Filter
Top Products
19
EURODESK MX2442A
8.4 Desk Normalization
All board settings should be set to the normal default condition before or after every session. Usually faders are
set to zero (minus infinity) EQs set flat, trim pots and channel aux sends turned fully anticlockwise etc. Many
controls have a natural initial setting. For EQ cut and boost this is unity gain. However, some settings, such as
selecting pre or post for channel aux sends, will depend on the operating environment (e.g. studio or live), or on
an engineers preferred way of working.
9. MIXING TOPICS
9.1 Equalization
Few people buying the EURODESK will need to be told how an equalizer works. But how to get the best out of
it? Well, thats another story.
In the beginning EQ was an instrument for removing unwanted frequencies, or compensating for imperfect
microphone response curves, or bumps in a studio acoustics. It was a corrective device. Tamla Motown turned
that notion upside down in the sixties with the novel idea that you try to find for each instrument a characteristic
frequency not shared by the other instruments in the mix. Then you whack up its gain. This makes individual
voices punch through a mix in a slightly unnatural but exciting way. In general, corrective EQ usually involves
broadband (slope) contouring together with narrow-band notching of unwanted resonances. The narrower the
notch or Q, the less the total signal will be affected.
+ Finding bad resonances is made easier by first frequency sweeping in boost mode.
Motown EQ is achieved by applying boost in a fairly broadband way. The broader the band, the more musical
but less instrument-specific the effect. Applying boost over a narrow bandwidth will sound Honky. The two
semi-parametric bands of the EURODESK EQ have their Q fixed at 1, a typical and sensible value. For sounds
which require drastic corrective EQ (remember no MIDI instrument should need it), it is advisable to have a
couple of channels of fully comprehensive equalisation in your rack. (You can always bounce tracks though the
outboard EQ, freeing up the unit for the next task). Check out our BEHRINGER ULTRA-CURVE PRO DSP8024,
which promises to be another price/performance buster.
The EURODESK EQ might be applied to a signal as follows: First, trim the LF and HF shelves to achieve the
required slope or LOUDNESS. (These controls mirror the tone controls of a typical hi-fi amp.) Now use the
semi-parametric mid band to boost the nicest frequency, or to cut the nastiest. Over all channels in the mix,
if too many of the nicest frequencies coincide then you might have to settle for second best, in some cases.
Often you might want to boost two nice frequencies. Really nasty frequencies will need notching. Time to go
outboard.
+ Use the Lo Cut filter to tighten up channels in a mix: maybe remove it only for the bass, kick
drum, toms, tablas, didgeridoo and other deliberate subsonics (when recording classical music
ignore this advice).
+ Combining the 75 Hz Lo Cut filter with an increase at 80 Hz will produce a bell-type EQ that has
a more focused impact than simply increasing the bass.
+ Please keep in mind that the EQ can also be used to cut frequencies.
After each change at the EQ settings, always check and, if necessary, adjust the input gain.
9. MIXING TOPICS