“I own a PC based recording system. I use the plug-ins that came with the software (parametric, graphic, paragraphic EQ, effects, etc.). First of all, should I buy some serious outboard EQ or are the plug-ins good enough? Second: could you help me to devise a general method to use these plug-ins to record/mix common instruments (drums, bass, guitars, piano, vocals), which particular plug-in should I use for each instrument (parametric, graphic)? What setting?”
Normally I edit questions down to one or two core components before putting them in inSync, but today I am feeling especially cruel, and I do have a point to make. You see, we get questions like this all the time, and they usually come in groups, like this group above. These questions all have subjective answers and are all a matter of opinion, which means there is no way to really answer any of them. I can (and will in this case) offer a few opinions here, and hopefully I have enough credibility by now that many of you will listen to them, but it doesn’t mean they are “right.” These are the kinds of questions you should ask your Sweetwater Sales Engineer before, during, and after you buy your equipment from us. They can dig in much deeper to your specific situation and with a better understanding of what you are trying to accomplish they can actually give RELEVANT answers.
Now, my opinions as promised (note: these are mine, not Sweetwater’s and not your Sales Engineer’s).
Answer #1: What is your definition of good enough? I think 90% of all plug-ins are crap. Period. (Bet that got your attention). Saying that, the other 10% are absolutely amazing and I couldn’t live without them. In general I find that EQ is one of the more difficult things to do with a plug-in. Even the few good EQ plug-ins still don’t sound as good as a high quality analog EQ to me, nor are they as accurate (which is really bizarre). If you’re picky about getting the absolute best sound then consider a high quality outboard EQ. But you’ve got to spend some money here, or the improvement will be minimal at best. No, I am not going to recommend a specific product. If someone from Klark Teknik or Summit Audio would like to give me one of theirs I would be happy to recommend it.
Answer #2: See our WFTD archives to get clear on the difference between parametric and graphic equalizers. All other things being equal there wouldn’t be a fundamental difference in the “sound” of the two. The key difference is in the user interface. Which type you use really does boil down to what you can achieve the best results with. In the real/analog world of hardware EQ’s I use parametrics for individual instruments because I can better tune them to exactly what I want them to do. In the plug-in world I like the concept of the paragraphic because they seem to offer the best of both worlds. A lot of this depends upon the specific behavior of the plug-ins you have.
Answer #3: So what do you think they put those knobs on there for anyway? If there were a setting for bass, drums, vocals, etc. they would just have knobs with settings for bass, drums, vocals, etc. The reason they are (usually) listed by frequency is so you can cut frequencies that annoy you or detract from the sound and/or boost frequencies that are a bit weak. It’s really that simple. The only thing anyone can do is listen to the material and make subjective judgements on a case by case basis. No, this isn’t easy at first. It requires skill that you get from experience. You can use a Real Time Analyzer or other more advanced metering product to help show you what the frequencies of offending sounds are. This is actually great ear training. I spent hours doing this when I was a kid. To this day I can quickly tell you what frequency a pitch is and be close. If you ever hope to use an EQ effectively you simply must develop an ability to translate what you hear into frequencies. That’s step one. Then you’ve got to learn how to make it all fit together right in a mix. That’s the really hard part and is totally subjective.
Good luck.