How to EQ with faders instead of plug-ins

I was working on a drum track the other day.

They were actually virtual drums but both kick and snare had multiple tracks that all had different characteristics.

For instance, the kick had three tracks:

• A “body” track
• A “beater/snap” track
• A low “sub” track

Having multiple tracks that all sound different is a very interesting way to mix because it reduces your need to EQ.

Instead of adding a boost at 60 Hz to get more thickness I simply pulled up the sub track instead.

It was kind of like having the three most important characters of a kick drum on an EQ plug-in.

So when I had found a good balance I bussed them all together for easy leveling with the rest of the mix.

Sure, I added some extra EQ to cut out some boxiness that was inherent in the tracks overall but there wasn’t much extra EQ’ing I needed to do.

Think about that the next time you have a mix with multiple tracks.

If you have a lot of drum tracks you should think about what each track is contributing to the sound, not just how you need to fix it with EQ.

If the overheads are adding air to the snare for instance, maybe you don’t need to drastically boost highs on the snare track?

Maybe just a push of the overheads in the mix will fix your snare problem?

Of course, sometimes you don’t have any other recourse than to rely on your EQ plug-ins. If so, my Ultimate Guide to EQ is there for you when you need it.

A breakdown of the whole EQ spectrum with specific frequency guides on drums, bass, guitar and vocals.

And the best part is the hour long EQ training where I show you how good you can make a mix sound using just EQ.

Check out EQ Strategies – The Ultimate Guide to EQ here:

www.EQStrategies.net

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