An interesting video on an alternative to EQ by Tony Maserati

[KevWind]

Highly acclaimed engineer Tony Maserati demonstrates using a Multi Band Compressor in lieu of EQ in this case used on a vocal .
Perhaps this could also be something to try even on solo guitar ?

It seems like there is now a wealth of video's from very successful engineers available and it is simply a matter of finding them .

I think it speaks well that such talent is willing to share the wealth of their experience and knowledge freely, as opposed to hiding it as trade secrets

[Joseph Hanna]

I've been using multi-band comps for eq at work since the very first McDsp compressor way back yonder. Particularly in the 250 to 900 range. The only time I don't use em for eq is if the material is egregiously aggressive in a particular frequency range and the compression starts to show signs of audio anomalies because of it. Also since we're inextricably bound by meters it's a great way to deal with low-low end materials that otherwise would eat the meter alive. A multi-band down below 80 and the thump can be maintained with robbing all the bandwidth. We switched to Ozone multi-bands a few years ago and haven't looked back.

To that end multi-bands are also enormously effective on acoustic guitars as well.

[KevWind]

Thanks Joseph. I had not thought about using a multi-band on an acoustic or vocal for that matter. The only place I have used one is on the 2 Bus in more of a mastering type application.
But I am certainly going to give a try ov Vox and acoustic

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Thanks Joseph. I had not thought about using a multi-band on an acoustic or vocal for that matter. The only place I have used one is on the 2 Bus in more of a mastering type application.
But I am certainly going to give a try ov Vox and acoustic

Yea it can be very effective for sure. Particularly once you begin to wrap your head around the differences "eqing" with compression provides verses straight eq. If for example you have problematic frequencies in the previous mentioned 250-900 range a traditional eq provides for a straight stagnant cut. A multi-band of course has a threshold level as well as a ratio. In turn it makes it possible to define "when" that cut happens, how much it happens and as important, when it does not. I find multi-bands particularly powerful with acoustic guitars in taming those pesky overtones down low (sub 250). Since there is a lot of good fundamental down there a straight eq will unfortunately cut everything in that range, needed or not. A multi can be effectively set to trip when the overtones jump out a bit. Once they cross a threshold they get knocked back a tad (by the multi) but decidedly not at the expense of the fundamentals. It's of course a little more challenging to use a multi-band as a surgical type eq but then....that's what eq's are for.

The McDsp M2000 is a grand old standby and I still yank it out of the closet now and again but the newer Izotope Ozone even better. Be aware however that Ozone can be a resource hog so you're probably not gonna get 30 instantiations per session. The McDsp is pretty darn lean and they're available for Pro Tools in a non native format. Makes it easy to replace most eq's with a M2000.

[KevWind]

Thanks again.
Currently I have three multi-band comps to choose from. I have the Avid Pro Multiband Dynamics that came with the PTHD 12 bonus plugin upgrade and I have two Waves ones the C4 that Tony is using and the Liner Phase Multiband Comp, both came with the Diamond bundle I got a few years back.
I happen to be at our summer place in Wyoming (no studio) so I won't get to experiment until this fall when we go back to Colorado.

[KevWind]

I was just doing a bit of research on the Avid Pro Multiband Dynamics plugin since I have not used it yet and stumbled on this quick video. Looks like it has some interesting features. Like being able to send the different bands to mixer tracks @ 2:45 is interesting

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by KevWind

I was just doing a bit of research on the Avid Pro Multiband Dynamics plugin since I have not used it yet and stumbled on this quick video. Looks like it has some interesting features. Like being able to send the different bands to mixer tracks @ 2:45 is interesting

Yep you can fall into a fairly deep rabbit hole with this stuff. Individual sends to tracks makes balancing visually easier and the ability to process "bands" with other plug-ins is interesting. That's gettin pretty deep though. If I was doing music professionally I'd absolutely go down that road. As it is my mixes ship the same day so time is at a premium and I never get a chance at a re-do. Honestly until the show is reviewed in Post Mortom meetings I never hear my mixes twice.

But knowledge is power when it comes to mixing so I'd encourage you (when you get home) to dig deep with this kind of processing. Compression is always highly misunderstood but once you get to the bottom of things it's pretty cool stuff!

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

Y Compression is always highly misunderstood but once you get to the bottom of things it's pretty cool stuff!

Indeed.
Like many for a number of years I avoided compression altogether.
Then in 2011 I took a whole series of on line classes in Pro Tools at Berklee
and started to utilize compression for mixing. Then just last year I was fortunate enough to have scored a real bargain purchase of 2 channel tube hardware comp a, Tubcore 3 U Mastering Edition from IGS. So far I have only used on it the 2 bus but I am also going to experiment with actually tracking with it as well. So much to learn such a short life to do it in