shaping the bottom end on a stereo mix.

[hop.sing]

Had a mastering engineer talk to me about dealing with the low end on mixes. Said he likes to cut 2dB at 60Hz and the boost 2dB at 40Hz using a pultec style eqp1a's.

Said it brought out the right harmonics and removed the wrong harmonics to make the low end fit right.

Thoughts and opinions?

Well, I am no mastering engineer, but I am recording and mixing quite a bit and I have a habit to put my  stereopultecclone on the 2 bus before I start mixing. Then I listen and really most of the time my roughmix is a little bit cloudy sounding, having too much energy in the 200/300 Hz region and is missing a bit of hi frequency content. In this case the pultec is a real blessing: 20Hz or 30 Hz Boost and cut to taste and the lowmids are sitting there just right in second. And a little boost at 10k, 12k or 16k helps to get all the sparkle you need.
Of course it helps to have sources that are recorded with quality equipment in a good room, so the treble does not get harsh and lowmids not too boomy. I think the most challenging thing while mixing is to get the 200 -700 Hz region right (full, but not cloudy) and there the pultec helps a lot, better than any other EQ I Know.
So maybe that mastering engineer might be up to something, depending on his clients, because a lot of nonprofessional mixingguys have problems with those lowmid freqs.
Tobias

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Had a mastering engineer talk to me about dealing with the low end on mixes. Said he likes to cut 2dB at 60Hz and the boost 2dB at 40Hz using a pultec style eqp1a's.

Said it brought out the right harmonics and removed the wrong harmonics to make the low end fit right.

Thoughts and opinions?

Well, I am no mastering engineer, but I am recording and mixing quite a bit and I have a habit to put my  stereopultecclone on the 2 bus before I start mixing. Then I listen and really most of the time my roughmix is a little bit cloudy sounding, having too much energy in the 200/300 Hz region and is missing a bit of hi frequency content. In this case the pultec is a real blessing: 20Hz or 30 Hz Boost and cut to taste and the lowmids are sitting there just right in second. And a little boost at 10k, 12k or 16k helps to get all the sparkle you need.

I don't want to be patronizing, but if your mix has too much low-mid, it's because one or several individual tracks have too much low-mid, so you should fix that at the track level, not at the mix level.

Of course it helps to have sources that are recorded with quality equipment in a good room, so the treble does not get harsh and lowmids not too boomy. I think the most challenging thing while mixing is to get the 200 -700 Hz region right (full, but not cloudy) and there the pultec helps a lot, better than any other EQ I Know.
So maybe that mastering engineer might be up to something, depending on his clients, because a lot of nonprofessional mixingguys have problems with those lowmid freqs.
Tobias

There are two different aspects to this.
Most often, "nonprofessional mixingguys" have a problem with their monitoring system (loudspeakers, room acoustics mainly) and their monitoring paradigm (listening at wrong level, on inappropriate speakers, with tired ears, booze, marijuana ;D...). Then a ME, with the right monitoring resources will pinpoint the problem area and fix it.
The other case is someone like you, who has the monitoring capability, but applies a global remedy when it should be individual. Then supposedly, the ME should not have to EQ. Caveat: this is only my opinion; in the end, if it sounds good it is good.
I never, just never have EQ nor comp on the master bus. I only have a steep limiter at -3dBfs.
BUT, sometimes I feel like using EQ at the mastering stage; I give it a go, and then I have enough information to redo the mix - an easy option for me, since everything is automated.
BTW, I just saw this morning an interview of George Masseburg; he has an intermediate approach, where he EQ's subgroups.

 

[hop.sing]

I don't want to be patronizing, but if your mix has too much low-mid, it's because one or several individual tracks have too much low-mid, so you should fix that at the track level, not at the mix level.

Not sure about that, it is what sounds right during the producing stage for me, it is coherent, nearly the same on every track, guitars, synths, percussion, miked or DIed, whatever... The lowmidarea is where the rootnotes sit, and that is where I concentrate on during composing and producing (Just the way I work). Of course, backing microphones off from the source, reducing the proximity effect, helps a lot, but I still need a little EQ. I do not think that every track has to sound perfect soloed, but the whole mix has to work, and there I like it when certain sounds keep their edges, just for reality and emotion. So I often have no EQ on a lot of the single tracks, just maybe on stems, but for sure I have a pultec on the 2 bus. It just works for me.
I found, that there is a certain magic using a (great) EQ on the 2 Bus. Brings the single tracks together in a pleasent way, like good summing compressor (which I sometimes use, but not always). Whatever works, I guess.
Here is an Example of how it sounds in the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukMsPZ4-I6U
By the way, i do not want to defend that mastering enineer, just tried to understand....

Tobias