EQing Before or After Compression? | You Suck at Mixing #9

Hi, You Suck at Mixing and I’m Underbelly. As we just saw, order matters. And no order is more important than the order in which you place your EQ and compressor. In today’s lesson, we’re gonna learn which order will provide the sound that you’re looking for. Let’s get started.
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About Underbelly: Trained in classical piano since the age of 7, Underbelly started producing electronic music when he was 14 and teaching online when he was 17. His KZbin Channel, You Suck at Producing, now has over 85,000 subscribers. His tutorials and original productions have been featured in publications such as DJ Tech Tools, Earmilk, NEST HQ, Pyramind, and more. He has toured internationally and supported artists such as Lido, Tchami, Keys N Krates, Sango, and Giraffage. He uploads new tutorial videos every Thursday and does a livestream every Sunday. You can submit tracks for the livestream by joining his Discord.

[@oliverquach9614]

What an emotional vocal performance. I really felt it when he said ‘dadi Le Li’

[@victorcoyenn]

0:00-0:04 The most confusing moment in my entire life.

[@makinru6178]

_It hurts itself into confusion_

[@SchulleHBS]

🤣🤣🤣

[@RaviYadav-bj6mw]

😂

[@eduardopuccini]

That was beautiful

[@nate5051]

it hurt

[@boogabuga7657]

So essentially: EQ first to remove unnecessary frequencies > Compress to control dynamics > EQ to shape the tone

[@mg3226]

Exactly my thoughts. I wonder if he didn't explicitly say this to avoid providing a "formula" to all songs. Or maybe he just couldn't handle anymore "dehdalee's" and stopped editing?

[@NickFeverMusic]

"But think of the three C's as a rule of thumb, "Cut, Compress, Character."" nickfever.com/Music/Blog/eq-or-compress-first

[@diffusives]

i like to EQ > compress > saturate (distortion if you wanna) > spread stereo (except for kick and bass) > then EQ again to cut unecessary stereo wideness > then compress again .

[@LORdXRaytHe1st]

@@diffusives I like sausage fattener

[@tommacavoy116]

Beat off compress and then eq

[@wislaus]

DUH-DU-LEE DUH-DU-LEEH !

[@dijpdepijp2154]

He outdid himself again

[@Mubu5Reborn]

Sounds lkke he's saying deadly

[@MilosVujovic]

DUH-DU-LEE DUH-DU-LEEH *AUGH*

[@CIrylgAnee]

Im so dead ahhahahaha

[@diffusives]

i like to EQ > compress > saturate (distortion if you wanna) > spread stereo (except for kick and bass) > then EQ again to cut unecessary stereo wideness > then compress again .

[@SystemGlitch]

describing low end as leg hairs is so accurate

[@franCBrd]

Literally chills when your voice kicked in

[@Illuminati092]

The voice of an angel =^.^=

[@user-mc7ee2qm7l]

"He has weak legs" made me laugh out loud so hard I returned to that video a few times just to experience this joke again. Brilliant, so many good tips, great jokes

[@heuxheux]

boi, these vocals struck deep, i'm in tears

[@w.umusic1857]

😹

[@JustinsVlogz]

thanks for making these videos. makes it feel like im being taught by a friend instead of a intimidating professional

[@andycordell9570]

only teacher that keeps it fun, interesting and still gets the point across effectively. you the best dad

[@kage-fm]

can you provide those vocals as stems? they were angelic

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

I wouldn't go that far but good impressions of Ned Flanders.

[@hiraeth5150]

When you said diddley diddley diddley I felt that 😔✌️

[@w.umusic1857]

😹😹😹

[@josephyarzebinski9585]

This is hilarious! Keep it up. Most mixing videos are boring, but you are bringing us to a whole new place!!!!

[@freshpressedify]

Now the song is stuck in my head.

[@Henry-yo9qf]

Am I the only one who wanted him to add reverb on his vocal to hear how it would sound?

[@MrMapacheco]

finally a video on this matter

[@composerdorianbell]

Good information, thanks Underbelly.

[@miguelangelvb1]

thanks again for another amazing tutorial bruv

[@DrinkaPibb]

Dude you had me laughing my ass off when I'm just trying to learn how to mix. Thank you!

[@splatsquatch3934]

4:10 i had an accredited engineer once tell me that while compressing after EQ (especially with extreme compression), remember that the compressor will only add back the frequencies you were intending to cut with that EQ. Not extremely applicable with the x24 high pass you used at 4:10 but is with notches or slight EQ!

[@leogallagher2736]

Super helpful one tysm

[@ThugTheFerret]

i fucking love your videos bro, keep up, im subscribed since ep3 or 2 of producing series. seriously considering a patreon support soon enough! thaks for sharing knowledge :)

[@cubanix]

Dilady #1 on spodify

[@gamu1647]

love your vids

[@Anatolia909tv]

I love you're not selling me shi. You just tell me how my life really sucks and how much of a poser I am at the thing I love to say I'm good at. Thank you for cracking my skull open and my ego too. I'm so much better at this now, thanks to you. Sound people(we) need to here some truths strait up. Wowsies

[@tz4601]

Production channels that exist just to hawk plugins through affiliate links drive me nuts, especially when you can tell the entire point of the video was literally just to market a specific plug-in. Andrew Huang has unfortunately kinda turned into this recently. Even the 4 producers 1 sample series is now just an excuse to market some sort of affiliate thing. It's why I appreciate channels like Loopop that show off and review gear but never take any money from the gear manufacturers. How can I trust what you're saying if you're getting paid to say it?

[@jocemat]

what a voice! ur #1 fan.

[@ethen999]

this shit song is beautiful. those guitar chords. i'd love to hear a full version of this.

[@knivesout33]

BEST CHANNEL ON KZbin. WOWZERS!

[@kadehooper1544]

what a beautiful voice u have sir

[@gwendeseminat8r]

that smile... i could never stay mad at him

[@onio2674]

4:45 Excuse me i have to go clean up the blood in my ears 😂😂🤣🤣 GREAT TUTORIAL :)

[@fotpjusto457]

Wow I loved those lyrics

[@djleadone]

🤣😂🤣😂🤣 I’m dying over here!!!!! “Diddillydallidy...”

[@bimguff]

How am I supposed to learn anything if I can't stop laughing?

[@soniibeatz]

So can you just do EQ cuts before compression and EQ boost after?

[@bboymac84]

Can you do vocal compression?

[@vinnien]

EQ, Compress, EQ again.

[@joshviggiani9844]

What a time to be alive

[@tylerdurden6992]

Fabfilter pro q has a auto gain function so i can sounddesign and compressor is not affected

[@curtisbuettner1932]

This guy rocks

[@adamholm2436]

Please release this track

[@jmydn2]

THANKS UNDERBOOB!

[@Kyle-wb7wx]

Fuck me I love your style! It's so easy to understand and learn in a hilarious way! Where can I give you money?

[@maxknoblock]

For the first example, could you just add another eq that boosts the kick after the compressor? That way, the compressor wouldn't have to deal with the unwanted low frequencies?

[@BeatCommission]

I was about to say this, glad I read the comments first .

[@Mubu5Reborn]

That's how i do it. Cut the unwanted, compress then boost and "tone" the signal. But EQs can cause phase shifts which can make a sound weaker or stronger and you might still endup compressing/boosting a weaker/stronger signal where if you turn it up later on with the second eq you'll have an even weaker version of what you would have the other way around. Now the reason why I still do it with 2 eqs is because of the second example. Every sound has them but for things like drums i just use a really strong low shelf at 90hz rather than cutting. I'll include the cut at 60hz then you'll preserve something atleast. But i usually do this on a bus.

[@Zach-wh5jd]

In the grand scheme of a mix unless you’re toning very sensitive sounds it really doesn’t matter, a kick would barely phase enough to be noticed at all, other sounds differ but you’d probably just want to do it on the bus anyways.

[@warlock4455]

Thanks

[@AudioReplica2023]

I honestly thought this was gonna be an stupid video but you actually gave 2 interesting points ...and made me laugh when you said; oh shit! lol

[@DavidSeekolaMusic]

Gain staging first 👍🏽 Nice video

[@JohnPaulBuce]

love the thumbnail lol

[@keydesire1512]

HEY ! BRO , CAN YOU MAKE A HOLD LESSON ON UDEMY?

[@Fritztafer]

Such a good video lol

[@gian2kk]

Ty bruv

[@rhysjosh4643]

best tutorials out

[@user-tg7rc2ke6f]

3:15 Doodley Doooodleyyyyy! 😂

[@PoopsWithCaT]

Where can I get the full song?

[@juanreales986]

awesome

[@erolshoehle]

What I like to do is, I remove dirt with the EQ, then compress and then, if I feel like I need to change the tone I load another EQ at the end of my plug-in chain. I feel like an ungrateful child, who has no respect for analog gear, but it works :D

[@darrojay9545]

Need the full song ASAP

[@TheLolthazun]

Learning from the best. DU-DU-DUUU-DELEEEEH

[@kentbdreyer]

haha, this is great!

[@Dude-1834]

I'm dead with the vocal lol xD< but really helpful lesson !

[@jameztashnick]

What about using the high pass option on the compressor so that the lows are left alone

[@ToneSherpa]

you could do that. IF YOU'RE SOME KIND OF A WEIRDO OR SOMETHING YAH DINGUS!!!!

[@graysonwilson-cacciapalle7989]

Man, your voice is beautiful

[@w.umusic1857]

😹😹😹😹😹

[@jdstarek]

Perfect intro, completely threw me off.

[@reganjo1955]

Or use a reductive eq before the comp and additive eq after ... but you make the point beautifully; messing with the gain structure in devices placed positionally before the comp and then after dialing in those comp settings changing the gain structure knocks over a house of cards. We’ll be chasing uncle Joe’s smelly tail in endless unsatisfying moves...

[@ppdlive]

With compressor in center of chain, eq can be on left and right and you dont need no more ajustements.

[@ToneSherpa]

this is why I like using ableton's native EQ so much. I can drop like a million instances of it and it barely does anything to my processor. not only is it a good sounding EQ but I really like the GUI and graphs and stuff as well

[@Dante-qf9yd]

This song needs a music video! Daddling dadlingggg, didly daddlying.

[@efimiljan7904]

thumbnail is pretty smart

[@paulnoupier665]

This RHCOP song sounds fire man 🔥 (da de li)

[@mistachris818]

Hahaha these are great !

[@kristiaanmusiek8033]

Here's a trick question for you. If you EQ out low end rubbish, then compress, you'll see once you put a second EQ after the compressor that you've brought up some low end crap again. So what now? Now you eq again, but that makes the signal a bit more dynamic again, what now? Compress again... :| Yes I suck at mixing, no doubt. But how would you deal with this? Might not be so apparent on Ableton stock EQs, but on something like Pro Q2 it is very apparent that moderate to heavy compression will reintroduce low end dirt, well below 30hz, which is obviously not ideal. If this is happening on a bunch of tracks, then there is potentially a lot of low end nonsense in the session that has no right to be there and will cause problems down the line. Especially when mastering I would imagine.

[@noreaction1]

Why not use eq before and after compression

[@tobb1178]

my life is fullfilled

[@Raphael-fi8hd]

I N H A L E B O Y

[@rehearsalsauts841]

You are the greatest 😆😆😆

[@michaelpaul3481]

I’m getting a strong kings of Leon vibe 😆

[@ollie4859]

What kind of music you listen to? Me: It's complicated. DUH-DU-LEE DUH-DU-LEEH

[@johnnyb198]

Autotune before or after compression?

[@GuyTallo]

Hitsong

[@Jack-fr2ws]

Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus

[@mistachris818]

Jack Dierks hahahaha

[@tranceemerson8325]

Diddley Foo!

[@lllPA94lll]

Doodly doodly? Well, I see Ned Flanders burgeoning career as a lyricist is going well!

[@mrhexadus1303]

basically yeh, you use the EQ to brighten what the compressor takes away.

[@stefanopalazzo1701]

I fucking love you

[@adammercysystem6450]

Deadly deadleeeee deadly deadleeeee

[@izzyDbuzzin]

3:16 bars

[@mattm7426]

Lmao you’re the best thanks bro

[@rickinio]

Genuinely have the diddly diddly singing in my head now...

[@bitchlasagna8232]

Compression then eq for me

[@golgormanz9369]

Wow

[@w.umusic1857]

😹

[@rcto7570]

Diddly diddly, which Kings of Leon track is that?

[@LeafGreen906]

you sound like david bowie

[@exxosetty]

Leg hairs had me dead

[@SoraChanx33]

your beautiful voice xD hahahahah im dying

[@atjazzman]

Diddelly Didelly!

[@joseph_wav]

Derolick derolinnnnn derolick deroliiiiiinnn derolinderoooooolin

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

Ok so check, "Diddley didaly" wowzers.

[@lean8078]

Deadly deadly~~~~~~

[@PopsiclesInMyCellar]

You don't blink enough bro

[@muzhik7624]

hahahaha you are awesome