How do you dial in your sound?

[icy_wind500]

Hi guys,

I'm a newbie when it comes to eq-ing. I've been playing on my venue DI for about 6 months, I sort of got it dial in now but still having trouble at times.

Whats your standard approach when it comes to finding the sweetest sound? Do you just go for a feel? Or is there a set routine?

The only time I play out is when I play for worship at church. I plug into my venue DI then straight into PA. I normally start with my eq flat and then roll the bass down so it doesn't clash with the bass player. Then I tweak the treble so I can be heard in the mix. I usually leave the mids alone, while its sounding good for me, deep inside I know I can do better.

Can anyone share your tweaking process?

[joeguam]

icy, this is what I posted in another thread of how I EQ my guitars, specifically with the K&K pure mini pickup and the Venue DI:

...

Start you with a flat EQ and try to clear the mud with your Venue DI (it really helps to have a another person to do this step):


- Set all knobs to "0"


- Start with the bass, just play your low E string and have your friend turn the LOW knob down until it's to your liking. Note that it is not uncommon to cut anywhere from 10-15dB's (8:00 or 7:00 position)


- While you're playing as you would on stage, have your friend BOOST the mids about 10dB's (4:00 or 5:00), then sweep the KHZ knob until it's right on the frequency that sounds the WORST. For me in my guitar, this is usually between 500-900Hz. Once you've found the frequency that is the MUDDIEST, then have your buddy turn DOWN the mid knob until it's to your liking and the mud clears up nicely. Again, it's not uncommon to cut anywhere from 10-15dBs.


- Once you've cleared the mud and your bass level is set, cut or boost your PRES and TREB to your liking. I find that I'm usually good right at flat.


- When you have your tone dialed in, then you can turn it over to your FOH and have him set your level in the mix and adjust any EQ as necessary. He may need to cut more mid or low frequencies, but you've already taken care of most of the mud, and you've given him a workable signal.


...

I can't take credit for this, it's what I've learned from other great sound engineers and research I've done on my own.

I'm very curious to hear how others EQ their sound, especially if they have parametric EQ's.

[Ghostpicker]

[QUOTE=joeguam;4181113]icy, this is what I posted in another thread of how I EQ my guitars, specifically with the K&K pure mini pickup and the Venue DI:

Can't wait to try this. I've been using a Larrivee D9 with a K&K and Venue. Couldn't seem to clear up the "mud" to my liking.

Thanks for the tip. I'd love to hear how others approach it.

[Yamaha Man]

Well I start out with everything set flat and depending on the application I adjust from there, meaning for recording into the computer, I'll have a different setting than playing thru my amp. For recording, I set the bass and the low mid knobs to 3:00 and everything else flat, and that works out great for me...however that setting is way too bassy for my amp so I have to turn it down and even cut the bass settings or else I'll get a bass feedback....

That's the beauty of having the Venue, you can adjust your settings as needed. Every place you play will have a different need, and you'll have to adjust for that particular room.

I'm still a newbie with this Venue, so don't take my words as Gospel...I still need to play around with it some more. However I am finding out that having the Venue is really important to getting the most out of my Lyric pickup. It's a must have for me. Different pickups and different guitars will also have different settings.

[Irish Pennant]

I set everything on flat and use a looper as a tool to free up my hands and ears.

I first plug my MP3 player into the mixer and play a professionally mixed song and adjust the speakers eq to a sound I like.

Plug the looper into the amp/mixer and play a simple three chord loop. Adjust the amp/mixer to a sound that I like.

Plug the looper into the front end of the pedal board, play a simple three chord loop and adjust the PADI to a sound I like. Adjust the reverb to a level I like, adjust the chorus pedal to a level I like.

Move the looper to the end of the pedal board, play a loop and make minor adjustments.

[joeguam]

I'm also with Irish on this one, if you have a loop pedal, use that in front of your Venue to work your EQ. This is of course if you don't have a friend to help.

[Yamaha Man]

Yes I agree, using a looper would be beneficial. I don't have one yet though.

[jseth]

My experience is that EVERY PA system/amplifier through which I play is going to sound differently and need different EQ adjustments... so the FIRST thing I do is nothing, knowing that there is no set pattern for a given system in a given room...

However I can, I get out in the target area (where the audience will be) and listen to my guitar from that vantage point. My bigger PA is a Bose L1 Model I Classic (which I love!) and it has the remarkable characteristic that the sound in the audience is nearly exactly what I hear as the player when I have the Bose 6-10" behind me and a bit diagonal to the headstock of the guitar.

I use the Anthem SL system in both my 6 and 12 string "stage" guitars; I have the balance set on them, internally, for optimum sound through that Bose PA. Once I get the tone dialed in that I want on my T1 mixer, I save that to have as a reference point, and then I adjust for the particular venue in which I'll be playing and singing.

For the past couple decades, the balance of my performing has been as a solo act, guitar and voice, so I not only don't have to be concerned with "stepping all over" the bassist, I actually want my guitars to sound like they do when I'm playing acoustically without amplification... by this I mean that present sound that comes from a guitar in your lap, not some distant, diluted sound.

To that end, I will start with everything set at 0, or the detente setting, and work from there... there is a certain commonality to the tone of those anthem pickups, and whenever I play in a new room, I use that as a benchmark and go out into the room and listen... and adjust from there.

My experience has been that, the better the pickup and the better the PA system, the LESS fooling around with EQ is needed... if I have to be jaacking one frequency all over the place to get a good sound, then something is amiss, somewhere...

When I use my AER Compact, the process is much the same; however, with that little amp, it is really essential to have a long guitar cord and walk out into the audience area. The AER sounds vastly different when it's turned up to a performing volume versus just playing in a room by myself at a lower level.

Above all, listening to what the audience is hearing is essential for me to get the sound I want... after all, I am performing for them! At the same time, I know that I am the one MOST concerned with how my guitar and voice sound, so I want to hear what the audience is hearing... which is one reason I have such a distaste for most monitor mixes/systems...

[janmulder]

Definitely, if you want to hear what the audience will hear use a looper ... I use a small device called Backtrack by Line 6 which is easy to setup.

Here is a small demo of how you can set a parametric EQ quickly ... I made it a while back to demo what the Carl Martin Para EQ can do. It's not entirely fair as even though the amp is set fairly loud for a small room demo you still get about 30%-50% original guitar. But you get the idea of what you're meant to do at least

All I'm doing in this video is increasing the volume of each of the bands, sweeping the frequency knob till I find the offending frequency and then reducing the volume knob to get rid of it ... and then afterwards increasing the master volume to get back to the same level.

I start with the mid frequencies to get rid of the boxy sound first, then go to the bass frequencies to get rid of the boom and finally go to the high frequency knob to get rid of the tinny/hard sounds.



Sorry for the lack of quality (and structure to the demo) but you get the general idea of how quick it is to dial in a particular sound.

This is how I dial in my sound if I'm in a hurry and it literally takes only a few seconds (for demo purposes a bit longer).

[Doubleneck]

Originally Posted by Dakedi

Definitely, if you want to hear what the audience will hear use a looper ... I use a small device called Backtrack by Line 6 which is easy to setup.

Here is a small demo of how you can set a parametric EQ quickly ... I made it a while back to demo what the Carl Martin Para EQ can do. It's not entirely fair as even though the amp is set fairly loud for a small room demo you still get about 30%-50% original guitar. But you get the idea of what you're meant to do at least

All I'm doing in this video is increasing the volume of each of the bands, sweeping the frequency knob till I find the offending frequency and then reducing the volume knob to get rid of it ... and then afterwards increasing the master volume to get back to the same level.

I start with the mid frequencies to get rid of the boxy sound first, then go to the bass frequencies to get rid of the boom and finally go to the high frequency knob to get rid of the tinny/hard sounds.



Sorry for the lack of quality (and structure to the demo) but you get the general idea of how quick it is to dial in a particular sound.

This is how I dial in my sound if I'm in a hurry and it literally takes only a few seconds (for demo purposes a bit longer).

Great example of how to use increased volume to fine offending frequencies, well done. I learned that on this forum. Works well. Steve

[joeguam]

Originally Posted by Doubleneck

Great example of how to use increased volume to fine offending frequencies, well done. I learned that on this forum. Works well. Steve

I agree, nice demo Dakedi, that's basically how I do the same. Many can learn quickly from your video.

[Andy Howell]

I calculated my basic dial in using my home studio monitors. I always start with bass and lower mids in the base position and adjust others (I use 5 band eq) to fit venue. I will send a flat signal if there is a good sound engineer.