EASILY EQ YOUR TRACKS AND QUICKLY FINISH YOUR MIXES
If you've ever struggled with:
- Muddy bass
- Harsh high-end
- Amateur mixes
…then I hear your pain.
When I started, I had no idea how to make clean, clear, and powerful mixes.
Back in 2006, I got my first audio job as a sound tech at a small venue called The Old Library.
As excited as I was for the job, it started off as a complete disaster.
You see, The Old Library had a terrible reputation for its sound. Bands would only play there as a last resort.
So I got thrown into the deep end and did NOT know how to swim...
With a lonely mixer with a four-band EQ, I made the most of the situation, twisting knobs, pushing faders, and trying to make the music sound good.
But EQ was like a foreign programming language that only professional engineers understood.
I had no idea how - or where - I should boost or cut frequencies to make my mixes sound better.
So, I used the only method available to me:
Trial and Error 😬
Desperately twisting knobs in a dingy dive isn’t the best way to learn EQ. I could hardly see what I was doing!
Sure, any time I tweaked the EQ, the mix changed. Sometimes for the better.
Most of the time for the worse.
The kick drum kept clashing with my bass guitar. The guitars drowned out the vocals. And my entire mix always sounded like a harsh, exhausting mess.
When I tamed the harshness in my mix, it usually ended up muddy instead.
But I kept at it, refusing to give up before I knew how it all worked.
I slowly learned that understanding frequencies was like learning the right chord progressions or finding the right scales to solo over a song.
After spending countless hours behind the mixing board, I realized something that would instantly improve my audio skills.
EQ is THE Most Important Tool for Making Better Mixes
Whether you're doing live sound, recording demos in your bedroom, or working on mixes in your home studio, EQ will help you make better music.
Forget about thin-sounding vocals, boomy bass, or harsh guitars! With the correct EQ moves, you can make every instrument sound exactly how you want it to.
- EQ helps you create punchy low-end and sparkling highs
- EQ helps you separate guitars and vocals so that you hear them distinctly in all their detail
- EQ cleans up your low end and makes your kick drum and bass fill out the lows instead of clashing to create a muddy mix
When you know how to EQ, you know exactly where to find the frequencies destroying your mix.
I quickly learned to eliminate boominess and mud by controlling the low mids between 100 - 200 Hz.
I discovered a simple way to create space for the vocals in the high mids while keeping the rest of the arrangement clean and present.
By sculpting the frequencies of each track, I could create separation between my instruments and balance in my mixes with just my EQ!
It Was Like a Cheat Sheet for Making Great Mixes!
EQ helped me transform that music venue into an in-demand spot where all the coolest indie artists wanted to play.
But I wouldn't have been able to make those shows sound so great without my newly acquired knowledge of EQ.
Understanding EQ wasn’t a choice; it was necessary to make everything sound good.
Since then, I've mastered the frequency spectrum.
I've learned to wipe the mud off even the busiest mixes, leaving them clean, clear, and professional.
Do You Share My EQ Struggles?
You probably have similar issues with your home studio mixes.
If you struggle to create depth, balance, and separation in your mixes but you don't know how to make your songs explode* from the speakers like your favorite records - you're not alone.
(*And by explode, I mean metaphorically and musically, not in a home studio insurance scam sorta way…)
If you're like most of my students, you run into the same problems every time:
- Your tracks squabble like siblings, and you just can't separate them in the frequency spectrum
- Your low end sounds so muddy that your bass and kick might as well sign up for the next Tough Mudder race
- You don't know how to get your instruments to cut through the mix, so you add so much high-end that your dog serves you divorce papers
And most importantly, you can't get that big present vocal sound you hear from your favorite artists.
If that's the case, here's how you can finally fix your muddy mixes so your music sounds like your favorite records.
(Unless your favorite record is "Who Let the Dogs Out" by Baha Men, in which case, you're on your own).
You’re Walking a Tightrope
EQ’ing your mixes can often feel like you’re walking a tightrope.
- When you boost the bass, your mix sounds muddy.
- Whenever you add high-end, your mix sounds too harsh.
You don’t know how much you should boost, and you’re worried that you’re cutting the life out of your mix.
You’re trying to make your mix sound like you hear it in your head, but you're dangerously close to hearing voices instead.
You've tried all the techniques you've read about on blogs, watched on YouTube, or heard from your mom's dentist who can't stop talking about his new beats.
Some people tell you that you should only use subtractive EQ, even though you feel like boosting makes everything sound better.
And as you jump from one trick to another, the advice feels more contradictory.
You're scared of damaging your mix because you're never sure whether you're doing the right things to make your mixes clean and present.
“Can Somebody Tell Me the Sweet Spots Already?!?”
You wish somebody would tell you where to EQ your tracks so you can finish your mix and release your record.
Instead, they roll their eyes and tell you to "use your ears" when all you want is real, actionable advice.
Even when you know for a fact that you're making your mix sound better, you can't stop EQ'ing because you never know when you're done, like that scab they tell you won't ever heal if you don't stop scratching it.
So What's the Solution?
Magic jelly beans? Elven ears? A super soldier serum made from the DNA of last century's Grammy winners?
Not quite.
After 15+ years of working as an audio engineer doing both live, studio, and broadcast mixing, I created the #1 tool for home studio musicians and bedroom producers who want to master the frequency spectrum and instantly improve their mixes.
I've been there, so I created the Audio Issues EQ so that you can focus on EQ'ing your mixes in minutes instead of hours.
