SOUND ON SOUND

[Hazer]

Just wondering if you guys automate EQs say to temporarily carve a space for instruments or voices or use a plugin to do it for you like Waves F6?

[The Elf]

I avoid automation where possible - it's quite an unwieldy tool in some ways, albeit a very useful and exacting tool in others. Automation is a surgical tool, but you can tie yourself in knots with it.

In this binary scenario I'd rather mult the track, apply the EQ to one and not the other.

[CS70]

Just wondering if you guys automate EQs say to temporarily carve a space for instruments or voices or use a plugin to do it for you like Waves F6?

Imho the best place to carve a space is the arrangement and the performance.. stop playing something, or play it more quietly, and the rest will pop out without doing anything.

If for some reason the musician couldn't do it, yeah often I will use automation. A dynamic EQ solves a different kind of problem imho - unless you apply it only to a section of the track, and then you can just as well automate or mult as the Elf says.

[blinddrew]

One scenario that I'll quite often automate EQ is if I have a piece that starts with some solo acoustic guitar (or guitar and voice) that is then joined by other instruments. When the other instruments kick in I'll frequently automate the HPF to make room in the low end of the other rooms.
I.e. if I've got it the HPF set for 100Hz when the guitar is on its own, I might move that HPF up to 200-300Hz (sometimes higher) to allow the bass to breathe.

[The Elf]

That sounds perfectly sensible, and you could do the same with a mult. It's just a user's choice, really.

I can't speak for all DAWs, but with Cubase I find I can quickly get swamped with automation, and beging to lose track of it, whereas a mult is more obvious to my eye, especially if I'm careful in how I name and colour the tracks.

[Kwackman]

I like using automation to gradually and then continuously roll off the high end.
For example, the last note of a guitar track as the note dies out and the room atmos (or amp noise) starts featuring a bit too much.
I use Cubase and one of it's bundled EQs.

[Hazer]

Ok thanks! Surprised to hear some rarely use it thought it was a standard studio skill

[The Elf]

Ok thanks! Surprised to hear some rarely use it thought it was a standard studio skill

It is, but that doesn't mean that it's always the most appropriate tool for the job - one main studio skill is in knowing when to pull each tool out of the box! :)

[CS70]

Ok thanks! Surprised to hear some rarely use it thought it was a standard studio skill

There's many ways to skin the same cat, and you can sometimes buy a fake fur and let the cat stay alive an well. :D