Here’s the third installment of a series of recording hints, tips, tricks, and ideas all from the front of the Blackbird Academy classroom.
Something to keep in mind regarding sound and recording: everything is an EQ. What is an equalizer’s purpose? It’s meant to change timbre- tone quality. What else can we do in creating, capturing, processing, mixing, and mangling a sound affects timbre? Just about everything. The gauge of a pick, the liveliness of strings, the position in the room, mic choice, and placement all affect the timbre.
Compressors and limiters are EQs. By changing the relative loudness of different episodes in the life of a sound, they alter its timbre. Likewise, it affects the time expansion and sound of a delay or reverb.
This principle is all adaptive and ever-present – we alter the sound of the sound by moving our heads, turning the speakers up or down, or even wearing a hat. Everything is an EQ.