How to correctly EQ two guitars and a bass?

[Ron Johnson]

From listening to a few recordings of our recent shows, it seems that the rythym guitarist is lost in the mix. I've successfully talked the lead guitarist into only using one cab instead of two like the rest of us, but the rythym and sometimes myself are getting lost in the mix still.

We finally reached a consensus on how to level our volumes with each other, but even then the three of us don't mix. I just thought of a simple EQ solution, but I want to make sure with you guys it would work.

I'm new to playing with other people in a live setting, so please excuse any ignorance I may have...

I already have my bass EQd for high bass, regular mids, and low treble (I like a really dark and boomy sound). So, if I stayed that way, the rythym guitarist had boosted mids, and the lead had boosted treble with mids and lows turned down, would that make all of our instruments stick out? It makes sense to me, but I want to know if that would work before I start turning knobs on their amps.

 

[BazzTard]

you are on the right track with having separate EQ settings for each player so they don't encroach on each others sound spectrum. Of course drummers ruin the whole thing.

 

[two fingers]

Boosted low mids will let you cut through much better than ultra lows. Worry less about what tone you like and more about what hits harder and cuts better.

Are you guys running through the PA or filling the room with your stage rigs?

 

[Ron Johnson]

Boosted low mids will let you cut through much better than ultra lows. Worry less about what tone you like and more about what hits harder and cuts better.

Are you guys running through the PA or filling the room with your stage rigs?

They are mic'd and I'm DI'd at shows.

 

[Ron Johnson]

you are on the right track with having separate EQ settings for each player so they don't encroach on each others sound spectrum. Of course drummers ruin the whole thing.

Is it common for people to separate their EQ? And yes, my drummer is a loud one.

 

[two fingers]

They are mic'd and I'm DI'd at shows.

Do you guys running sound from stage or do you have a sound guy? Assuming the latter....

Here's the thing. You have to send the front of house something brighter than you would expect. It's not your job to EQ from the stage. Why brighter? There's a funny phenomenon when it comes to bass guitar signal. (I run sound as well as playing bass.) If you send the front of house nothing but boom we can't help you at all. I can't add clarity where it doesn't exist. If I need to add some mids or highs to help you cut through, and you haven't sent me any in your signal, there's nothing I can do. But the funny thing is, if you send me a bright signal, I can enhance the badd frequencies. They are still there even I'd buried a little. So I can crank up the bass and still make your tone shake the walls.

So, short version is this. Send the front of house something flatter then you would expect and let him sort it out.

 

[JohnMCA72]

It can be a challenge sometimes to isolate guitars, or anything else that tends to occupy the same general frequency range. I've mixed a band that had 5 guitars, all with similar instruments & amps, all hammering the same barre chords in similar rhythms. Not much you can do with that!

I listen to the different instruments, try to see what makes each unique, & try to figure out a way to bring that out. If you try to accentuate their "strengths" rather than eliminate them, the results are generally better than making everything balanced or "equal". For example, if one guitar sounds "bright" and the other sounds "warm", cutting high frequencies out of the "bright" one might make them both sound similar, which doesn't help matters at all. Instead, cut the lows & mids out of the "bright" guitar, to help make room for the "warm" one. Maybe even give the "bright" guitar a little boost in the high end.

Lots of instruments produce frequencies in the general mid-range, so clearing that out as much as possible helps clear up those that need to be there.

What sounds good by itself often doesn't sound as good when it's mixed with a bunch of other instruments, that all sounded fine by themselves. What sounds a little thin & weak by itself often sounds great in the mix because of all the overlapping frequencies of those instruments & voices.

If you have high-pass filters available, us them everywhere that doesn't need the bottom end. That will also help reduce wind, stage rumble, & a lot of other misc. noises.

Players' styles make a big difference, too. Ideally, they'll be playing with different tones, different rhythms, different chord voicings, etc. to set themselves apart from each other.

 

[GuiTuber]

Players' styles make a big difference, too. Ideally, they'll be playing with different tones, different rhythms, different chord voicings, etc. to set themselves apart from each other.

This was my first thought reading the OP. You can separate them with EQ all you want, but if they're not playing in their sonic space, it becomes muddy again.

 

[wcriley]

In another life I played skinny-string in quite a few 2-guitar bands. What worked quite well for me was to use guitars with contrasting sonic profiles. If the other guy played a Les Paul, I played a Strat or Tele style and vice versa.

 

[4Mal]

Unless they are really skilled and listen really well, 2 guitars is one too many...

 

[wcriley]

It also requires that both guitarists have a high degree of respect for each other.