A Quirky Way to Fix your Subtractive EQ Problems And Really Hear How Your Tracks Sound

Let me confess something to you.

I have a really big problem with subtractive EQ’ing.

Why?

Because every time I ONLY cut, I always feel like the source sounds weaker. I know I can just increase the volume to compensate for the reduction in gain. The only problem is that it’s hard to A/B test.

When you have to do two things (EQ and then compensate for volume) you have a harder time judging whether your EQ’ing is actually working. It’s way easier to hear what your EQ boosts are doing. It’s just that subtractive EQ, although a better mixing practice in general, is harder to hear.

I don’t only run into this problem when I’m EQ’ing, even though it’s the most common headache.

I also have the same problem when I’m using compression. Is that guitar sounding better or just louder because I compressed it.

You can use the make-up gain to gauge the effects but I can never quite trust it.

So I thought I’d use Ian Shepherd’s Perception plug-in to help me out.

Sure, it’s supposed to be used on the master bus to hear if your mastering plug-ins are making your song better than just louder.

But you can also use it for mixing.

If you’re unsure about whether your EQ and compression is making one of your tracks actually sound better you can simply use the plug-in on a single track.

Here’s what you do:

1. Do Your Processing

After you’ve EQ’d and compressed your guitar track for example simply slap the perception plug-in on the track between all your plug-ins.

2. Balance

Once the plug-in is between the plug-ins you can make it balance the source sound(the unmixed track) and the EQ’d track. If you’re using subtractive EQ a lot that will mean that the source might sound louder.

3. A/B Test

After you’ve balanced the signals you can easily hear the difference with only a split second in between. That means your ears(and your brain) can tell the quality difference much more easily than if you had to also level-match the signals independently.

Use It For:

• Hearing the difference when you’re using subtractive EQ and don’t want to be fooled by the “weaker” sounding signal.
• If your compression is making your tracks sound better, not just louder.
• Hearing if any of your plug-ins are adding unnecessary noise to your tracks without you realizing it.

Word of Warning: If you decide to use it this way make sure you take the plug-in off your master bus while you’re checking your tracks. You won’t hear anything from your tracks if it’s still on the master bus. It’s not a big deal, just a thing to be aware of. I didn’t want to tell you this cool trick and then not having it work for you.

I called the Perception plug-in the Friday and I’m sticking to it. Turns out it can do a whole lot more.

Get it here:

www.audio-issues.com/klingon

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