The EQ XONE

Anyone who has ever increased or decreased the Low, Mid, or High on their home/car stereo to find a tone more pleasing to the ear has used EQ to shape sound. The entire realm of tone and sound involve a spectrum that runs from 20hz to 20khz. Every sound attainable by the human ear is represented here, and even a few it can’t. EQ is a major part of why XONE sounds like it does.

I’m sitting here now, mixing down the new version of “Beautiful One Day” that’s going to be on our second CD. The tempo is faster and the parts are more precise. Using Parametric EQ is how I’m going to get a 12 drum mic setup, Bass, and multiple tracks of guitar and Vocals to sit together nicely in sonic space. Now, I am no EQ wizard. But I do know this, Cut not boost, and if you boost, boost small and tight. I’m really learning a lot from working on this new CD, like I did working on our debut CD last summer.

EQ was already a big part of XONE’s overall band sound. Ted and I have always EQ’d our Line 6 Bass POD Pro XT and Vetta 2HD patches to work together sonically. When we make patches or a song, we make them at the same time, so we both cut thru: Ted on the Low End, me on the Highs, sharing the middle zone. Our Line 6 devices really allow us to dial in an exact blending of our tones to compliment each other. Ted, in particular, has an ear for EQ, so we rely on his expertise to finalize the process. He’s even tweaked parametric EQ on some of my Vetta patches, like Greed’s Rhythm patch. I use less Lows and Low Mids, and leave those for Ted to sound full and rich on Bass, not just thumpy. We want articulation in the Bass. In turn, I boost my Mids and Highs for my fullness and body, and so I cut thru. It’s a real finite process, as boosting any signal creates more noise as a side effect. Most of this live tone EQ-ing is done with the tone knobs on our Line 6 devices, and not much Parametric or Graphic EQ is used. These tones are recorded direct and then lightly EQ-ed in mixdown to give them more of their live sound.

On the new CD, I’m using the Waves Q-10 Parametric EQ per track, and it is awesome. We also really like the 7-band EQ in Jason’s Pro Tools! With every instrument challenging for sonic space, EQ is essential to give each one its own place in the mix. And that’s the EQ XONE…

Here is Part 2