Why Mastering Engineers Don't Adjust EQ more than 1db?

[@TWEAKER01]

The primary reason for minimal EQ in mastering is because a great mix shouldn't *need* too much EQ.

[@kinghandlee]

If so. How could mastering engineers make the decision that is not up to them?

[@AndriesdeHaan]

I believe the same. If you need this much EQ, you are trying to somewhat fix problems that should have been fixed in the mixing stage. Fine if you don't though. Everyone is free to do what they want ofcourse. 😊 But pretty sure the "standard" is that your mix should sound absolutely fantastic and balanced before mastering. So I assume the 1db "rule" implies that if you need to use more, you should go back to the mixing stage for the best results.

[@spectrelayer]

So true. It's amazing how many mixes miss this goal, however. One of the surprises I constantly run across remastering after the fact are high noise levels where the mixing & mastering engineers should have been much more aggressive. I occasionally run across RELEASES that are so bad that the proprietary AI I work with to clean up bad masters actually believes the noise in the final product was left there intentionally & treats it as part of the intended signal! I amuse myself when this happens - as I consider what the AI would say if it was Ultron: "Oh, the levels there were so high (when they could have been easily filtered before it was foisted on the population) - that I thought it was left intentionally - so I worked it into the remastered sound ... because honestly ... who could phuk that up so badly in the 1st place?" This is one of the reasons a human engineer is (currently) still essential to any remastering project. There are some things that mastering engineers should learn to simply turn on and never turn off. These include brick wall filtering below 20Hz, plugin/effect oversampling, & shaped dithering when you finalize the end waveform. Those simple defaults would eliminate so many disasters...wow.

[@AlfaOmega_MusicalMind]

Sounds way more cohesive with the five e.q's!!!!....Amazing!!!!!!... THANKS FOR THIS KINGHANDLEE!!!🙏☺️

[@FredDeMassiveAlambic]

Sound difference is mainly due to a different resulting EQ curve and phase shifts. You can probably get the same sound with another EQ doing 6db cut, whose sound is more suited to your music. We have different pieces of gear in order to cover a wide variety of situations, not to use them all every time. Main reason to use multiple pieces of gear is to get benefits from their own circuitry : a tube pultec tends to soften the transients, a 4K compressor to open and brighten the sound, a 2254 limiter to make if feel "in your face"..etc This way, you can benefit from let's say pultec highs with transient roundness with GML's midrange musicality. The amount of db you boost or cut is only related to how well the gear is suited to the music. That's why some pieces of gear have became so popular : the way they can handle any source (GML eq, 33609 compressor, Ampex machines..) Limiting yourself to 1db is a way to "not have to choose" the right tool. And I'd pay a mastering engineer for his ability to choose 😉

[@kinghandlee]

I didn't make any conclusion for this. Actually I don't use this method either. It's just an option in case someone needs it.

[@StargateMax]

According to my experience (~25 years) the mix itself needs additional work if I need to tweak any frequency more than 1.5 dB in the mastering stage. The problem: boosting or cutting an unwanted frequency (or a range) in the mastering stage also affects the rest of the instruments and sounds that may not even need any tweaking, so therefore, (an example) by cutting a boxy/muddy/warm sounding instrument too much we'll end up making the rest of the song too thin and the overall balance would be ruined. Need to go back to mixing individual tracks, EQ, valume, compression, etc.

[@kinghandlee]

Not exactly so. Most people are fooled by this kind of fake knowledge for too many years.

[@GuitKayD]

Loved the video, but I`m not sure if I`m picking up exactly the difference between the two techniques

[@Mitsch76]

To my ears there is more spatial sound and width in the 5 EQ sample. Don't know if that is what someone wants to achieve when primarily the need was to do an EQ move. In addition you sacrifice the sound quality by putting the signal through 5 calculations instead of 1. (But I admit that I don't hear such calculation errors, anyway).

[@Ray_Wood_1984]

Thank you 😊👍 🙇‍♂️💓🍀🎶 Struggling to collect clean guitar recordings and over time I began doing this 😅. I thought I might be crazy but it seemed to help.

[@khalilroukoz]

if that song lackin im cranking that thing, mastering or not 😂😂

[@POLYAL0899]

adjusting by these amounts (looking at the loudness of the track) is bordering doing it for the sake of it . . 1db is the smallest noticeable change of sound in a normal listening environment . . never mind something thats maxing out with a maximiser

[@CobWebCornerstudios]

Wow the harshness difference is mad!

[@GODenWord]

Atualy i liked more when there was only 1 eq/ The sound is 1 flavored. While when there were 5 eq the sound was multy flavored. It is likew apple pie or mutly frukt pie. Which pie you want? IU wantapple pie.

[@dannydaniel8975]

I had some songs I did on a 4 track cassette recorder when l was a kid and l didn't wanna replay them again..the balance was really off and the mastering engineer had to use extreme boosts and cuts to get it to sound decent

[@NoQualmsTheArtist]

The one EQ sounded punchier and had better bass. The 5 EQ's sounded more boring compared. So you actually busted the myth 😂

[@CarlMadis]

yeah i felt same! King is naked! :D But great video thou!

[@jbva804]

Big difference! That track sounds great!💯

[@Inoxia1234]

Ok... Next time, try this: Use the SONTEC 432 to notch out 5 db of mud area. THEN use 4 extra EQ plugins, AND DON'T EQ ANYTHING, just let the sound passthrough and let them be active on that track.

[@kinghandlee]

Good idea. I'll try.

[@russenduf]

The main reason why you dont boost or cut too much in the mastering....(there is no 1dB rule) is that you will mess up with phase no need to use 5 eqs to do that .Engineer's use different eqs for different tasks thats all.....

[@kinghandlee]

Please tell me some songs that you mastered. Thanks!

[@gatsuu]

Wow night and day difference

[@bobbiejohnson4607]

Thants. Great tip. Thanks for sharing.

[@thejacevekexperience]

This was a nice video