SOUND ON SOUND

[rcabts]

I think I've stumbled upon something that I think is super fascinating. First off, I'm a huge fan of the guitar tones that Elvis Baskette has produced over the years, whether it's Slash or Sevendust or all the way back to working with Chevelle.

I was running EQ Match of some ISO guitar tracks off his various records against mine, and I noticed pretty much the same EQ shape kept coming up over and over again. What's really weird about it is that this shape always happened regardless of changing variables - changing guitar, cab, mic, amp head, etc., etc. By and large, I would get some variation of this:


(This is the sum average of all the various EQ matches I did)

What's funny is that if I apply that EQ curve to my guitars, they sound like complete ****. However, if I used the guitar ISO tracks with bass/drums recordings I've done, his guitars sound a leve better than mine in the mix, even running through my Master chain (so, don't give me anything about these individual guitar sections having been Mastered and that's where the EQ curve comes from).

Any thoughts on what is being achieve here? I feel like I've neutralized all of the variables, and this is driving me nuts.

[blinddrew]

Hi rcabts, welcome to the forum. :)
I'm assuming that the massive high and low shelf boosts are just illustrative of the analysis and you're not actually applying them to your tones?

[CS70]

Hm, not sure what particularly you're wondering about?

The big high end boost is fairly common with guitars, the stuff after 1K is what makes the guitar stand out and feeling near to the listener, which is probably why you feel they're better that way.

If the tracks are recorded in an proper ISO box, there's lots of absorption inside which means little or no reflections and all the sound is direct. They will feel a little "closed", so some added air and brightness are often needed. Add to that, rock music requires a lot of brightness, and huge boosts are not uncommon.

As of the low end, it seems to do very little, as there's nothing much to operate with. It could be that you are simply picking a resonance in the box, which is low and probably gets cut by a hi pass somewhere else in the mix.

The heavy mids cut is another classic, especially if vocals are involved - if you leave electric guitar mids in there, the vocals get quickly overwhelmed. Especially rhythm tracks need that.

In the end, I'd advise not to care at all how things look. That's an advantage of a console EQ, you have no display and you just turn the knobs until thing sounds as you want them, so you don't waste time thinking about how the curve looks.