The Greatest Mixing and Mastering E.Q. Trick Ever

[@Tekkerue]

Reaper has a delta mode option for every single plugin, so even if the plugin itself doesn't have delta mode built in, you can still do it. 😎

[@BobbyHuff]

That’s cool!

[@OLEKSAJEDIX]

you can achieve something similar by using voxengo span vst by holding alt key (or ctrl key, I might've forgotten) and left click, scroll wheel for peak narrowness

[@LukeLongboneOfficial]

Sorry about your tinnitus. I’ve read that some people find relief by removing/reducing emf noise pollution from their homes. Can’t vouch for that personally because I don’t have tinnitus. Hope you find relief. Thank you for your content. Totally enjoy your channel bro.

[@TimE_5150]

Simplistic genius Bob which is my middle and confirmation names! Great stuff as usual Bob. Thanks as always!

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Tim!!

[@johncostigan6160]

Absolutely Knucklehead-resistant! I count myself as a part-time knucklehead... Thanks, Dr. Bob! I feel better already.

[@allthefail7274]

I don't mix my songs, but I track and produce pretty much everything top to bottom for demos and reference tracks, and then send it on to the lads to do their parts, so having any clarity in those tracks without mixing is quite hard, have to focus majorly on getting the best sounds going in, aside from sub EQ and verb/delay sends. But just for the experiment I stuck the nova EQ on my master track, found the sweet spot in the lows through the solo band, and then again at the highs, turned out 100h and 10k where the sweet spots, and when I tell you boosting those with narrow Q fucking transformed the entire track.. I couldn't believe it. I was going to dial in the mids but was like no it sounds perfect don't touch the mids lol Thanks so much for this honestly

[@dpinskey]

I thought the same thing about tinnitus. Makes sense to me. Would be great to sleep with quiet again. Maybe you could use a frequency generator and some earbuds and see if you can sweep around and see if you could null it out. Then record the frequency generated signal and loop it for a peaceful night of quiet sleep

[@petergedd9330]

Thanks Doc, I love this trick, it's so cool, I'll be using this as a go to for sure.

[@BobbyHuff]

Great!!

[@DarioRondini]

Super cool stuff Doc! For Tinnitus, I believe T.R.T. therapy is based on sound enrichment with, probably, some phase cancellation. Not sure if that works since Tinnitus does not come from soundwaves but from electric signals from the inner ear/acoustic nerve.

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Dario!

[@kenvives]

For the tinnitus, I definitely agree. Typically you actually have some hearing loss at the frequency of your tinnitus. And you probably note that you don’t hear a pure tone but more like noise centered around a set of frequency. Your brain doesn’t sum the incoming signals with your tinnitus the way your DAW does. A related question might be should you EQ your output to compensate for your hearing loss. I tried this out. I have mild hearing loss in my right ear with tinnitus. What I found is that since I hear the world with my loss all of the time, the compensation made everything in my right ear too bright and even made everything sound panned slightly right. This might be more important if one has profound hearing loss but for me I prefer to mix without any compensation for my loss.

[@ProsodySound]

This is helpful to those learning to train their ears. It's basically a way to solo frequencies on whatever sound source you want so you can identify what each frequency range of your choosing sounds like. Good video Dr. Bob! 😀

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks for watching!

[@markMelgeorge2845]

I always try these ideas I find, some work some don't, this is night and day. the track is so much better after the EQ changes. thank you so much for sharing this trick, will totally be using this going forward

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Mark!

[@michaeltablet8577]

Can't say thank you enough! Hope you have a healthy and prosperous New Year!

[@JaviBello]

BOOOOOB!!!! very interesting! Thank you my friend!

[@BobbyHuff]

JAAAAAAAAAAVVV. Happy new year!

[@JaviBello]

@@BobbyHuff happy new year!!

[@Sr.LaGGarto]

just what the Dr. ordered!

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks!

[@edwardkenemorales]

Thanks for the tip Dr Bob!

[@scottpike9009]

Brilliant. Thanks Doc.

[@imremozsik1012]

Thank you so much!

[@BobbyHuff]

You're welcome!

[@GreatMotorcyleridesWashington]

Ingenious way of isolation. A cool tool. I use a lot of mid/side eq on my busses. Going to have to try this one myself.

[@BobbyHuff]

Go for it!

[@elsongs]

Mind blown. Thanks for this!

[@codexnecro]

I've used this method before on a snare to get rid of some bleed. I've learned this on YT a few years ago, like everything else I know about mixing lol :\

[@BobbyHuff]

KZbin is an excellent source of info!!

[@deanrussell5901]

You are the man!

[@BobbyHuff]

Hahaha! Thanks Dean.

[@581937]

that was great, I like the idea of basically active noise cancelling for tinitus!

[@BobbyHuff]

Glad you liked it!

[@billribas]

you done it again, doc, brillant

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Bill!

[@ParisblueCos]

Re. Tinnitus. I suffer as well and just ordered a product today called Neosensory Duo. Hoping for the best! However, Tinnitus is not a hearing thing, it's actually a brain thing. Because of nerve damage to our ears, resulting in us not being able to hear those frequencies as well as we used to, the brain adds them back in for us. Thanks, brain! My Audiologist actually shared a story of someone from decades ago who had it so bad, he insisted a surgeon sever his Cochlear nerve. He woke up from surgery deaf in that ear but the Tinnitus was still present.

[@BobbyHuff]

Oh man that’s so sad.

[@mozizo11]

cool way when needed, cubase's frequency eq plugin has that "solo" or "delta" option too

[@boobo3763]

There are just SOOO many crazy things you can do with mixing. It's endless...

[@matthewpritchard6109]

Always such good mix and music tips here. One of my favourite channels - I think way more people ought to know about you! And I also suffer from tinnitus. My understanding is that it's an internal thing - i.e. your brain "listening" extra hard for frequencies that aren't coming through because the hearing mechanism is damaged. So playing out of phase sounds wouldn't work because the hearing mechanism isn't picking up sound, regardless of its phase. That said, I'm no doctor and it's a really interesting idea... I'd love to see it tested in the real world. Oh for an hour of real silence ... Keep on keeping on Dr Bob, I love your work.

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks for the kindness Matthew!

[@jwilliams6976]

Great trick, much appreciated

[@BobbyHuff]

Glad it helped

[@gooberthoreau]

It has been a good number of years that the EQs I use have had a solo for each adjustment, use it all the time usually to find frequencies to cut.

[@BobbyHuff]

Agreed but there are some major ones that still don’t.

[@adampavelec857]

Dude. My tinnitus has gotten really bad lately. I fully understand what you were saying about it. It’s become so frustrating!

[@BobbyHuff]

Tinnitus sucks.

[@twitterjesus]

Sweet

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks!

[@robbyalexander3998]

Amazing content as always!

[@Rhythmattica]

Noice... but also, context matters. Love a Delta.. ;)

[@user-qh4uv5dz7i]

Science! 😅

[@soundmattersuk]

Objective tinnitus is caused by a physical interaction, such as excess ear wax, an internal infection, a fault in your jaw joints, high blood pressure etc. If there's a physical issue, it can often be fixed. OTOH, subjective tinnitus, which is much more common unfortunately, is caused by hearing nerve or neural damage. Because there's no actual physical sound behind this, you can't use a device playing the same pitch and flip the phase. That will have no effect. There are certain sound therapies which can help train you to ignore it until you stop being aware of it, but if it doesn't go away naturally, then there's little chance of a cure, and you simply have to find a way of dealing with it. Sorry.

[@dakota-sessions]

The best solution for tinnitus is to play whitenoise, and distract yourself from it. The good news is that playing whitenoise while mixing will actually improve your mixes. CLA said his best mixes were on the day that the air conditioning went out and he had to blast loud fans in the room to keep the gear from overheating. It forces you to balance everything into the sweet-spot. There is little use in things that are so soft that nobody can hear them.

[@tekis0]

Thank-you for using an example with VOCALS!! Instrumental examples are much less effective, IMHO.

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks for watching!

[@deancramer]

Another great video, thanks. What's this tune?

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Dean!

[@deancramer]

You're welcome@@BobbyHuff , but what's the tune in the video? I dig it.

[@chucknkd]

My tinnitus gets a little better using the noise cancellation in my airpod pros

[@andrefokkema]

With regards to your tinnitus: it depends on where it is located. Basically if an ENT doctor would cut through your acoustic nerve (which would make you completely deaf), chances are you’d still suffer from tinnitus. So “phasing out” your tinnitus will most likely not happen. There are other therapies that might be helpful though… So far my thoughts as a hearing care professional. As a parttime producer I thank you 🙏🏻 for an interesting but certainly helpful advice. Sorry I’m not able to cure your tinnitus. It can be really nasty. But do take care of your hearing…!!

[@electricmeatpuppet]

Very cool and interesting. If this helps: There's also a relationship between insulin, sugar (sugar also causes nerve damage) and tinnitus (high insulin through modern diets makes it a lot worse). A lot of people find if they've been consuming large amounts of sugar like when they've had a few too many drinks for example, their tinnitus can get much worse, and for up to several days at a time. A diet designed to keep insulin levels low can really help people with BAD tinnitus live a much more enjoyable life, speaking from personal experience. No or as little as possible sugar, carbs or alcohol, walk everyday. Does wonders for life and your tinnitus will be much better.

[@boobo3763]

What's the tinnitus from, Bobby?

[@EliPrinsensHVTVocals]

Brilliant! Thanks Doc.

[@BobbyHuff]

My pleasure!

[@meanmr.mustard]

Yup, ..great tip Bob (cla). But even better is your tinnitus fase canceling device idea 👍. Been coping with that for over 25 years now and I'm only 53. But hey, pre xmass holidays my cardiologist told me I have a failing heart pump function and I'm now part of the "on average the group you're in wil live up to 5 years from point of diagnose"... Guess now I really got to hurry to finish all those song Ideas and lyrics I've got lying around 😉.

[@BobbyHuff]

Hahaha! Take care of yourself my friend!

[@meanmr.mustard]

@@BobbyHuff Thanks man.

[@SCgroove]

One of my fav Dr Bob installments ever. Thanks.

[@UtwoBed]

Unfortunately Tinnitus is like white noise and is a conglomerate of many frequencies so I don't think cancellation is an option. But, I too have tinnitus and a couple of tricks I discovered is to avoid exposure to loud sounds, and believe it or not, reducing my salt intake. I always know when I've had too much salt because my ears will be howling.

[@thomasbjor2332]

So simple and yet so awesome! Thank you for this tip, man🤘 Have a great weekend! Greetings from Norway😎

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Thomas! Greetings from Nashville!

[@georgecain123]

You can do that with fabfilter pro Q3. Isolate an area of spectrum and boost/cut. Much Easier to do. And vary the Q width of that area.

[@BobbyHuff]

Yes it’s a great feature! This is really for plugins that don’t have that type of feature.

[@Owl-qh2rh]

Woh.. cool move and great for ear training! And the tinnitus idea.. wow! Good stuff doc! 🙏🕊️😉

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks so much!

[@samwalberg1364]

yes but you hear only the first one, the second one will be a combination. Use pro Q3

[@dkpianist]

Bobby, thanks for this. Really helpful as always. I've heard about a tinnitus therapy that involves listening to music with the offending frequencies completely notched out for extended periods of time. But then wait… aren't you a doctor yourself?!

[@politicachata1164]

Cool indeed!

[@rickythethird]

so basically boost high end and low end?

[@miquelmarti6537]

Thats the Reaper delta solo trick

[@0rican]

Woow

[@johnviera3884]

wait he’s not a doctor

[@hyperactivists9390]

nice! thanks

[@homeofcreation]

Awesome.

[@kassemir]

I've been tested for tinnitus, and I asked the doctor something similar myself. She explained that basically it wouldn't work like that because tinnitus is a neurological issue, i.e. the sound your hearing is a result of your brain thinking it's getting stimulated. I'm no expert, and it's been a while since I asked, but I doubt that idea would work. In order to "fix" tinnitus, you'd either need some sort of brain surgery, or a way for the ears to recover from hearing damage which currently, again, to my knowledge, isn't possible.

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks for the answer!

[@georgebarry8640]

Dr Bob. Great Technique that REALLY seems usefull. I compared the early non-EQ'd song clip and then the EQ'd one at 6:26...SO MUCH BETTER!!!! Would you feel comfortable releasing it like that? or would you do much ,much more? It really sounded great.

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks! Sounded good to me. I may have put a little more limiting on it but that’s about it.

[@stevebodner3729]

tin it us. not: tin eye tuss

[@Phonse56]

A wow video !Thanks Doc this is golden,and love the ear analogy.Could open some new thoughts for this issue.I have cicatas all the time.Peace+love will change the world.onward we go .

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks for watching!

[@matt_nyc_audioengineer]

Cool but the problem I see is that with many emulations including nonlinearites if you copy a track and its settings there are time they won't null lol. Probably best to comitt the processing, then duplicate the track. Cool trick non the less!

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Matt!

[@getblurryman]

I was thinking the exact same think about phase canceling tinnitus, IEMs and an iphone??

[@BobbyHuff]

Yes!

[@paulnagel8161]

I never would have thought of that! I am also very curious about the tinnitus idea. Mine can get pretty nasty sometimes...like right now as I'm actively thinking about it.

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Paul! Tinnitus SUCKS!

[@ProsodySound]

Are you normally exposed to high levels of sound? That'll definitely make tinnitus kick in. Protect your ears. If you're exposed to loud sound pressure for an extended amount of time, give your ears a break from the noise so they can recover. Depending on how loud the sound is that you're exposed to will determine how long you can safely be exposed to the sound and also how long those breaks from the sound should last.

[@BobbyHuff]

@@ProsodySound agreed. It’s from years of playing drums…

[@dakota-sessions]

@@BobbyHuff Musicians and engineers also listen more carefully, and are often in quiet studios, so they are more likely to notice the ringing frequencies in their heads. Everyone has ringing frequencies, but most don't notice them. Put anyone in an anechoic chamber and they will hear ringing within a couple minutes.

[@jorykevinberger7047]

My tinnitus is low end 72hz. it disappears with frequencies playing between 130-290hz even at low levels of -40db. As soon as I lower more OR go beyond the above frequencies, it’s there. And if I go completely panned to the other ear, it’s even more apparent. So my “masking” of 72hz tinnitus happens at a different frequency anyhow. Audiologists are blown away with the info. It’s amazing how little ENT’s actually know. My ENT prescribed a cocktail of vitamins I already take. Cheers.

[@TwoSouls-productions]

Fantastic 🎉

[@BobbyHuff]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@rickhbrown]

Thanks Dr. Bob!

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Rick!

[@bigdogthehedgehog5906]

What a nice video!

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks!

[@marcingramband]

holyshit!puregnius

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks man!

[@gerrydaly5409]

Great video doc

[@BobbyHuff]

Thank you kindly

[@estesfamily6761]

Great video Bobbie!

[@BobbyHuff]

Thank you!

[@Sevenator69]

Brilliant.

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks man!

[@johnviera3884]

at 6:59 I once asked the doctor the same exact thing. And he said it inside your head it’s not an audible frequency. But I’m still not convinced. there’s something there.

[@johnabbottphotography]

This may be the best video that you've done, next to a lot of your Mutt Lange videos. Thank you! Helps me hear what I'm missing.

[@BobbyHuff]

Glad it was helpful!

[@dakota-sessions]

Great idea about tinnitus. However, I have some bad news. #1. Getting a frequency to match the ringing in your head and stay in phase (so that you can flip it out of phase) is a task that is close to (if not) impossible. #2. Here's the worst part (and I'm sorry to say this)... but, the ringing frequencies from tinnitus are frequencies you can no longer hear, so playing the same frequency would sound like silence whether it's phase inverted or not. i.e., it wouldn't do anything.

[@yeehah100]

I think Joe Gilder who works for Presonus now did this already about 20 years or more ago

[@spencermartin5622]

Very helpful. Always wanted the fabfilter bundle for this type of function so this is a nice workaround.

[@Daysofsamara]

In reaper, you can have this without duplicate with the delta solo feature on any plug-ins by right click on the wet-dry embed knob

[@BobbyHuff]

Very cool!

[@thebrokenchessboard]

Hey Bob, to solve the ear problem I bought an RME ADI-2 pro fs for headphone monitoring. This lets you EQ left and right ears independently without changing what you’re listening to. Also your speaker outs if you need to. Then I used a free utility called PEACE APO, it’s free and lets you test your ears and figure out a curve you would personally consider “flat” for both ears. Think up to 30 bands/freqs. Remember doing 2 sets to get lows and highs in detail. Then applied my curve to the RME. It’s fantastic because it accounts for your converters, headphones and both ears rather than just applying generic correction. I have LCD-X’s which take eq well. Altogether it’s like having your hearing restored somewhat. You could also use it find and take out or lower anything that rings or bothers on top of correction.

[@BobbyHuff]

Very cool!

[@Simeon_Harris]

one way to do this without duplicating the track and all the plugins on it, is to set up a bus with the phase flip plugin on it. create a bus send on the track you want to analyse and set the send level to zero db. simply enabling the send will then give you two tracks with phase flipped audio and you can use an eq on your original track to do the locate and boost/cut trick you did in the vid. you can use the phase flipped bus with any track in your project simply by sending audio to it. this reduces the number of steps, especially if you set up the bus and all the sends on the individual tracks ready to go in your template. all you have to do is enable the send.

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Simeon!

[@michaelparson-mcnamara782]

Oh man, oh man! This is brilliant! Thanks a bazillion!

[@BobbyLaneProductions]

wow that is SO cool and I will incorporate this technique right away.. by the way I have tinnitus too but it's multiple frequencies so I'd need a multiiband blocker LOL!

[@BobbyHuff]

Hahaha!! Tinnitus sucks.

[@marklarm]

OH... MY... GOD. This is one of your best Bob, TRULY! This can help immensely on fixing low end issues. AWESOME!

[@BobbyHuff]

Glad to help!

[@rolisaenz]

Love it!!! thanks for sharing buddy !! and by the way , you are a great mentor, there are people that know too much but they do not have a clue how to translate that knowledge embedded in their brains to the outside world in form of spoken word and in a way that even a person who just start in this craft can understand! you rock !!!!

[@BobbyHuff]

I appreciate that!

[@roberteismann1929]

Thank you Doctore, really good trick.

[@BobbyHuff]

Most welcome!

[@BigBoysStudios]

Regards Tinitus. The short answer is no I think. You would have to extract the exact signal your brain is hearing and invert a copy of *that* signal, otherwise you just have more of those frequencies at some or other random phase.

[@DJ-XTRM]

I was an Industrial Deafness for several years... Tinnitus is indeed neural... I have an opinion that 44k hertz and waveforms at that range seem to have a slight improvement from symptoms. Whute noise is different individually - for my degree I plan to refer to individuality - as not a single case of Tinnitus I dealt with was the same - it is what wavelengths your brain is seemingly effected by via the small hair cells in the inner ear. You can even induce Tinnitus symptoms by listening to the highest frequency you can hear... I would would from low frequncies up. Like vibration plates on vindows that cancel noise from aircraft near airports... White noise boxes are readily available - I recommend for musicians 'Pacific Tree Frog's' for sleep... storms or the sea during the day. The TV fizzing sounds I find induce Tinnitus rather than benefit...

[@DJ-XTRM]

Sorry it is nearly 4am... vindows and bad spellung happen... 😂 👽🙏