Hey folks, wrote this when I was sitting on my hands in Florida last month. (Bored to tears) Would like a few others to read and make any suggestions to tighten it up, before I submit it to Walter for the DIY segment. Thanks in advance, for your feedback.
Swez USFLAG
================================================
HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM YOUR EQ SYSTEM:
EQ features can do a good deal to tailor your music to a given preference and compensate for deficiencies in our listening environment. The key to using this device to it’s fullest, is to use minimal boost on any given band and cut bands that are dominant. Here’s a 10-band unit for example. The main band selections are as followed:
31.0 Hz: This is the deep bass control for subs. It controls low bass output and the deep thud of a kick drum.
62.0 Hz: This is also in the low bass range, for subs. This band will bring out more of the low/mid bass of the music. You can drop it a few dB for punchy bass and kick drum, or boost it a few dB for more deep bass.
125.0 Hz: This is our lower mid-bass region control. If we boost it a few dB, we get a bit more snap from the kick drum, toms and string slap from the bass guitar. Cut it a few dB, and we have less of the above.
250.0 Hz: This is the lower midrange control slider. A few dB of boost can “warm up the mix” and give more “body” and fill to the (fat) guitar sounds, keyboards and male vocals. If we cut here, we get a thinner sound and a bit more prominent midrange.
500.0 Hz: This is a pure midrange slider. This controls male/female voicing, guitar, strings, synthesizer, snare drum snap and piano sounds. Cutting or boosting here, has a big effect on the “Presents” of the music we are mixing.
1.0 KHz: This is our upper midrange control band. If we boost too much, vocals get nasally sounding. But, it can really brighten up guitar riffs; bring up vocals and parts of the drum kits and keyboards too. Too little of this one, the voices can get muted and hot guitar riffs get buried in the mix. A few dB up or down from “Flat” can enhance or mess up the mix, depending how much cut/boost is used.
2.0 KHz & up: Theses are the upper midrange and tweeter bands. They bring out the cymbals, high-hat, guitar and vocals harmonics and sibilance. (The “S’s, T’s, C’s, etc.) Depending on the tweeters used, a few dB of boost/cut are almost the norm here. Soft dome tweets will often need a few dB boost, while metal domes may need some cut.
SETUP STEPS:
Now comes the fun part. Grab one of your favorite CD’s and toss it in to the player. Set all your sliders to “Flat”. (Which is “0” cut or boost) It is good to choose cuts with male and female vocals, good low-end punch, some biting guitar riffs and maybe some acoustic piano. (If you like tunes with horns and strings, all the better) Some suggested cuts would be: Bumper music cuts, 80’s and 90’s Rock, New Country/Rock-a-Billy, Pink Floyd, Styxx, Boston, Sammy Hagar, Van Halen, Dance/trance or Chicago.
Here’s a “short list” of some I use for tweaking and install. By all means, use your favorites too. We all have different tastes, come from different age groups and have a wide variety of listening habits.
1. Mannheim Steamroller; “Joy to the World” (Very good keyboard/horns work)
2. Dj Suketu; “Bin Tere Sanam” (Good electronic “bumper” music)
3. Bryan Adams; “Summer of 69” & “Run to You” (Very good male vocals, guitar and drum kit stuff here)
4. Brooks & Dunn; “My Maria” (Crisp Rock-a-Billy sounds)
5. Carman; “God’s Got An Army” (Male rich vocals, “tanky bass” lines and a fat guitar)
6. Chicago; “Hard Habit To Break” & “You’re The Inspiration” (Peter Cetera… need I say more? Fat guitar, nice key board, horns interludes)
7. Dhol; “Wajda & “DIL SE RE” (Electronica, trance, dance, great SQ mixing material) Thank you Victor! ;-)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, the easiest way to begin dialing in your ride, (By ear) is to turn off the subs and keep your volume levels at manageable levels. The higher the SPL, (above ~95 dB of SPL) we try to mix at, the less accurate our results will be. Here are the basics:
1. Set all EQ sliders to “FLAT”
2. Drop in a high bit rate CD (192 K bits/sec., are much better than 128 K bit MP3’s) Even better, use a DVD or high-def cuts with >200 K bit rates
3. Listen a bit at “Flat”, then start with the midrange sliders (125, 250, 500 & 1 KHz)
4. Slide each one up and then down, +/- 6dB until you reach the desired bite or mellowness you like best (This is very subjective to the listener’s tastes, listening environment and quality of CD used) After you have this dialed in, we have the midrange pretty well set.
5. Now, we will work with the highs. (2, 4, 8 & 16 KHz) The same steps are repeated as mentioned in step #4.
6. When you have a nice blend of mids and highs, we now focus on the lows. Again, we do the same steps, starting at 60 and finally, 31 Hz.
The trick is to blend and texture everything together in this process. Some music cuts will have thin bass or mellow highs. Here, we boost accordingly, but only a few dB above flat. It is best to cut adjacent sliders to find the right sound.
FYI: Our hearing is not linear. It is logarithmic in nature. The mids will naturally be dominant, while the lows and highs may need some boost. To accomplish this properly, the mids are cut below “flat” by -3 to -6 dB. The bass and highs are “flat” to +3dB of boost.
Doing our final mix in this manner helps keep the amps from clipping and gives the best overall results. This can be a time consuming process. But, it’s well worth it in the end. If you get “listener’s fatigue”, take a 30-minute break and let your hearing “normalize”.
To check your work at the end, open up the doors and walk back about 20 feet from the vehicle and just listen at higher SPL levels. If you have it right, the mids are clear and sharp, the highs are crisp but not shrill and the lows will be full, thumpy and clean. If you hear a lot of muddy, poorly defined lows, drop the 125/250 Hz., settings a few dB. That should fix it, if the sub/enclosure are well matched.
Finally, this is a good process for SQL and SQ systems. If you are a SPL Bass fanatic, you’re on your own on the Bass settings. The “louder the boom, the better” is not my cup of tea per-se. Yes, I like full bass performance and can appreciate the chest thumping, pant leg ruffling bass… but not on a daily basis.
Hope that helps,
Swez
Replies (4)
MrBrownstone on 01/13/2006 13:46:03
I don't think it would be quite as useful to dictate a list of music to use to tune a system if the listener isn't accustomed to hearing it regularly. He/she isn't going to be able to pick out the little nuances that make tuning possible.
I would recommend that if you do 'require' a list of music, the tunee should be listening to the music through a high quality home audio system, and do the best he/she can to mimic that environment. Granted, if the home audio system isn't very well detailed, the comparison wouldn't apply.
Another method of tuning (by ear) is to simply start the system @ flat, then move each dial up/down until the effect is overpronounced and sounds very unrealistic. Finding a midpoint between the extremes is a good setting...if you don't have an RTA.
Also, it's usually best to only make CUTS and not boosts. If your system is deficient in an area, you need to make an adjustment or installation change.
admin on 01/13/2006 18:27:36
Before you submit this Swez let me get the new article system finished. I am making it so you can edit your articles and has paging to so articles can have mutlple pages etc.
Doing my best to get it done this week. You will also be able to upload pictures and such for the article etc.
Victor on 01/13/2006 18:56:55
Wow... Walt has been working a lot behind the scenes..
Wont miss this opportunity to thank you for keeping this site up and doing continous efforts for its growth..
Thanks Walt..
Victor..
swez on 01/13/2006 20:58:18
No hurry Walt... this one is not ready for prime time just yet either. Just planting a few seeds and look at what comes up.
In your timing, SMILE
Swez
Swez USFLAG
================================================
HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM YOUR EQ SYSTEM:
EQ features can do a good deal to tailor your music to a given preference and compensate for deficiencies in our listening environment. The key to using this device to it’s fullest, is to use minimal boost on any given band and cut bands that are dominant. Here’s a 10-band unit for example. The main band selections are as followed:
31.0 Hz: This is the deep bass control for subs. It controls low bass output and the deep thud of a kick drum.
62.0 Hz: This is also in the low bass range, for subs. This band will bring out more of the low/mid bass of the music. You can drop it a few dB for punchy bass and kick drum, or boost it a few dB for more deep bass.
125.0 Hz: This is our lower mid-bass region control. If we boost it a few dB, we get a bit more snap from the kick drum, toms and string slap from the bass guitar. Cut it a few dB, and we have less of the above.
250.0 Hz: This is the lower midrange control slider. A few dB of boost can “warm up the mix” and give more “body” and fill to the (fat) guitar sounds, keyboards and male vocals. If we cut here, we get a thinner sound and a bit more prominent midrange.
500.0 Hz: This is a pure midrange slider. This controls male/female voicing, guitar, strings, synthesizer, snare drum snap and piano sounds. Cutting or boosting here, has a big effect on the “Presents” of the music we are mixing.
1.0 KHz: This is our upper midrange control band. If we boost too much, vocals get nasally sounding. But, it can really brighten up guitar riffs; bring up vocals and parts of the drum kits and keyboards too. Too little of this one, the voices can get muted and hot guitar riffs get buried in the mix. A few dB up or down from “Flat” can enhance or mess up the mix, depending how much cut/boost is used.
2.0 KHz & up: Theses are the upper midrange and tweeter bands. They bring out the cymbals, high-hat, guitar and vocals harmonics and sibilance. (The “S’s, T’s, C’s, etc.) Depending on the tweeters used, a few dB of boost/cut are almost the norm here. Soft dome tweets will often need a few dB boost, while metal domes may need some cut.
SETUP STEPS:
Now comes the fun part. Grab one of your favorite CD’s and toss it in to the player. Set all your sliders to “Flat”. (Which is “0” cut or boost) It is good to choose cuts with male and female vocals, good low-end punch, some biting guitar riffs and maybe some acoustic piano. (If you like tunes with horns and strings, all the better) Some suggested cuts would be: Bumper music cuts, 80’s and 90’s Rock, New Country/Rock-a-Billy, Pink Floyd, Styxx, Boston, Sammy Hagar, Van Halen, Dance/trance or Chicago.
Here’s a “short list” of some I use for tweaking and install. By all means, use your favorites too. We all have different tastes, come from different age groups and have a wide variety of listening habits.
1. Mannheim Steamroller; “Joy to the World” (Very good keyboard/horns work)
2. Dj Suketu; “Bin Tere Sanam” (Good electronic “bumper” music)
3. Bryan Adams; “Summer of 69” & “Run to You” (Very good male vocals, guitar and drum kit stuff here)
4. Brooks & Dunn; “My Maria” (Crisp Rock-a-Billy sounds)
5. Carman; “God’s Got An Army” (Male rich vocals, “tanky bass” lines and a fat guitar)
6. Chicago; “Hard Habit To Break” & “You’re The Inspiration” (Peter Cetera… need I say more? Fat guitar, nice key board, horns interludes)
7. Dhol; “Wajda & “DIL SE RE” (Electronica, trance, dance, great SQ mixing material) Thank you Victor! ;-)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, the easiest way to begin dialing in your ride, (By ear) is to turn off the subs and keep your volume levels at manageable levels. The higher the SPL, (above ~95 dB of SPL) we try to mix at, the less accurate our results will be. Here are the basics:
1. Set all EQ sliders to “FLAT”
2. Drop in a high bit rate CD (192 K bits/sec., are much better than 128 K bit MP3’s) Even better, use a DVD or high-def cuts with >200 K bit rates
3. Listen a bit at “Flat”, then start with the midrange sliders (125, 250, 500 & 1 KHz)
4. Slide each one up and then down, +/- 6dB until you reach the desired bite or mellowness you like best (This is very subjective to the listener’s tastes, listening environment and quality of CD used) After you have this dialed in, we have the midrange pretty well set.
5. Now, we will work with the highs. (2, 4, 8 & 16 KHz) The same steps are repeated as mentioned in step #4.
6. When you have a nice blend of mids and highs, we now focus on the lows. Again, we do the same steps, starting at 60 and finally, 31 Hz.
The trick is to blend and texture everything together in this process. Some music cuts will have thin bass or mellow highs. Here, we boost accordingly, but only a few dB above flat. It is best to cut adjacent sliders to find the right sound.
FYI: Our hearing is not linear. It is logarithmic in nature. The mids will naturally be dominant, while the lows and highs may need some boost. To accomplish this properly, the mids are cut below “flat” by -3 to -6 dB. The bass and highs are “flat” to +3dB of boost.
Doing our final mix in this manner helps keep the amps from clipping and gives the best overall results. This can be a time consuming process. But, it’s well worth it in the end. If you get “listener’s fatigue”, take a 30-minute break and let your hearing “normalize”.
To check your work at the end, open up the doors and walk back about 20 feet from the vehicle and just listen at higher SPL levels. If you have it right, the mids are clear and sharp, the highs are crisp but not shrill and the lows will be full, thumpy and clean. If you hear a lot of muddy, poorly defined lows, drop the 125/250 Hz., settings a few dB. That should fix it, if the sub/enclosure are well matched.
Finally, this is a good process for SQL and SQ systems. If you are a SPL Bass fanatic, you’re on your own on the Bass settings. The “louder the boom, the better” is not my cup of tea per-se. Yes, I like full bass performance and can appreciate the chest thumping, pant leg ruffling bass… but not on a daily basis.
Hope that helps,
Swez
Replies (4)
MrBrownstone on 01/13/2006 13:46:03
I don't think it would be quite as useful to dictate a list of music to use to tune a system if the listener isn't accustomed to hearing it regularly. He/she isn't going to be able to pick out the little nuances that make tuning possible.
I would recommend that if you do 'require' a list of music, the tunee should be listening to the music through a high quality home audio system, and do the best he/she can to mimic that environment. Granted, if the home audio system isn't very well detailed, the comparison wouldn't apply.
Another method of tuning (by ear) is to simply start the system @ flat, then move each dial up/down until the effect is overpronounced and sounds very unrealistic. Finding a midpoint between the extremes is a good setting...if you don't have an RTA.
Also, it's usually best to only make CUTS and not boosts. If your system is deficient in an area, you need to make an adjustment or installation change.
admin on 01/13/2006 18:27:36
Before you submit this Swez let me get the new article system finished. I am making it so you can edit your articles and has paging to so articles can have mutlple pages etc.
Doing my best to get it done this week. You will also be able to upload pictures and such for the article etc.
Victor on 01/13/2006 18:56:55
Wow... Walt has been working a lot behind the scenes..
Wont miss this opportunity to thank you for keeping this site up and doing continous efforts for its growth..
Thanks Walt..
Victor..
swez on 01/13/2006 20:58:18
No hurry Walt... this one is not ready for prime time just yet either. Just planting a few seeds and look at what comes up.
In your timing, SMILE
Swez
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