We’ve got a real discussion on our hands! When it comes to great production and mixes, which is more important – EQ or Compression?
This video came about due an excellent email I received about the various stages of development as a mixer/producer. In that email I was asked which tool I felt was more powerful and important to get to grips with as a beginner. Now, that is a fantastic question!
Whether you’re a beginner or more advanced on your audio journey, today’s video is going to help you learn a little more about EQ and Compression, as well as giving you the answer to what tool I feel is the best to master first…
Now, I’d love to know…
Which tool do you feel is more valuable to getting a great mix – EQ or Compression?
Leave a comment below!
professional sounding mix every time...
Man talking about getting backed into a corner it’s almost like being asked asked which of your children do you love the best but for the sake of argument I’ll also offer up an opinion.
Unequivocally I would have to choose EQ as the most important tool in my little bag of tricks and here’s why.
There are several things that can duplicate or work instead of a compressor. You can ride the fader to help even out volume differences, you can apply clip gain to any of the offending sections to help match the rest of the track, the final limiter on the master bus can also work as a compressor to help bring about Dynamic stability to the song
However without an equalizer you have no ability to filter out low frequencies and the cumulative effect of several tracks left wide open with no EQ to high pass the lows would get real messy.
Also, without an EQ, there would be no way to notch out the room nodes and low to low-mid frequency buildup that happens to all of us in bedroom productions. This would prevent your mix from translating well on other systems and listening environments.
Additionally, Without an EQ you would be unable to selectively boost the needed frequencies that help to define each instrument’s tonal character and timbre. Leaving you with a flat and lifeless recording.
Gimme an EQ and I’ll give you a song!
Some really great comments here, Pat. Thanks very much. I really like how you’ve quantified how you would pick EQ as your tool of choice, if forced to pick. It shows you know your stuff!
Without EQ, the compression could be doing the wrong thing. If I could only have one, I would want EQ!
Great point. Thanks Rick!