How To Mix Live Music Chapter 8 - Introducing EQ — Transcript

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1. 0:07Welcome to part 8 of “How to Mix Live Music”.
2. 0:12This video will give you an introduction
3. 0:15to the types of EQ available on most popular analog and digital live mixers,
4. 0:21and will help you to understand how to operate all the controls safely.
5. 0:27Let’s start with an analog mixer like the Yamaha MGP32X.
6. 0:34Its EQ controls are highlighted with a green color,
7. 0:38and each channel has 4 rotary controls.
8. 0:42There are three bands to this EQ: High, Mid and Low,
9. 0:49referring to the audio frequencies they are going to adjust.
10. 0:54Each band allows for cut and boost,
11. 0:58decrease and increase of level, for the specified frequencies.
12. 1:04Before we move on, a word of caution:
13. 1:07sudden adjustment of EQ parameters
14. 1:10can in some cases quickly cause unpleasant feedback noise.
15. 1:16So always adjust slowly and carefully,
16. 1:19and avoid too much boosting when mixing live.
17. 1:25”HIGH” will affect frequencies above 8 kHz.
18. 1:30Seeing as the fundamental frequency of the highest piano note
19. 1:33is about 4.2 kHz,
20. 1:36this band is mostly going to affect the higher harmonics
21. 1:39which add character to the sounds.
22. 1:42This band can be used to make a sound brighter or duller.
23. 1:47But be wary of increasing this more than one or two notches,
24. 1:52as these high frequencies are the most likely
25. 1:55to create feedback and cause a squeal!
26. 2:00Then “LOW” will affect frequencies below 125 Hz,
27. 2:06that is the range for most notes created by bass instruments.
28. 2:10So boosting this could provide a deeper, stronger sound to low instruments.
29. 2:16While reducing it can provide greater clarity
30. 2:19to vocals and higher pitched sounds.
31. 2:23Now both “HIGH” and “LOW” bands
32. 2:26are often referred to as “high-shelf” or “low-shelf”,
33. 2:30because their shape plotted on a graph looks like a shelf shape:
34. 2:35a sort of slope leading to a steady flat line.
35. 2:41They differ from a “HPF”,
36. 2:44which has a slope getting continuously steeper,
37. 2:46providing more and more cut.
38. 2:50The shelves apply the same amount of cut or boost
39. 2:53to all the frequencies beyond their stated “corner frequency”.
40. 2:59Though the change will be gradual at first.
41. 3:03The “MID” band is special: it has a frequency control.
42. 3:08Its range is from 250 Hz round to 5 kHz.
43. 3:14This covers all the tenor, alto, treble and soprano ranges.
44. 3:19And it has a bell shape,
45. 3:21boosting or cutting the selected frequency the most,
46. 3:24while affecting the adjacent frequencies a little less.
47. 3:29There are two basic ways to use it:
48. 3:32find the frequency that sounds the best, and boost it;
49. 3:37or find the frequency that sounds the worst, and cut it!
50. 3:44In live sound, it's always safer to cut,
51. 3:47so that's the best method to follow.
52. 3:50During the next few videos,
53. 3:52we’ll talk about how to manipulate these controls
54. 3:55to suit the different sound sources.
55. 3:58But now let's move over to the TF3, and see what its EQ has to offer.
56. 4:05Press the Home key, then touch a channel’s EQ curve
57. 4:08to access the parameters.
58. 4:14Here you can see the actual graph of the EQ,
59. 4:18you see the HPF, and the 4-bands of EQ.
60. 4:23And it is way more flexible:
61. 4:26each band has 3 parameters:
62. 4:28Gain, Frequency and either “Q” or “Type”.
63. 4:33That is what gives it the name “Parametric EQ”.
64. 4:37But don’t worry:
65. 4:38they are set up in an intuitive way to get started.
66. 4:42Let’s take a look at the HIGH band:
67. 4:46it has 18 dB of adjustment each way,
68. 4:50and it can be anything from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
69. 4:57Then there is the type:
70. 4:59look at the top right,
71. 5:00where you can choose between bell, or peak, shelf, and low-pass filters.
72. 5:07The default choice is shelf, same as most analog EQs.
73. 5:13However, if you want to boost some high frequencies,
74. 5:17then the bell shape is better:
75. 5:21this can avoid boosting the highest frequencies
76. 5:24which few people can hear,
77. 5:26thus avoiding damage to speaker tweeters at high volumes.
78. 5:31And if you want to completely eliminate the highest frequencies,
79. 5:34perhaps to avoid cymbal sounds from a kick drum mic,
80. 5:38you could use the low-pass filter option,
81. 5:41and choose the best corner-frequency.
82. 5:50Now let's look at the LOW band:
83. 5:54it has options for peak and shelf.
84. 5:58Shelf being the default.
85. 6:03Once more, if you want to boost low frequencies,
86. 6:06it may be better to use the “peaking” type,
87. 6:09to avoid increasing any damaging frequencies which you can’t hear.
88. 6:16The two mid bands have the same parameters: gain, frequency and Q.
89. 6:23They are both “peak” types,
90. 6:25and can be set to any frequency between 20 Hz and 20 kHz.
91. 6:34The “Q” parameter, or “Q-Factor” refers to the shape of the peak:
92. 6:41a high Q value means steep slopes of the peak,
93. 6:46so only a narrow frequency range will be affected;
94. 6:50a low Q value means gradual slopes,
95. 6:54so a wider frequency range will be affected.
96. 7:00The default, again, is similar to the analog EQ’s behavior,
97. 7:05to give a familiar feel to new users.
98. 7:10So the combination of type, Q, and wider frequency range for all the bands
99. 7:16makes the digital Parametric EQ far more versatile and accurate
100. 7:21for shaping the sound.
101. 7:24However, all the controls can be daunting
102. 7:27if you are not familiar with them.
103. 7:30No worries with TF: it has a library of presets!
104. 7:34If you don’t know where to start,
105. 7:36look in the preset library,
106. 7:39with the button on the bottom left below the screen.
107. 7:43You can find EQ presets for all popular instruments and vocal types:
108. 7:49get a good sound instantly!
109. 7:54Anyway, it’s still good to learn how to use an EQ,
110. 7:58because there are so many variables to an instrument’s sound,
111. 8:02and the acoustics of a venue.
112. 8:05When you have a spare moment,
113. 8:07plug in a microphone and headphones to your mixer,
114. 8:10and experiment with the EQ on your own voice,
115. 8:14and experience how much the sound can change!
116. 8:19I’m going to be dishing out tons of tips and tricks for using EQ
117. 8:23on various instruments during the next few videos.
118. 8:26And in chapter 9 we’ll learn how to use a Graphic EQ.
119. 8:32Thanks for joining me.