Turtlerock Forum

Hey Guy's, here are some noob EQ questions for my first thread;

What hardware EQ units do you like to use for tracking?
Do you find much of an advantage in shaping and Hi/Low pass filtering on the way into your DAW?
Do you only use plugin's and no Hardware EQ? If so what plugs do the job for you?
Which Hardware EQ's would you use for tracking as well as for a mix bus?

Thanks for taking your time to read this and for your helpful responses, Jonathan

hey man,

questions of which EQs to use is a pretty broad one...i suppose the answer would be pretty broad too..."which ever eq works".

Everything depends on ur source material. if you record classical music, maybe too coloured a pre will not work.

if you record rock, something too clean may sound boring or wrong.

Hi and low passing before you go in is a pretty good idea, seeing as its smoother and phater, generally on a good hi pass/low shelf filter. Dont overdo it if unsure.

The answers for everything else is "use what does the job best". Bit more info on what music you'll be recording might be helpful :-)

Hey Guy's, thanks for reading, most of the music I am involved mostly with falls into two styles, pop/rock and a bit of singer/songwriter stuff with acoustic or keys. I'm coming from a 'live' world using analogue consoles and am starting out with recording demos for friends and occasional Voice Over at work.
I am looking to make full channel strips for my recordings [Pre, EQ, Compressor] with a few flavors before hitting the DAW and possibly using these same EQ and Compressors for bussing etc, [kind of a hybrid system I think].
I'd like to keep it all pretty straight forward using the DAW for convenience and the hardware for that 'analogue signature' but I am not sure what I should be looking for in a hardware EQ.
Are people doing similar things? If so what do you like to use and what would you want to get your hands on?
I am familiar with parametric EQ's [usually built into the console] and multiband EQ's but not sure what the prefference in recording chains is.
Thanks for your time and comments, it's all appreciated. Jono

JEvans_AU wrote:Hey Guy's, here are some noob EQ questions for my first thread;

What hardware EQ units do you like to use for tracking?
Do you find much of an advantage in shaping and Hi/Low pass filtering on the way into your DAW?
Do you only use plugin's and no Hardware EQ? If so what plugs do the job for you?
Which Hardware EQ's would you use for tracking as well as for a mix bus?

Thanks for taking your time to read this and for your helpful responses, Jonathan

One thing that I think about is that it really depends on your signal chain.
If you have a great amp, player, room, mic, micpre, converters (which I understand is not always possible to have ALL criteria filled) then you are keeping the signal path as true to the original tone as possible.
If the recorded tones need some gentle or surgical EQ, my preference would be to buss it out to external EQ's (of whatever flavour you are after) or if you are an ITB kind of guy, throw a plugin over the insert.
I have and use both depending on the situation, but I'm finding that its best to try and establish the tones you are after prior to hitting the big red R button.
Being a guitar player, the tone coming out of my amp is the most important part to start with.
I'm sure it is the same with all other players of fine instruments.
Dont be afraid to experiment and see what works best or sounds best to YOU!
Happy EQ'ing.

On advice from this forum (thanks Rick) I picked up an Orban 642b stereo parametric eq to use for tracking - as has been mentioned source and mic choice / placement are a better place to start than eq but the Orban is a very useful, flexible tool that works on most sources.

It depends on how much you want to spend, you can get a good eq for around a grand or a superb eq for between $4000 to ......................

Text_Edifice wrote:On advice from this forum (thanks Rick) I picked up an Orban 642b stereo parametric eq to use for tracking - as has been mentioned source and mic choice / placement are a better place to start than eq but the Orban is a very useful, flexible tool that works on most sources.

I have the 622b - nice EQ..

also cheap - at the time I foolishly quibbled over $500 for the 642b.

There are lots of other good options in and out of the box - as Heath said, depends on how much you want to spend (also how much of that you're going to see back).

having good luck with my avalon 747 as its quite subtle. stereo as well

I can't see the point in EQ while recording anymore - it made sense to me with tape but not with todays systems.

I'll do nearly anything to not process a track with a plugin, even if it means eq'ing while tracking.

I think it depends a lot on workflow and your approach to tracking – I'm normally mixing the projects I track and I approach tracking with a basic idea of the types of sounds I want and where I want those sounds to sit in the mix.

EQ (along with mic choice / placement, preamp choice - maybe even some compression) is a useful tool to build the mix as I go and get the sounds in my head to come out of the speakers.

Applying these broad strokes when tracking means that the 'mix' process becomes more about refinement than construction.

Of course not every project works this way.

Welcome to the forum.
As you can see from the answers not a lot of people like to commit to any specific pieces of gear ith out knowing all the info.
All very valid comments and the usual "get it right before you record it", "use the hi and low shelves "but I guess coming from a live venue viewpoint you most likely wont be in an ideal recording environment and because of the un-ideal environment there wont be ideal eq to suggest.
Now for some of my specific pieces that I like to use in un ideal recording locations is the slightly uncoloured Speck ASC eq for small bucks , or the beautiful Tube Tech 1EA for large bucks. Waves EQ and DIGI III eq for everything ITB.
I would also like to toy with the idea of trying to use a Klark Tech DN series Eq next time there is one available. I have heard that they can do a great job in a pinch. But that is just hearsay.