There are Only 4 Ways to EQ Anything

[@SonicScoop]

►Big thanks to Relab for supporting this channel. Try the MEA-2 EQ for FREE and get my EQ presets at relabdevelopment.com/mea-2/ ►Thanks also to Karen Bella for allowing us to use her track in this video. Check her out here: www.karenbella.com/ ►And Thanks to Londinium for letting us use their track. Check them out here: open.spotify.com/album/4YjgpJaDQnDo8xvU2PSVXd?si=XSGTbFyNQ4a1VakJSk4rPw Courses: ►🎚Mixing Breakthroughs: mixingbreakthroughs.com ►🎛Compression Breakthroughs: compressionbreakthroughs.com ►🎧 EQ Breakthroughs: EQBreakthroughs.com ►🔊Mastering Demystified: MasteringDemystified.com ►✅Become a channel member here: kzbin.info/door/qEKv3KIZoZrjv2LymD3iMgjoin

[@SaintLuminus]

My mind/ears are blown away. Its amazing how the feel of a song can change with these subtle EQ moves. Thanks for this Justin.

[@SonicScoop]

Awesome to hear!

[@pocket1684]

Thank you. Your channel is one of the few I follow as a pro mixer for 20 years. Either you confirm some things I"ve been doing for years or I just plain learn something new.

[@SonicScoop]

So awesome to hear! Glad to have you tuning in, and glad to be helpful.

[@DarkTrapStudio]

Confirm, I think Justin don't think he has the answers thuss grasping the concepts and able to find the rights informations being very intelligible. Just a thought

[@pocket1684]

@@DarkTrapStudio True, None of us have the answers really. I've been mixing/mastering for a living for 20 years. I don't know what I"m doing.. lol..

[@dinsfire8489]

Fascinating concept on the 4 cardinal directions for EQing, please explore this idea more in further videos, maybe in a mixing scenario rather than mastering.

[@ArcMediaFilms]

Great video thanks.👍

[@Kehisthe1]

Thank you so much for the knowledge and lesson. I feel like I've hit a wall on KZbin University and always end up here again!😂 I go through the comments and see a lot of ungratefulness so I want to say there's at least one person who really appreciates the content you bring!

[@SonicScoop]

Thank you! Unlike a lot of channels, I don't delete the negative comments. People can say whatever they want as long as it's not profane. I don't know if it's a great strategy from a marketing and brand management perspective, but it's how I like to roll.

[@DMMirval]

Wonderful ! Thanks for this masterclass. I like thinking in terms of system so this approach is perfect for me.

[@SonicScoop]

Awesome to hear!

[@TheHorseValse]

Great info, much needed! Thanks!

[@SonicScoop]

So glad to be helpful!

[@ricshaw4358]

Great Tutorial and explanation

[@tommyaudio]

in a sting voice..."but that's not the shape of myyy mix" anyway, i LOVE this 4 types concept and will definitely be thinking this way from now on! thank you for this wisdom 🙏

[@UncleBenjs]

Very nice approach. I've been doing this backwards (dealing with the small details before dialling in the bigger picture), maybe that's why I've been so slow lol. Going to apply this

[@SonicScoop]

Man, I can relate to that! The mixing breakthroughs course was really designed to be an antidote to that issue exactly. So much of it is about taking out the coarse sandpaper before you move to the fine sandpaper, and figuring out ways to apply that concept based on the processes that have worked for some of the most successful mixers out there.

[@isaacnewtech]

Hey Justin! Thank you for this video man, really helpful. I had a sense of the concepts you explain here I believe, but it's very helpful to hear you explain it in this organized and example backed way! I do really like this master EQ you're showing, I'm sold! I will purchase it in the coming months! I am just an amateur engineer mixing and mastering my own music, but still. The EQ I am currently using on my masters is the AMEK 200, which resembles this Maselec one in functionality. The Amek does really have its own sound. I can hear it work without cutting or boosting for sure, I hear it add saturation. So I am certainly interested in the MEA-2, to see how it sounds and reacts. I like the way of working without graph, and with 4 bands like in the Maselec as opposed to infintite. The Amek 200 has 5 bands I believe. As you explain: it makes me use my ears.

[@SonicScoop]

Awesome to hear! Yes, definitely give it a try and see if you like it. I do.

[@thegroove2000]

Thats pretty much what I do on the master bus. i set the overall balance from the get go and then move in onto busses. The Sontec 432 is my weapon of choice.

[@SonicScoop]

That’s a good one too! It has a lot more color than the Maselec though, even when you’re not EQing with it. Sometimes that’s helpful, sometimes it’s not.

[@thegroove2000]

@@SonicScoop Thanks fella.

[@kimseniorb]

I like dark mixes. I think its stylish

[@behtashmiri1283]

I love Ur channel, I love Ur content. I just wanted to suggest sth & I wish U won't get offended man 🌺 Duration of Ur videos in relation to the core material U offer is usually Longer, I mean the content that could be well elaborated in 10 to 15 min, are being explained at least in twice duration.🙏 thanks again for what youvare doing here 🤘

[@SonicScoop]

A pleasure to do it! Thing is, I'm not seeking to just "explain" things. I'm trying to affect deep behavioral change. That requires a different approach than explaining a tip and moving on. It requires reinforcement. My hope is that my channel will have a deeper impact on those who truly engage with it. This means I may not get as many views, or have videos that are as tight. But it does mean that the people who like it and engage with the format will be changed for the better after watching-instead of just adding to the giant mental pile of tips and techniques that they'll consume but that they'll never actually apply.

[@behtashmiri1283]

@@SonicScoop ok Ur right, sry it was a bit selfish but I just noticed songs got shorter, people check social media rather than reading books, it seems life's got faster and people have less patience eventually. Wanted to have chance to watch more of ur content but now I know what u mean 🙏 Thank u so much for the reply

[@Macaroni108]

Question: Is the topology of the bands in the Maselec EQ parallel or in series? Same question about the GML 9500 if you happen to know. Thanks.

[@nkundinezabricevictor1186]

💎 🔥

[@coolceeofficialmusic7608]

I hope it will be on offer for $100 Black Friday-Cyberweek

[@Bluelagoonstudios]

Hi Justin, the fourth option we call here a camelback. Just such a number mastered. Was some (a lot) work on it.

[@SonicScoop]

Sure, that’s a good name for it :-)

[@MountainViewStudio]

Very nice vid my friend :) For mastering do you have the EQ in stereo or Dual Mono?

[@SonicScoop]

Stereo, but you can also run it in dual mono or in Mid Side.

[@chrisb8429]

Could you also use this concept for vocals rather than the entire mix?

[@SonicScoop]

Yes.

[@theswedishmusicstudio]

Ik multimedia has done this eq for ages. 432 they call it. Uses it every day. Really good for memorising frequencies. As you say, it’s great for learning eq.

[@SonicScoop]

I believe the 432 would be an emulation of the Sontec, not the Maselec, right? Two different classic hardware EQs, though both quite good.

[@theswedishmusicstudio]

@@SonicScoop yeees. I blame the brain farts. 😂 sorry.

[@kylebftr]

Hey Justin, I vote you actually post these with a blank frozen screen of your face and just give us the audio! ;D

[@SonicScoop]

I actually do have it that way if you listen to the podcast version! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sonicscoop-podcast-music-production-audio/id1448330690 While you're there, if you want to leave a 5 start rating and review, I am endlessly grateful :-)

[@vektacular]

Is there mid/side mode? On the Maselec?

[@SonicScoop]

Yes there is! Selectable for each band, too

[@vektacular]

@@SonicScoop that sounds amazing! Thanks!!

[@Dekutard]

this assumes that in the end you always want every sound to end up with as balanced and flat of a frequency distribution as possible. is that always true? maybe for whole mixes. but tracks ? doesn’t it make sense for bass to have a dark curve, vocals to have a bright one, guitars to have a middy curve, drums to be scooped for example?

[@SonicScoop]

Yes, but the same exact premise still applies: You want to think about where the sound is relative to where it wants to be. Relative to where it wants to wind up there are 4 cardinal directions for that sound to go in. So the end goal is different, but the mental framework and the process remains the same.

[@JoyMeltMusic]

If you already have all the EQs from Plugin Alliance, what does this EQ offer?

[@edvogt4039]

The actual content starts at 4:37

[@SonicScoop]

Wrong 🙃 If you miss the introduction, you’ll be pretty lost, and if you’re skipping why I’m using this kind of EQ instead of one with a frequency analyzer, you’ll probably ask why, when I’ve already explained it earlier. Develop an attention span, it will serve you well!

[@LightersInc]

its 2024, these types of videos would do better explained with a visual representation eq analyzer alongside to show us what these plugins are actually doing precisely

[@SonicScoop]

That is the exact opposite of the point of using this kind of EQ :-) Also, I want you to teach you to listen and hear, not to look and guess based on what the frequency spectrum looks like. In music production, looking is often counterproductive. We hear with our ears, not with our eyes, and graphs can often mislead us.

[@scottellis7573]

Who is genius that keeps cutting to the default setting of the plugin while you're discussing the 4 types of mix shapes, when there absolutely nothing to see????

[@SonicScoop]

That’s just to make edits more seamless, and to give the plugin some additional air time, and to remind people that audio examples are coming soon. I can’t really be bothered to put in whole ton of visual dazzling b-roll to treat my audience like they are crack addicted teenagers who are jonesing for a dopamine hit. I’m probably sacrificing a ton of views for doing it that way but 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@scottellis7573]

@@SonicScoop Not asking for dazzling just doing away with needlessly cutting to the plugin at the default setting when there's nothing to see would make the vid more watchable.

[@jibberism9910]

@@SonicScoop I actually clicked on "2 replies" to see if you were gonna say "oh my wife did that".

[@subtitles1492]

4:31 video starts here. wrapping a plugin advertisement into a generic tutorial seems to be en vogue.

[@tommyaudio]

wrong, he introduces the concept of his EQ approach in those first 4 minutes, which is a critical element of the video. it's not just a promo...at all

[@SonicScoop]

Yeah, if you skip the first 4 minutes, you’re going to be pretty lost! That’s where the whole setup of the concept is. As far as sponsors, no advertisements = no videos KZbin ad revenue pays a pittance, and I’d turn it off if I could, as they don’t allow you to select your preferred rates. Even if KZbin did pay decent ad rates, as soon as you use audio examples, all the revenue goes to the artist. Partnering directly with brands you actually like and use to make the kinds of videos you want to make anyway is the way to go. It’s better for the brand, better for the creator, and in my opinion, a more relevant and seamless ad experience for the viewer than just bombarding people with random diaper commercials, lame MIDI chord packs, and questionable get rich quick schemes in the middle of their video.

[@subtitles1492]

maybe you believe your audience is a bunch of studio illiterates who get lost easily when not taken by the hand. note: the opulent redundancy of this video allows for watching it in any segmentation. but sure, mentioning the same plugin over and over again (as if this overpriced eq was something special) takes time. not mine.

[@MrCool144]

This is one longass ad

[@SonicScoop]

If that’s all you took away from it, you clearly didn’t watch the same video as everyone else 😆

[@TheDistortionPrinciple]

Hey all skip the 15 minute plugin commercial

[@SonicScoop]

It’s 30 minutes, and if you think all there is here is a plugin commercial, you clearly didn’t watch the same video as everyone else 😆

[@TheDistortionPrinciple]

@@SonicScoop i know how long the video was. The first 15 minutes was all filler mostly going on about a plugin. Facts. That entire section could have been avoided. 😀

[@kylebftr]

@@TheDistortionPrinciplereally? Yes the first 5ish minutes was intro, but the following 10 minutes is when he defines the 4 general shapes mixes can come in - and in some really good detail! Maybe you happened to skip around to "find the good parts" and just happened to jump to all of the wrong parts that if put in a sequence would still sound vague. Maybe in the time you spent frustrated looking for the good part you could have watched it in its full length and learned something of value?

[@大野靖男]

You and this EQ must work great. But it's like using assembly language to show algorithms in a computer science course. This UI is too ineffective to represent the concepts.

[@SonicScoop]

Personally, I prefer an approach to audio that is more listening, less looking. To me, that’s a feature, rather than a bug. We hear with our ears, not with our eyes. If anything, our eyes can often mislead us when it comes to sound.

[@DarkTrapStudio]

@@SonicScoop if not always 😂

[@大野靖男]

@@SonicScoop This is purely a UI issue. If anyone wants to explain the concept of EQ and the issues we want to achieve with EQ in an easy-to-understand way, we use a two-dimensional graph. What the knob represents is a scalar value pulled away from such concepts.

[@SonicScoop]

Again, in my view, this is a benefit to this kind of GUI. It makes the process entirely non-visual, which is exactly what I’m looking for.

[@大野靖男]

@@SonicScoop There is definitely visual feedback even with such a UI. It is just less legible and inferior. For example, it would have been a reasonable choice to have dials on the old phones. Blind persons could have called an ambulance over the phone with a little practice. Dial-like UI on a smartphone does not benefit anyone. With real knobs, you could have used both hands to operate two at the same time. There is nothing positive to appreciate about this UI.