Multiple analog EQ 's on one track???

[reapermusic]

Hello guys!

I have a potentially silly question that relates I guess to both recording techniques as well as actual Analog consoles.

On an actual analog console, how was surgical EQ performed to clean up a track?
For example did engineers only use the onboard EQ section of the console or did they also patch in more EQ's to perform more surgical moves. Or let's say they needed more bands, would they simply just patch in another EQ or did they just use the EQ on that channel and do the best they could using those?

I guess maybe the same question applies for the onboard compressors on each channel too?

So was it common for engineers to patch in an extra EQ for further tweaking a track/tracks?

When I see credits saying recorded and mixed on let's say Harrison, SSL...etc
Does this mean that everything was mixed through that particular console's EQ/Compression channels alone?


Thanks much!

[Tassy]

The answer I think comes from the fact that there were a lot other analogue gears beside consoles in studios. And a lot other approaches to recording and mixing that is too long to list here. Plugin producers have been taking pains to emulate those old great analogue gears like 1176, LA2a, PulseTec EQ and a lot more....

I always wondered when guys boosted here they did ALL the mix in MB using nothing else. Sure it could be done but have these been ever compared to a mix in MB but using some 3rd party plugins, too, that not exist among the XT- plugs?

[Dingo]

On an actual analog console, how was surgical EQ performed to clean up a track?
For example did engineers only use the onboard EQ section of the console or did they also patch in more EQ's to perform more surgical moves.

So was it common for engineers to patch in an extra EQ for further tweaking a track/tracks?

It was common practise to have an outboard rack of gear that could be patched across a track or Bus depending on what was needed.
Urei 565 notch filter, Klark teknik graphic eq or a Urei 545 parametric EQ where common outboard items found in many studios

[Theotherguy]

On an actual analog console, how was surgical EQ performed to clean up a track?
For example did engineers only use the onboard EQ section of the console or did they also patch in more EQ's to perform more surgical moves.

So was it common for engineers to patch in an extra EQ for further tweaking a track/tracks?

It was common practise to have an outboard rack of gear that could be patched across a track or Bus depending on what was needed.
Urei 565 notch filter, Klark teknik graphic eq or a Urei 545 parametric EQ where common outboard items found in many studios

Years ago the reputation of a studio had a lot to do with what was in the outboard rack, it's mic-pres as well as what was in the microphone collection. The signal chain... the patchbay!

[Pi_K]

This is a really good observation

[reapermusic]

Thanks for all these great responses guys, very informative and totally answered my questions!
Much appreciated! Awesome

[madmaxmiller]

On an actual analog console, how was surgical EQ performed to clean up a track?
For example did engineers only use the onboard EQ section of the console or did they also patch in more EQ's to perform more surgical moves.

So was it common for engineers to patch in an extra EQ for further tweaking a track/tracks?

It was common practise to have an outboard rack of gear that could be patched across a track or Bus depending on what was needed.
Urei 565 notch filter, Klark teknik graphic eq or a Urei 545 parametric EQ where common outboard items found in many studios

The difference is that you only had a certain number of these in the rack, clearly not enough to put one on every track. So you had to make sure the recording is top notch and possibly compressed/eq-ed already so you could get away with console channel EQ on most channels.

MMM