Engineering Tip #1: EQ and Compression
What Is EQ and Compression, and What Makes Music Sound Professionally Cohesive?
Here at Rap Fiesta, we get asked this question a lot. The “standard” music listener more often than not, has the standard engagement with music and sonics specifically. This typically adheres to an enjoyment that, while industry snobs may call flat, is unbiased and removed from the ear of critique and deconstruction that a professional musician may lean on. There is however, a sharp intersection between the untrained ear and the tuned-in which exists in the agreement of a complete sonic weaving, whether the untrained ear knows it or not. To most this is simply just the way they receive music, a commonality across the world of receiving sonics without ever particularly knowing how they’re crafted and shaped to be pleasing. All radio released songs are mixed and mastered prior to release, a process that the average listener is more than likely unaware of. This in turn lends itself to a recurring misunderstanding during the recording process; that tracking vocals will be enough to develop that sound… the ever-elusive sound of completion.
When one first picks up a video camera, whether it be an iPhone or a DSLR, you notice immediately that you can’t just make movie quality imagery through using the tool for recording. Similarly, and akin to the process of Color Correction in Cinematography, this is due to the fact that there’s more to every process than one could credit properly without being adjacent to or in that field. As an Audio Engineer, you’ll notice the disconnect immediately. Some Recording Artists are completely unaware of our existence, the ever enigmatic and typically middle aged-Caucasian man sitting facing the console (the table thing with all the faders on it) in your favorite in-studio instagram videos. Some Recording Artists understand we receive their vocals through the microphone, but terminology like “Signal,” or “Attenuation,” or “Please run that back, it was incoherent,” are too far from the realm of creating the vocal content. It’s important to firstly acknowledge the professionals that create content. An Audio Engineer is the arranger and shaper of sound, and the only Industry Professional that directly contributes to every facet of the content. This means your instrumentals, your vocals, your in-house guitarist, etc, all have to pass through the discretion and skill of your friendly neighborhood Engineer. (Remind yourself to learn his name, he’ll typically take 3-4% of the Record Sales or 20-25% of the artists royalties).
In regards to cohesion, there are several tools and sonic principles that we use and manipulate to control the very chaotic nature of vocals, HipHop or otherwise. But there are two specifically that create the phenomenon of cohesion, described consistently by amateur artists as “…the song sound[ing] like the vocals and the beat are one”. Yes, there are words for how Engineers do this, and yes, for sure, you should know them. They’re “EQ” and “Compression”, and these are extensive and difficult ways to properly “clean” and manipulate sonics. Here we’ll cover their definitions and their affects. Your engineer will appreciate you knowing them!
Equalization, commonly EQ, is the process of adjusting the balance between frequency components within a signal. That signal here is more than likely the vocalist tracking through the microphone. It’s important to note here that without a doubt your voice is not perfect, and artists from Ski Mask the Slump God, to Rihanna, to Dave Matthews Band all require this incredibly basic processing on their voices. The components of the human voice are very lush with tones and timbre, and controlling EQ can help with maintaining consistent dynamics and purity. Here we fix the husk from smoking 15 Backwoods before recording, remove the harshness caused by you saying your “S’s” through Grills, and cutting out the sub frequencies you create by jumping in the booth because the beat hits. If you’ve ever wondered why when you record into your USB Yeti Mic on your desk, it doesn’t sound like Joey Badass instantaneously… well its mostly because you’re not Joey Badass amongst a litany of other things, but it’s also because of this practice and eventual mastery of knowing which frequencies we want and which we don’t.
Compression is the glue, as it’s also commonly referred to. A form of Dynamic Processing in which Engineers control the ratio between the loudest and softest parts or your vocal take. When you get louder to belt those notes, there’s a contrast in volume between the next section where you deliver soft 6lack RnB vocals immediately after. With Compression we create the sonic idea that, regardless of your intensity in performance, the volume received will stay consistent. It’s crucial for controlling every and any signal. When the drums pick up and the background vocals float in, there will be a natural increase in volume due to more sounds being introduced. Without Compression, you’ll notice an insane and uncontrollable amount of variance of “Loudness,” that exists in your tracking. Interestingly, the untrained ear is absolutely capable of recognizing compression, or the lack there of, without knowing the word for it. It’s the polish, the Moonrocks in your Garcia Vega. We use many forms of compression to ensure consistency in the track and a conforming volume with which to encourage signals to remain docile and cooperative.
There’s an obvious extensiveness therein between these two terms, years of practice and ear training, and a personal taste as well. In the best interest of all of us, Recording Artists, Producers, and Engineers, lets all try our best to understand these two specifically at a basic level. The difference between a “clean and professional” track and its opposite is almost exclusively Compression and EQ in tandem. As for who’s doing it? Find the frustrated guy with the hunched back in the room of ten artists. Pass him the blunt, too. We’ve got you.
If you liked this breakdown and would like to learn more, check out our Industry Knowledge Guides.