Originally posted by Shacke:
Can anyone please tell me what the physical act of sweeping the frequencies is please, is it actually tweaking the Frequency knob up and down and if it is, what exactly should I be listening for?

Hi Shacke,

Yes indeed - that's it. Of course together with a more or less strong boost with the gain knob.
You are using the EQ as a "magnifying glass" in order to identify the frequency range that you want to affect. This can either be an annoying frequency band (that you would cut subsequently) or it might be a frequency range that you want to encourage by boosting (of course with broader bandwidth and moderate gain).

Matthias

Thanks a lot, it's much clearer now.

Shacke,

> Can anyone please tell me what the physical act of sweeping the frequencies is <

The first step is to determine just by listening what needs improving. A lot of tracks do not need a single frequency reduced that way. For example, an acoustic guitar may be basically okay, and need only a little overall treble boost to make it clearer.

The technique you describe is useful in two situations. One is when an instrument has a honky tone, or a nasal quality, or is too boomy in the upper bass range. The other time sweeping is useful is to find the sweet range of an instrument, so you'll know what to reduce on other tracks to make the first one stand out better.

When I determine that a track has an obnoxious quality that needs to be reduced I do what you described: Set the Q fairly narrow (2-5) and add a substantial amount of boost, then sweep the frequency knob until it sounds the worst. That identifies the problem frequency. Then I bring the boost back down to zero so my ears get used to the original sound for a few moments, and finally I reduce that band a little - maybe 2 to 3 dB.

--Ethan

As Ethan points out

The technique you describe is useful in two situations. One is when an instrument has a honky tone, or a nasal quality, or is too boomy in the upper bass range. The other time sweeping is useful is to find the sweet range of an instrument, so you'll know what to reduce on other tracks to make the first one stand out better.

I find that almost all tracks or sources have what I term a "resonant frequency", that is a frequency that stands out more than any other. I try to find these with the aforementioned technique and attenuate them a few dB. This makes this element more "transparent" inthe mix. Sometimes I will try this on something and not be able to find anything objectionable. When this happens, I will turn off the EQs on that track and smile, big ... Kurt
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You guys have really been helpful, thanks a lot.