Regardless of your comfort level with EQ, it’s worth setting aside 15 minutes to read this fantastic article in Electronic Musician: Equalizers: Equal time
“The Bonham kick drum is the quintessential rock drum sound,” Martin explains. “I usually obtain it by boosting the frequencies between 120 and 240 Hz by about 4 dB or more. You’ll also need to roll off everything above 1.5 kHz. Sometimes, depending on the drum, you also might want to notch out 80 Hz a bit-not too much, just by 1 or 2 dB. Then add a little bit of 60 Hz, but again, just by about 2 or 3 dB.”
It’s an older article (in Internet terms, at least,) that I’ve read a dozen times over the years. And I get something new from it each time.
Immediately, you’ll notice that the male vocal gets an upper-frequency boost of 1 dB with a shelving EQ, while the female vocal requires a 3 dB shelving cut at 8.8 kHz. The male vocal also needs a 2 dB boost at 7.5 kHz and a 5 dB cut at 5.1 kHz. Martin told me that this was because the singer had a cold and sounded a bit nasal.
Tags: EQ, production
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