Guitar EQ'ing...

louieeadg · #1 08-06-2007, 09:13 AM

(DISCLAIMER: not sure if this is the correct forum)

Question about guitar EQ'ing: We were recording a song at band practice last night(one instrument at a time). Every other time we've recorded none of us have liked the sound of the guitar. I know a decent bit about recording and setting up live sound for drums & bass but not much about guitar.

I started messing around with his knobs and cut out some of his bass. He said, "I don't like that, it sounds hollow." So I said, "Maybe that's why your guitar always sounds muddy in the mix." In my head I was thinking, "No wonder your **** sounds muddy, you're all up in my sonic space!" Just joking...

So in doing that the recording came out much better. My question is: Does anybody have tips about eq'ing guitars so they can cut through mixes and sound muy bueno? I know a lot of that is personal taste/sound but are there any general things to do? Does the same addage ring true with guitars as they do with bass, i.e. sound when playing alone won't necessarily sound good when played with other humans?

Thanks for any help.

cheers

Deacon_Blues · #2 08-06-2007, 10:01 AM

You're on the right track with the guitar sound.

The problem is that the guitar sounds that sound good on a record along with other instruments are not the same as when playing alone. You need a lot more mids and high mids and almost no bass below 300 Hz. Always when I've recorded a guitar track in my home studio, I end up boosting these frequencies almost ridiculously much. Then they cut through and fits in the mix better. If you go for a more "normal" guitar sound, you end up boosting the guitar track so much it starts intruding on the bass's territory...

All IMO and IME, of course.

louieeadg · #3 08-06-2007, 10:14 AM

Ahh, that's what I thought. And when I cut his a bass a little bit, he didn't like the sound of it but I don't like the sound of my bass alone when setup for playing with drums and guits. but then it sounds good in the mix.

So basically, the same rule applies for guitars as does bass? Boost the mids and highs, cut the lows. Let the natural sound of the instrument be the predominent sound in the mix?

makes sense.

Deacon_Blues · #4 08-07-2007, 08:13 AM

I like to think the different instruments all should add something to the whole frequency range and have one range in which they are more or less alone.

On bass, I use just enough mids to be heard and have a defined sound. The bass and low mid frequencies are more important as you're more or less alone there compared to the higher registers.

Keyboard and guitar players should stay away from the bass range because it easily sounds too muddy. There's a reason why good and experienced guitar and keyboard players stay away from the lowest notes/frequencies in a band setting...