Yamaha MG124CX Owner's Manual - Page 9

Mixer Basics Making the Most of Your Mixer To EQ or Not to EQ In general: less is better. There are many situations in which you'll need to cut certain frequency ranges, but use boost sparingly, and with caution. Proper use of EQ can eliminate interference between instruments in a mix and give the overall sound better definition. Bad EQ-and most commonly bad boost-just sounds terrible. Cut for a Cleaner Mix For example: cymbals have a lot of energy in the mid and low frequency ranges that you don't really perceive as musical sound, but which can interfere with the clarity of other instruments in these ranges. You can basically turn the low EQ on cymbal channels all the way down without changing the way they sound in the mix. You'll hear the difference, however, in the way the mix sounds more "spacious," and instruments in the lower ranges will have better definition. Surprisingly enough, piano also has an incredibly powerful low end that can benefit from a bit of low-frequency roll-off to let other instruments- notably drums and bass-do their jobs more effectively. Naturally you won't want to do this if the piano is playing solo. The reverse applies to kick drums and bass guitars: you can often roll off the high end to create more space in the mix without compromising the character of the instruments. You'll have to use your ears, though, because each instrument is different and sometimes you'll want the "snap" of a bass guitar, for example, to come through. The fundamental and harmonic frequency ranges of some musical instruments. Cymbal Piano Bass Drum Snare Drum Bass Guitar Trombone Trumpet 20 50 100 200 500 1 k 2 k 5 k 10 k 20 k (Hz) Fundamental: The frequency that determines the basic musical pitch. Harmonics: Multiples of the fundamental frequency that play a role in determining the timbre of the instrument. Some Frequency Facts The lowest and highest frequencies than can be heard by the human ear are generally considered to be around 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz, respectively. Average conversation occurs in the range from about 300 Hz to about 3,000 Hz. The frequency of a standard pitchfork used to tune guitars and other instruments is 440 Hz (this corresponds to the "A3" key on a piano tuned to concert pitch). Double this frequency to 880 Hz and you have a pitch one octave higher (i.e. "A4" on the piano keyboard). In the same way you can halve the frequency to 220 Hz to produce "A2" an octave lower. Boost with Caution If you're trying to create special or unusual effects, go ahead and boost away as much as you like. But if you're just trying to achieve a goodsounding mix, boost only in very small increments. A tiny boost in the midrange can give vocals more presence, or a touch of high boost can give certain instruments more "air." Listen, and if things don't sound clear and clean try using cut to remove frequencies that are cluttering up the mix rather than trying to boost the mix into clarity. One of the biggest problems with too much boost is that it adds gain to the signal, increasing noise and potentially overloading the subsequent circuitry. Signal Level (dB) LOW Boost MID Boost LOW Flat MID Flat HIGH Boost HIGH Flat LOW Cut MID Cut Frequency (Hz) HIGH Cut MG124CX/MG124C Owner's Manual 9