Professional Analog Mastering.
Professional Analog Mastering.
226K+ subscribers
Equalization and the attack, decay, sustain, and release of a waveform are typically thought of as very separate concepts; however, they’re linked a lot more than most engineers think.
In short, the attack and decay or the transient often occupies different frequency ranges than the sustain and release. Although some instruments have a transient and tone that heavily overlap in their frequencies, some instruments have very distinct ranges for each of these 2 parts of the ADSR.
So let’s say I’m equalizing an 808 - the transient of an 808, at least for this particular sample I created, has more 2kHz than the tone does.
If I amplify 2kHz, I do amplify the full ADSR of the waveform; however, by amplifying a range that makes up a significant portion of the transient, I’m emphasizing the transient.
Whereas the 2kHz range of the tonal aspects will likely fall below our threshold for hearing when played in the context of the mix, even after amplification, the 2kHz range of the transient will now cut through a mix, and make the amplitude of the transient louder overall.
Let’s listen to this example and notice how amplifying 2kHz increases our perception of the Attack and Decay but doesn’t do that for the sustain and release.
Watch the video to learn more >
If I were to ask, ‘How could I use this EQ to increase a vocal’s clarity?’ the correct answer is not, “It depends.”
The conical shape of our ear canal, its circumference, and the diameter of our eardrum amplify 1-5kHz by about 10-15dB.
Looking at the latest loudness contour studies, this dip near 3kHz indicates that we’re most sensitive to this range.
So, increasing 3kHz on a vocal will undoubtedly increase clarity. The same goes for any other instrument in this range.
Furthermore, 300Hz. is the most prominent masker of higher frequencies - because it masks or covers up to 3kHz, we can attenuate it to reduce this masking, in turn increasing clarity.
So, let’s listen to a track and notice how boosting 3kHz while dipping 300Hz quickly increases the clarity of any signal that’s equalized.
Watch the video to learn more >
The middle ear has a really intricate method for protecting us from loud sounds - if something is too loud, the tensor tympani and the stapedius muscle contracts, and attenuates the level of incoming sound. It primarily does this for frequencies below 2kHz.
With that in mind, we could use a dynamic EQ and create a low-shelf filter that dynamically attenuates that range.
For a more realistic effect, use a multiband dynamic processor and again create the filter below 2kHz. This time, set the attack time to between 25-35ms and the release to between 70 to 115ms to emulate how long before the ear muscles contract and how long they stay contracted.
Watch the video to learn more >
Because EQ is such a powerful tool, there’s really so much we can do with it.
For example, if we’re mastering, we could create 3 instances of the file and use linear phase EQs on each to isolate the lows, mids, and highs.
Then we could add processing to each range as we see fit.
Watch the video to learn more >
Or if we’re working on vocals and we want a crisp sound, we could first send the vocal to an aux track, isolate the highs with a linear phase EQ, then compress heavily and blend the result in with the original - this is how a lot of rap vocals achieve a bright and detailed high range.
Watch the video to learn more >
Or, say we want super clean-sounding de-essing. We’d create a send from the vocal, isolate the sibilance range with low- and high-pass filters, and create a dynamic bell in the middle that triggers whenever the sibilance occurs.
Then, we’d invert the aux track’s phase and blend the track in with the original, to cause mild phase cancellation whenever there’s sibilance.
Watch the video to learn more >
Or, one of my personal favorites, I can tune a vocal with EQ. Since each note is a fundamental frequency with a set of overtones, I can find in-key notes, and use narrow bell filters to amplify the notes.
If I wanted, I could also attenuate out of key notes. EQs with a piano roll at the bottom make this a lot easier by letting you snap the center frequency to an exact note.
Listen to how this vocal sounds more in tune after having its in-key notes amplified.