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"Im assuming that if you were to lower all of the eq spectrum on an instrument, that it is the equivalent of lowering the volume on an instrument(am i correct in assuming this?)."
YES!!

" So, after hearing a lot of talk about how good engineers will cut much more than they boost",
THIS IS UNTRUE, you cut or boost according to what the mix needs.

Faders are for creating a balance within your mix, if you are using them for tonal changes then you can't balance your mix.

Good Luck

Liam

splurge wrote: ---

Faders are for creating a balance within your mix, if you are using them for tonal changes then you can't balance your mix.

...also means ya need to call a tech, 'cause yer faders a little dirty!! :lol:

I'm still learning a lot about mixing properly but over the years, I have learned this much:

I always start with getting the volume balance between tracks as close to "done" as possible. Then, I focus on compression, eq, etc. If I'm making tonal adjustments while eq'ing a track and notice the volume subsequently get higher or lower, I adjust it with the gain/output knob if the eq has one (plugins, in my case). I try to basically "make-up" or "shave-off" the extra db's, similarily to how I adjust the output of a compressor once I dialed in what I want it to do.

If need be, I'll later adjust my mixer faders on particular channels and that'll be that, with the ease of mind that none of my plugins are causing clipping.

Hope that helps.

thanx for the reply guys... to make this a little clearer, i wanted to figure this out because i wanted more punch out of a kick and so i increased about 4-5db's at 5k.
when i put in an L2 to catch the peaks i noticed that the kick was clipping a little over 2db's which i had no problem with, but now i see the final mix waveform and the kick peaks are way over the rest of the track which could've used a couple more db's but if i crank it up, the limiter will then limit too much and distort.
and i think compressing will only reduce those kick peaks which give it the sound i want and become the same as lowering the fader on the kick(right?). so now i think my dilemma is to sacrifice a little kick to make the track a little louder without screwing up dynamics...

Juan

theholotrope wrote: so now i think my dilemma is to sacrifice a little kick to make the track a little louder without screwing up dynamics...

AAAAAaaaaaarrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

The only way to make a track "louder" is to screw up [as in remove] it's dynamics. You have to make it so everything is turned up all the way all the time... which will make it sound as disposable as the rest of the crap on the radio. Know why Lenny Kravitz sells records? Because he stuff doesn't sound like all the other disposable crap on the radio [I sure as hell hope it ain't because of his songwriting!!]

First, lay off the L2... it's an evil piece of shit designed to make your music sound like shit... louder for sure, but overall, like shit. Next, learn a little about equalizers... I don't feel like writing a book today, so here are two threads from Home Recording where I did write half a book on EQ... they start out in other places but there is some pretty good information on EQ as you go through them.

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=130525&highlight=headroom http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=127765&highlight=headroom

If you don't feel like checking them out... I'll give you the short version which is: I don't know who told you that "good" engineers only use negative [subtractive] EQ... but they're a fucking idiot and you'll be well served not to listen to them.

Last... sound is sound, volume is volume. If you shape the sound so it works and plays well with the other sounds then balance that sound in volume so it works with all the other sounds... that's called "mixing". If you try to muscle one sound through the other sounds without considering the overall effect... that's called "being a hack".