Analog Vibe Is Sexy (But EQ Is More Important)

The other day I was watching a cool video interview with one of today’s leading mix engineers, and he was talking about some of his favorite plugins.

He mentioned his love for a lot of analog modeling plugins like the Abbey Road REDD plugins from Waves because of the vibe and character they bring to his tracks.

While I can’t disagree that analog style plugins in general and the REDD collection in particular do sound awesome, I know all too well what happens when the up and coming home studio musician hears one of our industry’s greats talk a big game about these plugs.

They shift their attention away from the plugin that REALLY makes all the difference in their mixes – EQ.

Yes, having more analog vibe in your mix is sexy and cool, but it’s not make or break. Proper tonal balance and clarity, on the other hand, is paramount. And this can be achieved with your lowly stock EQ plugin!

If You Could Only Mix With One Plugin

There are so many types of plugins out there in the mixing world: EQs, compressors, reverbs, delays, harmonic exciters, saturation plugins, stereo wideners, console emulators, tape emulators, and the list goes on.

With so many plugins to choose from it can become all to easy to subtly assume that they are all equal in terms of importance and relevance to your mix.

But nothing could be further from the truth.

Just last week I shared how your goal should be to mix with as few plugins as possible.

At the end of that video I went on to say that honestly the one plugin that will have the biggest impact on your mix is a simple EQ.

More than any tool I know, EQ has the power to make your mix radio-ready or garbage worthy.

In fact, if I were held at gun point and told to make a killer mix but I could only use one type of plugin, I would use my stock EQ plugin. I wouldn’t even have to think twice about it.

No other plugin has the power to bring clarity, tonal balance, excitement, width, or power quite like a good ole’ equalizer!

Two Secrets To Unleash Your EQ Potential

Maybe you think this is kind of obvious. EQ is important. Doesn’t everyone know that?!

Maybe. But then why do so many home studio owners misuse and even abuse EQ, leaving them with harsh, boomy, or downright painful mixes?

Two reasons:

1. People are familiar with bass and treble in a car stereo and assume EQ is just as simple
2. They’ve never been taught two of the most important secrets of proper EQ use

Because of our familiarity with basic tone knobs out in the consumer music world, we breeze past “learning EQ” and just start using it.

Unfortunately when it comes to EQ, what you don’t know will hurt you.

Allow me to briefly let you in on the two biggest EQ secrets that will help you unleash your tracks’ potential.

EQ Secret #1 – Focus on cutting rather than boosting.

All too often when we want to enhance a track with EQ we simply grab our plugin and start boosting frequencies to make a hopeful improvement. The problem? We’re simply adding gain, reducing headroom, and not addressing the real problem: masking.

There are frequencies that are covering up the good in our tracks. Your job as a mixer is to use EQ to remove or subtract the bad so you can reveal the good!

If you focus on this type of subtractive EQ instead of boosting all the time, the result will be mixes with more clarity, balance, and musicality.

EQ Secret #2 – Always level match your EQ’s output.

Any time you boost or cut a frequency with EQ you are messing with volume. EQs simply are smart volume faders.

The last thing you want is to fool yourself into thinking that you’re making your track better when in fact all you’ve done is made it louder (or quieter).

The key is to always match the output of the plugin with the input level so if you bypass it, the overall level is the same with or without EQ. You’re only adjusting tone.

EQ Like A Boss

I promise you, if you can get a firm grasp on how to EQ your tracks in the smartest way possible, your mixes will come together so much faster and with little need for many other plugins.

Sure adding analog vibe to your tracks can sound cool. But it won’t make or break your mix.

EQ truly is the difference maker between a good mix and a mediocre one.

I believe in it’s importance so much that I put together an entire guide on mixing with EQ, and you can get it here absolutely free. 

This simple 7 part video series will go in depth on what all the knobs are on your EQ plugins, how to best use EQ in a mix, and even the biggest EQ mistakes I see home studio owners making.

After watching these videos you’ll be able to EQ like a boss – which will mean you’ll be able to mix like a boss! 

And isn’t that why you’re here? To get better sounding recordings and mixes?