In the previous tip (Part #14) we discussed equalizing guitars individually. Now we're going to talk about EQ'ing multiple guitars to fit in a mix. Let's say you have three guitars panned left, right, and center. (We'll talk about panning in future tips.) Assuming that you've followed the previous tips and have them EQ'ed such that they don't conflict with one another, and you're pleased with the overall sound, how do you get them all to sit in the mix without changing everything you've done? The answer is to use a stereo bus or aux track) and route the guitars to it.

Logic Pro and other DAWs allow you to do this quite easily. For example, in Logic, Go to the track mixer window. On the guitars' audio tracks select "bus 1" from the output popup (the last popup on the object) as the output destination. Now all audio on the guitar tracks will be routed to the Bus 1 object in the track mixer. Make sure the Bus object is set to stereo and its output is routed to your main mix, otherwise you won't hear anything. You should have your three guitar tracks being output simultaneously from the Bus object.

Next, insert an EQ plug-in by clicking on the Bus object's Insert slot. Set the EQ to cut at around 2.5 to 3kHz, and also at approximately 400Hz. By cutting the guitars at these frequencies, we're allowing the vocals to have more punch and clarity in the overall mix. Remember to use a bandwidth of one octave to start, EQ to taste, and as always, do so sparingly &mdash we're not going for a dramatic effect here, just trying to create some room for the vocals.