact on my mixing. Cuts out a lot of that self doubt.
Cool how you turned that eq into a comb filter in the beginning. 😂 Good point though. Never liked the sweep method. Only eq if it needs it.
Haha yes, indeed!!
I think you've hit the nail on the head, for me at least, alot of things I've recorded I've either over listened to or have tried to "perfect" by going by guidelines and not my own ears
These are 100% spot on. I've fallen victim to the "overly sweeping for offensive freqs" far too many times instead of letting the mix tell me what's offensive. Great video, as always. -dustin phillips
I’m obsessed with that epiano sound
Nice! Thanks ever so much Adam!
Ear training doesn't just apply to music theory. I can (finally!) hear a sound and think "something sounds weird around 400-ish", and it'll be pretty close, no need for endless sweeping that will confuse you and bring out any harmonic you touch. EQ needs practice.
I think the key is to be quick about it. You don't wanna listen to the same stuff in detail too much, it leads to instant blindness. Quick and rough EQ moves, keeping in mind the simple concepts of darker, brighter, less mud, things like that. It's 90% of the EQ work for me, and it's done during the first 10 minutes. Details come later, if it's even needed.
And for god's sake, use the shelf more. High pass out the useless junk, but use the shelf to control the level of the fundamental notes instead of getting rid of them completely.
@Dbomb Danny Thank you for your valuable contribution
Simple yet brilliant & something I feel like im learning for the first time every time i am reminded because its so easy to give in & forget while lusting for those quick fix deep EQ cuts that dont stand the test of even a few bars let alone the whole song lol. Dynamic EQ & gentle corrections is the way to go for dynamic signals...strong musical corrections are better for percussion & other repetitious notes that stay in the same key & range the entire song.
I truly learned this lesson by simply changing the pitch of the whole song...immediately all my work was undone or sounded even better...I quickly learned that there was more of a 3 dimensional way of looking at the mix than my 2d mindset.
Man this is very philosophical … We always find what we are afraid to find, especially when we look for what we do not really want to find
Just like cleaning the back of the studio, we're afraid to sweep... Scared of what we might find! ☮️♥️🤘🏼
The one thing I always keep to when mixing track's, is to start with your levels first. We are trying to create that sound of instruments we hear when recording. EQ to me is that each instrument has a frequency which we use EQ to bring that instrument sound out. Drums are more in demand of EQ because there's a lot of over spill or bleed from Tom's or snare to kick. So using EQ to focus each drum sound is important. Low end for kick, getting that snare sound to snap through etc. I do us EQ for almost everything unless it's midi sounds, which sometimes it has it's own EQ already set. So watching this 3mistakes in mixing with swiping for unwanted noise, I agree. You can lose your over all sound in your mix. Guitars and normally where swiping can get over used. Love to hear more, so keep your thoughts coming.
I didn't really understand the importance of high and low passes until a couple months ago. Makes a big difference!
Why BOOST when sweeping? I've learned to SOLO the suspect frequency as it IS. But that's easier when soloing the track. So, 'context' is important? (I am a relative novice; so I've learned from A.I. (Izotope) and great guys like you, to do these things myself.) Thank you.
Instead of automating, I tend to prefer to split the take in separate tracks. Maybe the verses, chorus, and solo all need completely different signal chains, and if I want to modify the volume of a part, it's a lot more handy to have it in its own fader.
Thanks again Warren for an outstanding lesson. Trusting my ears is a constant struggle, but the techniques you outlined will help.
This is great stuff. It took me years of frustrating confusion to figure this out the hard way. Now my ears are better, I dont go looking for dirt... you wont find much gold if you look for dirt!
Thanks Jason! Glad it helped!
sweeping is a fantastic way to find a resonance in your room
Yes this is about all its good for, and this is done in pre mixing and gain staging, it is very tedious and boring, it can take a lot of time but, the end results can be well worth the time.
Thanks
Thanks ever so much Serge!!
I like to use dynamic low shelves, one within the other very gently. And I emphasize very gently when sculpting lows along with the appopriate roll off or low cut for want of a different term. I smashed the like button as well for you bring da good stuff as usual.
Warren, I am always amazed and curious how someone has the notion to "thumbs down" a tutorial like this one. Do they disagree on substance or some abstract reasoning? Maybe they don't like the ambient lighting, Ha!!!!!!
1: All that notching and you might as well mute the track :P I still need to train my ears to hear when to automate frequencies. That's the one thing I haven't done with an EQ yet.
Man, automating eq like that would be a pain and a half. I'd probably use a dynamic eq instead.
@@randychurchill9426 I don't think it would be any different than doing volume automation on a vocal or anything you want to bring up or take down or turn off completely.
@@AnitaPotterProductions Possibly, but what if you identify multiple troublesome frequencies on the same track? Watching a Soothe2 frequency feedback and imagining trying to do that with automation makes my head spin. lol
@@randychurchill9426 Hahahaha that is true. Might end up getting cross eyed and my head would explode ;)
Hi Randy Churchill you’ll still have to automate it on and off! Soothe 2 is amazing! I highly recommend it, however the point of this video shows that sometimes you need that additional fullness to reinforce thinner sounding notes! So you’d have to turn off and therefore automate Soothe during those moments!
I don't make mistakes. I do things a little "differently" lol . I'm just kidding. Awesome video
Haha I hear you! You and me both!!
It’s so true! The sweeping thing is a newbie mistake. What you end up wishing to cut is the massive boost you created in the first place.
Love your first point. Don't look for bad - listen. Tip - poss/prob listed already...in Protools, some EQ plugins allow: CTRL+SHIFT when clicking on EQ bands, to make all other EQ s DIP.
Brilliant, rather than boosting to hear the band you want! Great ear/speaker saving feature that I hope I can find in other DAWs as well.
Don’t look for anything offensive is great advice for life 😂
Haha yes, indeed
Most common EQ mistake: using high-passes when there's no LF clash, killing the character of the sound.
unless you're doing weird bit reduction sound design that has subsonic reflections/low harmonics
Understandable, sometimes i do that to cause the sound to not be picked up on a low or high end crossover within a component system.
I am so glad i watched this! Cause i used to do this all the time but eventually figured out ,just like you show here, that every frequency sounds horrible when boosted,lol. Glad I trust my ears. Thanks 🙏
The video I've been waiting for! Now compression mistakes (not including forgetting to compress).
I looooove you you’re my daddy in mixing world for real 😍😂
Haha thanks very much!
Hahahahaha oh, ugly, horrible! ..I love it😂
Haha yes, indeed
Man this video is such a relief! I've been getting worse and worse results using that sweep technique. Literally demolished some guitar tracks just yesterday with it and had to start back from scratch. Not the biggest deal but the worse part of it all was why it sounded worse afterwards and what was I doing wrong after seeing it done so many times in videos and have been successful myself but it has always been a hit or miss and confused me. Was both depressing and frustrating. Can't say how much I appreciate this video
Sometimes I tell myself that engineers in the 60s and 70s used three band EQs (or none whatsoever, ask Al Schmitt!) with just one bell and two shelves. They couldn‘t sweep even if they wished to do. Still some of the best sounding mixes have been created back then, especially in terms of energy, excitement and balance. Of course not so loud and polished like nowadays, yet amazingly sounding.
I'm still a bit guilty of SWEEPITIS, but I've gotten better over the years ;:-)
Haha nicely put John!
You may need a sweepectomy.
I can't help but notice, why do you solo the tracks when you EQ them? Don't you need the context of the whole mix too?
I’m teaching, it’s much easier for people to hear the differences in solo! Especially if they are fairly new to mixing
This is the video I needed to see. Most rappers or artist are taught this “sweeping” technique and then get terrible mixes and wonder why, or at least that happened to me. People need to watch this who are trying to learn.
So very true! No 1 is disguised as "hunting for resonances". With a sufficiently high Q band, everything sounds like a tone generator. Most of the time, I find that annoying. Great video! Thank you so much.
What mic is on that snare? It sounds drop dead gorgeous.
It is an SM57!
@@Producelikeapro Aahh, the snare workhorse strikes again.
That's what they taught me to use in 1987! And a 58 for vocals! Can't beat the classics.
The late "hope you're doing marvelously well" in the intro threw me off.
Always great to learn about these mistakes, number one way I've been learning is from the mistakes I make
The thing that impresses me with Warren Huart's mixes is how important the concept of "GIGO" (Garbage In Garbage Out) is, when I first heard the mix on this song I thought to myself "damn near perfect already, sounds like he spent 10 hours on it" only to quickly find out he recorded the sources (at least the guitar, which sounds great!). Here most of us garage/bedroom mixers are lucky to get our final product half that good; especially on remote mix contracts where we don't even know what microphones were used and how they were placed. On those contracts I HAVE to notch filter on guitars because of rooms being mediocre and placement being unprofessional. Regardless of whether it sounds better because I had to notch EQ it still sounds more lifeless - but I had to, and that's the point! A good mix only happens when you don't have to do those things - which means having a good recording in a decent room with good microphone knowledge in the first place.
Somewhat related is an idea I had - I would love to see Warren (or Glenn, or Fluff; any of those guys) do a rescue mix contest! We vote on a bands tracks based on a few criteria: Has to be recorded live instruments, has to have many sources of audio (mic'd up drum set) and has to sound like it's very hard to make it sound good. Many bands could provide this! It's pretty much what most of us budget mix guys have to mix all day and it would be much MORE eye opening seeing how someone like Warren deals with these HUGE problems that can come with remotely recorded mixes done by amateurs trying their best.
Exactly. Good recording is probably more than half the battle. I like the competition idea, epecially if it comes with a pedagogical element of teaching people good recording practice and technique.
funnyyyyyy😁😁
Haha thanks ever so much
Well now, don't all you guys who've been saying boost-sweep-cut for years feel foolish? And....why is it that all of a sudden all the TH-cam teachers are now saying don't do it...seems like just in the last few weeks they're all saying don't do it that way.
Hi Ed, I wonder who's been saying that? Every professional I know (list hundreds of names we all know ever! Haha) not one of them uses this technique, unless they are specifically trying to pin point a frequency that are unable to hear, maybe once every year or two? Haha
Produce Like A Pro I know musician on a mission recommends it in a lot of their videos. They’re mostly aimed at beginners and quick tips to get views
I've noticed this as well. It's like 3rd video in last 7 or 8 days I've seen that says "don't sweep and cut".
Hi@@RudalPL are you suggesting I'm copying someone? Haha Who's posting these videos? I do love TH-cam, it's amazing, however I don't have enough time between recording and mixing to see what the professional TH-camrs are doing! I would love to know! Many thanks, Warren
Hi@@Jake_Godsil_Music yes, it's something we shouldn't be teaching to beginners, it's not making the mixes better. The best to learn is to do less and learn how to do more when you can hear the differences you are creating!
Thank you very much for this lesson!! I especially found the EQ sweeping mistake very interesting.
Haha thanks ever so much! I’m glad to be able to help
Thanks for the tips! 🙏
I am a "senior beginner" (57) trying to learn FL Studio, and this is useful!! 💪
Glad to be able to help!!
So thats why when I go from strumming on my acoustic to a lead line...my acoustic sounds so thin....pulled out all those low mid nasties to prevent low end feedback....not needed for solos. So thank you....great session. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
I track and mix mostly in Reason 11 - I like the SSL console style mixer because it, for one, it sounds good, but also because it makes you mix with your ears. Visual EQs like the FabFilterQ can be very useful esp for surgical cuts, but the traditional console EQ weened me off of mixing with my eyes. It also steered me away from my beginner habit of doing narrow Q, notched frequency sweeps to find "problem" frequencies - I saw this technique on YT videos when I started about 10 years ago, but I never got musical results and I no longer do this for mixing. Great video, very helpful info.
console_J - I recommend you check out Brainworks plugin alliance. Can get a great console sound.
I fully agree here. May times I find that the organic life is missing in music because people have been mixing all life out of it. So many times i see that people have comp and eq on things and they bypass it and no better sound at all.
Thank you so much Warren for all of your valuable tips and trick I use everything you show in your tutorials in my production and it works perfectly for my mixes.