Arno's EQ and Compression Presets for Home-Recording Enthusiasts.....

Arno-West

There have been a lot of questions and cries for help from people who dabble in Home-Recording lately………and not so lately. Most questions seem to relate to the “Dark-Art” of mixing your tracks once you’ve recorded them. Things like….”My Kick sounds thin…” and “My snare doesn’t cut through…” or “The bass is muddy…” crops up all the time.

So, I thought these “recipes” might come in handy for some people. Basically, it is a set of PRESETS for EQ and COMPRESSION for Bass, Kick Drums, Snare Drums and TOM-Toms. It is a good idea to dial in these presets to whatever plug-in (EQ and Compressors) you use and save it as a Preset for the plug-in. This way you can always call them up at the click of a button.

As always, this is not the be-all and end-all of settings/presets, so let’s not start a riveting discussion regarding the “Knee” or “Opto”-setting of a certain compressor or Plug-in. These presets (or recipes) are a good starting point and I have found them very useful in the past, but don’t tie yourself to them too tightly.
I hope you guys find them useful.

Bass EQ Presets

1. Bass with punchy low-end with plenty of cut:
· Band 1: 60Hz high pass
· Band 2: +6dB at 80Hz
· Band 3: +8dB at 900Hz
· Band 4: +7dB at 3.4kHz

2. Modern slap and pop type bass sound:
· Band 1: +8dB at 60Hz
· Band 2: -3dB at 350Hz
· Band 3: +9dB at 850Hz
· Band 4: +8dB at 5kHz shelf

Bass Compression Presets:
1. Punchy bass compression:
· Ratio: 4:1
· Attack: 50ms
· Release: 50ms
· Threshold: adjust for 3-6dB gain reduction

2. Smoothing out the dynamics of the bass:
· Ratio: 6:1
· Attack: 0.3ms
· Release: 660ms
· Threshold: adjust for 3-6dB gain reduction

Kick Drum EQ Presets:

1. Solid, full kick drum sound with plenty of click
· Band 1: +6dB at 55Hz
· Band 2: -9dB at 275Hz (narrow)
· Band 3: +7dB at 3.7kHz
· Band 4: +8dB at 6.2kHz shelf

2. Traditional kick drum sound
· Band 1: +6dB at 100Hz
· Band 2: -10dB at 800Hz (narrow)
· Band 3: +6dB at 1.5kHz
· Band 4: +6dB at 7.0kHz shelf

Kick Drum Compression Preset:

1. More “in your face” kick drum compression
· Ratio: 6:1
· Attack: 3ms
· Release: 200ms
· Threshold: adjust for about 8-10dB gain reduction

Snare Drum EQ Presets (Top Mic):

1. Deep and punchy snare drum sound:
· Band 1: 80Hz high pass
· Band 2: +9dB at 200Hz
· Band 3: +3dB at 2.5kHz
· Band 4: +1dB at 3.5kHz
· Band 5: +8dB at 8.0kHz

2. Snare drum sound with a thick body and smooth top:
· Band 1: +6dB at 180Hz
· Band 2: +4dB at 250Hz
· Band 3: -4dB at 800Hz (adds clarity)
· Band 4: +6 at 3.0kHz
· Band 5: +8 at 7.0kHz

3. A solid, traditional snare drum sound:
· Band 1: +5dB at 250Hz
· Band 2: +6dB at 2.0kHz
· Band 3: +4dB at 5.0kHz
· Band 4: +8dB at 10kHz

Snare Drum Compression Presets:

1. Light snare drum compression:
· Ratio: 4:1
· Attack: 4ms
· Release: 200ms
· Threshold: adjust for 3-6dB gain reduction

2. Increase the sustain for a thicker snare drum sound:
· Ratio: 6:1
· Attack: 1ms
· Release: 200ms
· Threshold: adjust for 6-10dB gain reduction

Snare Drum EQ Presets (Bottom mic):
· Band 1: 50Hz high pass
· Band 2: +6dB at 200Hz
· Band 3: +15dB at 5kHz

Compression Preset for Snare Drum (Bottom mic):
· Ratio: 10:1
· Attack: 1ms
· Release: 200ms
· Threshold: adjust for 10-15dB gain reduction

Tom-Tom EQ Presets:

1. A slick, modern tom sound:
Band 1: +6dB at 150Hz
Band 2: -15dB at 800
Band 3: +9dB at 6KHz

2. A heavy metal tom sound:
Band 1: +4dB at 150Hz
Band 2: -15dB at 600Hz
Band 3: +8dB at 3.5KHz
Band 4: +2dB at 10KHz (high shelf)

3. A vintage 70′s tom sound:
Band 1: high pass at 90Hz
Band 2: +4dB at 220
Band 3: +4dB at 4.5KHz
Band 4: +6dB at 7KHz

Tom-Tom Compression Preset:

1. For subtle tom compression:
Ratio: 4:1
Attack: 10ms
Release: 400ms (or less for fast tom hits in succession)
Threshold: adjust for about 6dB of gain reduction

There you go.
Happy mixing.........

AlanRatcliffe

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing. I have my own presets saved for exactly the same purpose.

Arno West wrote: These presets (or recipes) are a good starting point and I have found them very useful in the past, but don’t tie yourself to them too tightly.

+1. Too many variables for a one-size-fits-all approach to work every time. But as a starting point, having presets saves a lot of time - so thanks again.

briang-telkomsa-net

Thanks for sharing Arno.
You're always willing to share what you know and it is appreciated.
I also use presets and agree that it saves a lot of time - not nearly as proficient as you are though ?

Arno-West

briang wrote: Thanks for sharing Arno.
You're always willing to share what you know and it is appreciated.
I also use presets and agree that it saves a lot of time - not nearly as proficient as you are though ?

Thanks Brian.
I will be posting the EQ and Comp presets for Acoustic Guitars, Clean Rhythm Guits, Dirty Rhythm Guits, Lead Guits, Lead Vox and BVox in the next week or so.

doc-phil

Always good to acknowledge the author and source: ?

http://www.benvesco.com/blog/mixing/

I've been using these mix recipes as a reference for ages, good stuff.

chris77

Wow, brilliant! Not sure if I will ever use them, but here, have a thank you just the same. :applause:

sharonzaz

doc-phil wrote: Always good to acknowledge the author and source: ?

http://www.benvesco.com/blog/mixing/

I've been using these mix recipes as a reference for ages, good stuff.

Wait, what?
So is this "arno's" recipes or some other dudes?

doc-phil

sharonzaz wrote:
doc-phil wrote: Always good to acknowledge the author and source: ?

http://www.benvesco.com/blog/mixing/

I've been using these mix recipes as a reference for ages, good stuff.
Wait, what?
So is this "arno's" recipes or some other dudes?

The link I posted was to a blog by Ben Vesco who lives in the USA. These are his mix recipes that he posted on his blog in 2007.

Arno-West

Yes, when I did this post I couldn't remember where I found these cos it was a long time ago, but you're right, that's the source.

As a starting point, these are very handy indeed, but with a bit of tweaking and experimenting, they get even better.

gavin-taitz

I've got a lot of cooking to do ?,great stuff