6 Tips For EQing Effects

It's pretty common for an engineer to have a problem with the sound of a delay or reverb during mixing. Usually the engineer will spend a lot of time trying different presets in an attempt to help everything blend better, but just a little EQ added or subtracted to the effect could've made everything fit nicely in the first place.

Here are a few tips for EQing effects that will help everything blend without spending a lot of time experimenting.

1. To make an effect stick out, brighten it up. 

2. To make an effect blend in, darken it up (filter out the highs).

3. If the part is busy (like with drums), roll off the low end of the effect to make it fit.

4. If the part is open, add low end to the effect to fill in the space.

5. If the source part is mono and panned hard to one side, make one side of the stereo effect brighter and the other darker.  

6. Place an EQ on the effect and attenuate all of the frequencies around the vocal (2k to 4k) to make it sit better in the mix.

If your effects aren't blending, try one or all of the above tips before you change the preset. You'll be surprised at the results.

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