Important question regarding Equing in WOS III

[walkontx]

I have been using WOS III for some time now.

Until this past week I have never EQed anything when recording. When recording into my DAW, I always felt like things weren't sitting right within the mix. And to be honest, the guitars always generally felt a bit dull, fizzy, or something is missing. Even with high regarded IR's such as ownhammer and la boutique two notes amps.

I decided to start to try EQuing just to see what happens. I hate overcomplicating things, but whatever gets me there. I don't really have too much experience with EQuing, but by bringing the EQ knob up on the 2K knob on the WOS plugin, things become brighter and cut better. This is definitely a step towards the right direction of hearing guitars clearer, more life, and character. (Could be my imagination?)

So here are a few questions.

1. How important is it to to you guys to EQ within WOS to have the guitars sit right on a basic level? Wondering if this is standard practice that I've just been missing this whole time. Within my experience when recording with real mics, the guitars sound good without EQuing, but maybe when recording with IR's, this is much more important. So basically, should I be searching more for a better sound without EQuing?

2. Although the equing seems to be help a lot, sometimes this causes clipping. Not good. Is there a better and smarter way to approach this. Meaning, when bringing up knobs on the WOS equing, should I be lowering the output on the WOS plugin to compensate and balance the levels.

3. Obviously, when I think of EQUing, it's generally done in the mixing stage. So doing it this early on when sending out tracks, I'm wondering if that could cause more problems later than what I'm aware of now. To be honest, when I'm listening to these guitars without EQ, they are just really uninspiring. So I don't feel comfortable sending these dry tracks off to be mixed without adding some love to them. How do you guy approach this?

Would love to hear input from people who have experience with getting great sounds here and send off professional tracks as well as people who just get great sounds for themselves.

 

[gtrgriff3]

From my experience:

1 - EQ'ing is essential in a mix. You have to make room for all parts. Sometimes that means a boost in some region on the guitar, but maybe it might also mean cutting some frequencies in another instrument to make room. Neither is correct, just 2 approaches.

2 - Remember that EQ is a gain boost in that certain frequency. If you are on the edge of clipping already, boosting any frequencies might put you over the edge. As you say, boosting some might mean an overall decrease in output.

3 - Again this is just my experience here, but "mix ready" guitars usually aren't real inspiring. When we play alone with just guitar and amp we get to enjoy all of the frequencies, but in a mix there are other instruments that need their space.

Usually a hi pass filter is in order and that removes most of the bottom end from the guitar right there. By itself, not nearly as appealing anymore but now the bass and kick drum have some room (and making them work together is a whole different animal once the guitar is out of the way.)

Often cymbals and hi hats will compete with the 3-5K zone that we like on guitars for the "cut" so if you simply remove some of that from your drum mix, the guitars will automatically appear brighter without you touching them. But you may have to boost a little as well somewhere in that zone. Or if, like me, you prefer a much darker tone, you may find yourself cutting in those frequencies on the guitar.

When I setup patches that I know are for live use in a big band, they don't sound so good on their own, but the front-of-house guy doesn't have to touch my channel. If I go in with a tone that sounds great to me by myself, the FOH guy will make it work in the mix. I can do it or he can do it, but it's going to happen. Same thing in the studio.

At the end of the day, I suggest setting it so you're inspired to play it and then worry about mixing later. Mixing is not guitar playing, they are two different tasks so I like to treat them as such.

 

[walkontx]

Thank you grrgriff3 for your response.

I guess my main concern is when sending tracks to people, finding the correct balance of sending guitar tracks that sound amazing dry that are equed vs guitars that sound bland and not great that have no eq on them. Obviously you don't want to overdo it so the mixer can have the most control, right?

I'm wondering how much eq is necessary and normal. And if you guys achieve sounds that you're very happy with without eq that sit very well in a mix?

I hate overcomplicating things and like to have a simple approach to recording w/ the wow III.

 

[guillaume_pille]

The more you have in the audio spectrum, the more you have to EQ your guitar sound to make room for the other instruments.

And of course that part is a creative one, usually left to the mix engineer.

If you are more confortable with your sound with EQ that's perfectly fine, and you can send a bounce of the track to the mix engineer. But I take no risk if I say he will certainly EQ it again (or use compression or multiband compression) to make it fit in the mix.

 

[walkontx]

The more you have in the audio spectrum, the more you have to EQ your guitar sound to make room for the other instruments.

And of course that part is a creative one, usually left to the mix engineer.

If you are more confortable with your sound with EQ that's perfectly fine, and you can send a bounce of the track to the mix engineer. But I take no risk if I say he will certainly EQ it again (or use compression or multiband compression) to make it fit in the mix.

Thank you for the response Guillaume. Did you mean in your last sentence that you take no risk and you DO Eq, or you take no risk and you DON'T EQ before sending to a mixer?

I guess also my other question isn't just about fitting into the mix...it's also not being happy with the general sound. Equing it gives it more of the bite I'm looking for, otherwise it sounds too fizzy or dull. So I'm wondering how normal it is to change the character of the sound a bit with EQuing. I know that some people say once you EQ, it's harder to go back, but to me a sound is a sound. So really trying to get clarity on this...

 

[guillaume_pille]

I was simply saying that whatever you will put in your sound, the mix engineer will probably change it to make it fit in the mix.

I someone tells you it's not "normal" to EQ, I don't even know what that would mean. What's not normal is to get a sound that is not what you search for, knowing a way to make it better to your hears, and not using it.