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Topic: Tips and Tricks: EQ for Lapsteel |
Bill McCloskey
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Posted 3 Apr 2010 10:17 am |
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After a recent purchase of a Podx3 Live, I've been playing withe four band EQ and realizing that I have no idea what I'm doing.
I thought it would be helpful to the group to start a thread collecting everyone's Tips and Tricks when it comes to EQ. I'd love to know:
1. Different EQ for different genres (blues, hawaiian, rock, jazz, western swing).
2. Different EQ tips for different guitars: Asher vs SuperSlide vs Vintage, etc.
3 General tips for EQ'ing a lap steel.
What are your collective thoughts? |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 3 Apr 2010 11:53 am
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That's an interesting question. I have no experience with setting up different EQs for electric lap steel. I don't have a setup that has that much flexibility. 
I would suggest starting with everything flat and adjusting until it sounds good to you. Perhaps other people will have better suggestions.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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John D. Carter
From:
Canton, Ohio, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2010 12:03 pm
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| When trying to reproduce sound as accurately as it was originally generated, one wants a "flat" response. However, steel guitar natural frequencies, as an electical instrument, get modified by the tone controls on both the guitar and amp. Therefore it comes down to what you like to hear. Some like the clarinet sound in the lap steel where the lower frequenies stand out and others like the country pedal sound where the higher frequencies dominate. I think it is just a matter of taste. Equalization can help you tailor the sound you like, to a degree, in spite of what your pickup puts out naturally. |
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Lynn Oliver
From:
Redmond, Washington USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 3 Apr 2010 12:15 pm
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You might start by understanding the frequencies produced by your instrument. A quick web search will turn up all sorts of tables, like This One that seems pretty busy but has some good info.
From the chart you can see that the fundamental frequencies for a six-string guitar in standard tuning go from about 82Hz (open sixth string E) to about 1.3kHz (two octaves above the first string E). Don't forget that the overtones are important as well, so most of the action occurs up to about 5kHz.
Something that is less than obvious is that the fundamental for the lowest string isn't that important, as many speakers don't reproduce low frequencies that well and your ear will automatically "hear" the fundamental if the overtones are present.
Here is an EQ Chart that may give you some starting points to experiment with:
Electric Guitar
100Hz - boost for bottm
200Hz - cut to remove muddiness
250Hz - boost for warmth
500Hz - boost for body
1-2K - boost for pick or percussion
1-3K - cut to remove harshness
3-4K - boost for "cut" (solos, lines, etc.)
5K - boost for "presence"
7K - boost for "buzz" (distortion)
10K and up - boost for clarity and string decay
Acoustic Guitar
100Hz and down - cut to remove rumble
250Hz - boost for warmth
500-700Hz - boost for body
1K - boost for pick
3K - boost for lines
5K - boost for brilliance
7K - cut to remove finger noise
10K and up - boost for sparkle |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 3 Apr 2010 1:12 pm
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Lynn,
That is fantastic info, thanks. Great responses so far. More! |
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Lynn Oliver
From:
Redmond, Washington USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 3 Apr 2010 3:03 pm
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A few more tips for EQ:
1. It is better to cut than to boost.
2. An EQ setting that sounds good solo may not work in a group.
3. Just because you have EQ available does not mean you have to use it. |
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Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
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Posted 3 Apr 2010 4:03 pm
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| Lynn Oliver wrote: |
A few more tips for EQ:
1. It is better to cut than to boost.
2. An EQ setting that sounds good solo may not work in a group.
3. Just because you have EQ available does not mean you have to use it. |
That's 3 very good points! A friend of mine, who's a much more experienced sound engineer than me, once compared his use of EQ with a sculptors work - you have this big block/sound, and then you carefully chisel away the stuff you don't want. And as in all other matters - there are always exceptions..
Personally I always go for focus, focus and focus. That huge rich sound that sounds so wonderful on its own will often only serve to muddy up a detailed 'soundscape'. On the other hand, the tone that blends perfectly in the mix can often sound almost one-dimensional on its own.
This is one of the reasons I favor small bodied acoustic guitars, they just blend so great without much EQing, if any. A weissenborn will often have the same qualities compared to a flattop played lap style,- it has that focused 'snappy' midrange quality that's easy to mix.
_________________
"Play to express, not to impress"
Website - YouTube |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 4 Apr 2010 4:15 am
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| Interesting. These are great posts, but I'm surprised there is not more comments. Is that a comment on the state of the art of lap steel? That we are all still trying to figure this beast out? |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 4 Apr 2010 5:05 am
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Steels generally tend to be a little hotter than electric guitars and as far as EQing, there are things I like to avoid. I like to start with as flat a sound as possible and then cut back on the treble and bass. To get more specific, I generally don't use pedals much anymore (other than volume) and usually just turn up the amp and control with the vp, so most of the time my sound is clean-ish, with a touch of hair. It can also get spikey in certain frequencies, particularly upper mids, so I have to watch out for that.
99% of the time I play through an amp, so I use the treble, mid and bass controls. I usually keep treble at about 2, mids at 6 or 7, and bass at 2 or 3. No boosts engaged (bass or presence). But the most important thing I've discovered is the variations of sound from speaker to speaker. Once I'm familiar with a speaker's frequency range, it's easier to work with it. It can vary drastically from speaker to speaker.
With an EQ, anything above 5K I would want to roll off, and depending on the steel, I might even roll off a touch at around 3K. I keep the mids pretty much flat or even slightly boosted from 500-1K, but the bass freqs below 250 I cut.
Some steels and even some tunings exhibit different qualities, some not so desirable. If it's a tuning with a high pitched 1st string, you have to find the right balance to make sure you don't exaggerate the whininess. Same with the bass strings--you emphasize the bass to the detriment of the treble strings. It's good to find the right balance, so experiment. You have to get to know each instrument's sound properties and take them into consideration.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Orville Johnson
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 4 Apr 2010 11:52 am
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Its true that the speaker makes a huge difference. I always knew that but I had a vivid demonstration a few years ago when I had an amp made for me by Jack Anderson
http://www.andersonamps.com/
He makes great amps and when he was close to finishing mine he asked me about my speaker choice. I was puzzling over a couple of different ones and he had me come over to his shop and we set up an external cab plugged into my new amp. He had a bunch of speakers and I would play a little and then he would swap out the speaker, which he was able to do in about 2 minutes. So I got to try a bunch of different ones with my amp at the same settings and in quick order. In the past, I'd only ever been able to do that by playing, spending 15 or 20 minutes changing the speaker myself, and by then, of course, I'd kind of forgotten the sound.
It was so great to hear the speakers in such a short turn-around time and the differences in the speaker response were unbelievably huge! And obvious. It made it really easy to choose the one I liked the best. |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 4 Apr 2010 12:31 pm
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| So which one did you like best Orville? |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 4 Apr 2010 12:33 pm
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Okay,
learning about low shelves and high shelves. Found a couple of tutorials. |
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Orville Johnson
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 4 Apr 2010 12:37 pm
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| For that particular amp (a 20 watt "blackface deluxe"-ish model) I went with a 12 inch Celestion G12H. Very smooth highs and rich low-mids. |
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