31 band EQ rack device - any use in the studio?

[wearashirt]

Like I said in another post.. live sound gear are going into the market and dropping the prices.

Is there a use in the mixing studio for a rack-31 band EQ?

I just don't want to pass on something I may regret later. But currently, I don't seem to see any use for it in the studio! If I can't get it in 4 bands, then I won't get it all.... right?.... right?

Any insights (even esoteric ones) would be appreciated.

[James Perrett]

If you are running an all analogue studio and wanted to try some room correction for you monitors then you could try it on the main monitor output. However, you would need some way of analysing the room and there are probably better ways of achieving the same (or better) result. They were popular for a while in the 70's but better studio designs and better monitors meant that the use of graphic eq's in studios died out.

[resistorman]

I had some really good ones back in the analog day and used them extensively for live sound, but never found a use for them in the studio. Don’t sweat it.

[Wonks]

If going all-analogue as much as possible and you are trying to get a piezo guitar signal to sound good, then one might be quite useful in that instance as it can take all sorts of EQing to sound good. The obvious solution is to use a nice sounding guitar and a mic, but if you've done a piezo backup as a precaution, and there's a mic issue with the recording but the performance is great so you don't want to re-do it, the graphic might come in more useful than a couple of parametrics and fixed shelving EQs on a desk channel.

Most of the time it will sit there doing nothing though. But if you've currently got the rack space and the spare cash, then it's not going to do any harm.

With two of them, you can do the 'set each band on alternate EQs high and low' trick to create a pseudo-stereo signal from a mono one, so you alternately boost and then cut as you work your way up the bands, and where you boost on one graphic, you cut on the other. It's not great, but if you want to create some interest, it's worth trying. Better ways to do things with plug-ins these days, but if you want old-school, then it's definitely old-school.

[forumuser840717]

They have a host of uses.

They're helpful if you have any very light racks that are in danger of floating away in the breeze from the air conditioning. Or for holding doors open. Or when one needs a step up to reach things in high places. Or for giving to producers to 'mix' on and make them feel important. Or for making little smiles on their front to cheer everyone up on stressful sessions.

I'm sure there are lots of other uses. Nothing musical or electronic comes to mind though.

[Bob Bickerton]

They have a host of uses.

They're helpful if you have any very light racks that are in danger of floating away in the breeze from the air conditioning. Or for holding doors open. Or when one needs a step up to reach things in high places. Or for giving to producers to 'mix' on and make them feel important..........

Assuming it's either switched off or bypassed.........

Bob

[Arpangel]

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.
One of thee most creative things you can have in a studio, grab them while you can, there are some amazing bargains out there, and you can bet, they’ll be really sought after at some point, and cost a fortune.

[Mike Stranks]

I had six channels of graphic EQ when I was on the road in olden times and pre-digital...

I've never used one in the studio... but if you really must there are plenty of plug-ins that allow you to EQ using graphic sliders. Out of curiosity really I've played around with a few, but have always abandoned them... they simply don't give the control that the current host of EQ plug-ins give you. This days for my admittedly simple requirements I'll use the EQ in iZotope 7 or sometimes the freebie from Reaper.

Good for studio museums of the 'the good (bad) old days' but, as has been said, very much yesterday's technology

[Music Wolf]

Rule of thumb.

Unless you are spending serious money on analogue outboard you will not get anything that you can't do better, and at much lower cost, with a plug in.

[wearashirt]

Thanks guys.

If I can have it for free, I guess one application would be to install it in my car!

[Arpangel]

I had six channels of graphic EQ when I was on the road in olden times and pre-digital...

I've never used one in the studio... but if you really must there are plenty of plug-ins that allow you to EQ using graphic sliders. Out of curiosity really I've played around with a few, but have always abandoned them... they simply don't give the control that the current host of EQ plug-ins give you. This days for my admittedly simple requirements I'll use the EQ in iZotope 7 or sometimes the freebie from Reaper.

Good for studio museums of the 'the good (bad) old days' but, as has been said, very much yesterday's technology

I use Reaper, none of the EQ plugs work for me, they sound awful, like they don’t really "do" much.
EQ and compression have never worked for me as plugs, for some reason.
Hardware still has an attitude, that plugs don’t, no matter how much they cost.

[wearashirt]

EQ and compression have never worked for me as plugs, for some reason.
Hardware still has an attitude, that plugs don’t, no matter how much they cost.

That's interesting because console EQ hit me differently than plug in EQ. Would you use a 31-band graphic EQ during mix down? Run acoustic guitar? Bass guitar? Snare?

[Arpangel]

Would you use a 31-band graphic EQ during mix down? Run acoustic guitar? Bass guitar? Snare?

Yes I would, why not?
I use them to shape the tone and atmosphere of whole mixes, you can really home in, like on a 32 band, but for instruments I’d use a 15, or smaller.

[Hugh Robjohns]

From an engineering point of view, a graphic EQ is a fairly horrendous tool in terms of introducing amplitude and phase errors all over the shop, and so not generally something you would want to pass your precious signals through if you can avoid it.

But as an effects processor, you can create some extreme sounds with a graphic that you can't (as easily) with anything else, and there is a certain tactile quality to the interface that many love.

If it's a decent brand in good nick, and free, and you are into sound design then it could have its uses... otherwise I'd save the rack space for something genuinely useful in the studio, like a 19-inch wine rack!



Best labelling I've ever seen on a 31-band graphic, on a strip of tape running under the sliders, each group of 6 or 7 were identified as:

HUM : HONK : HOOT : HISS

All you need to know!

[Zukan]