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EQ Question (clean up "distant/open" and occassionally muddy)

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StarkRavingCalm:
Recorded a show recently at an outdoor amphitheater, used stealth omins and was a good distance back.
Want to use EQ (specifically ReaEQ in Reaper) to clean up these traits:

1 - That "open" sound you would get with omnis combined with the distance.
      Would like it to sound "closer" if possible

2 - Occasionally, when the band gets chugging along, the sound gets a little muddy.
      What is weird is that is sounds a little cleaner in the car than it does on my monitor speakers (which are fairly flat).
      Would like it to sound "clearer", "less-muddy"

My question is:

For each of these, what ranges should I target?
There are bunch of pre-defined bands in ReaEQ, which would work best?
(Including a mud-free I just noticed)



Thanks

achalsey:
I use reaper for eq as well.  I don't really know what I'm doing, but will say don't use preset settings.

Probably not the answer you're looking for, but just experiment.  Reaper's eq is real time so it's really nice to play with and see how raising or lowering certain frequencies effects the sound.

From my very uneducated experience I usually play with very low frequencies for muddiness.  Around 100 hz.  Usually use a narrow band.  Maybe half an octave and move it up and down the spectrum to see where that really resonant spot is and lower it slightly there.

All this said, I have zero experience with stealth and very minimal with omnis.

goodcooker:

I use fairly simple EQ for outdoor omni recordings that suffer from what you describe here.

I roll off the low end starting at about 100 hz. Sometimes less sometimes more. I use a 6db per octave slope so its not too steep and takes all the meat out of the subwoofer freqs.

I also usually add a wide boost to the upper midrange/treble frequencies usually starting at around 1k - 1.5kHz and ending around 3.5k. Gives it some "reach" and sounds more present and less distant.

All this of course depends on the program material. I find rock music, for instance, needs more cleaning up than bluegrass.

opsopcopolis:
The 250 range may handle both of those issues quite well. Indoors, rooms seem to kick back a lot in the 250 range so bringing it down a bit can make things sound a bit "closer". Be careful with it though, ducking out too much of the lower MUDs will make for a very thin sounding recording very quickly

stevetoney:

--- Quote from: goodcooker on September 03, 2015, 09:08:05 AM ---
I also usually add a wide boost to the upper midrange/treble frequencies usually starting at around 1k - 1.5kHz and ending around 3.5k. Gives it some "reach" and sounds more present and less distant.


--- End quote ---

^ This.  Note though that this will only help.  Don't expect a miracle.  (Incidentally, I find that this boost improves a majority of my recordings, not just those sounding distant.)
 
For the muddy sounds, find a muddy passage and play with it with your EQ tool active.  In Audition, I have three EQ tools; 10 band, 20 band and 30 band.  Use your 10 band tool and set all of the frequencies at 0db.  Then one-by-one decrease each slider to isolate a specific frequency range to find the offending frequency range.  Once you've found the muddy range, minimize it so that the result sounds best to your ears.  For example, you might not want to drop that frequency altogether, but just drop it 6 or 7db.  If the muddiness can't be 'listened around' you might want to drastically cut that frequency...like 15 or 20db.  Once you find the offending frequency, you might need to widen the frequency sample or narrow it.  Do that by either also minimizing neighboring frequencies or isolating more by using the 20 or 30 band EQ tools.

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