Ever think of adding EQ to your signal chain? Here’s a brief but definitive guide on how to get started.
Equalization is a powerful sonic-sculpting tool. Almost immediately after we figured out how to convert the music we hear into electronic waveforms, electronic engineers devised circuits to manipulate those signals by attenuating and accentuating different frequency bands. In recording studios, equalization can subtract bass from a boomy kick drum or add sibilance to a breathy vocal. In sound reinforcement, we can equalize the response of a PA in a room with less than ideal resonances.
These resonances add or subtract energy from the PA output and present an uneven response to the audience. Equalization adjusts the PA’s frequency response to account for those room dynamics and makes the response even, or equal, across all bands.
Human hearing is usually understood to extend from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The frequency range of the guitar is much more limited, typically ranging from around 80 Hz to 6 kHz. Interestingly, the human voice shares a great deal of the same bandwidth, meaning the same ears and audio-processing centers that are fine-tuned for distinguishing the differences in voices can readily adapt to distinguish the differences in guitar tones. Accordingly, small adjustments in frequency equalization can have big effects in the ears of the listener, making a world of difference in a guitar’s fundamental sound. No amount of EQ will turn a red-knob Fender Twin into a Marshall plexi, but a little EQ might be all that stands between the sound in your head and the gear that you already own.
There are a host of EQ guitar pedal options on the market, from the venerable Boss GE-7 graphic equalizer (which contains preset frequency centers and bandwidths) to the new-fangled Empress ParaEq (which contains fully adjustable frequency centers and bandwidths). If you’re an EQ neophyte, stick with a graphic EQ. The sliders will be spaced evenly, and you can train your ear to hear the difference between frequencies before graduating to the laissez-faire frequency selection of a parametric EQ. As you’re learning what each frequency does for your sound, pull the fader all the way down and listen carefully, then push it all the way up and do the same. Listening to the EQ at these extremes may help you key in on the change at a more tasteful setting. Make a habit of turning the effect on and off to sample what it is doing relative to your unaffected signal.
It may be helpful to think of EQ as a flavoring agent. Like a little salt enhances a dish’s existing flavors, EQ can make for some tasty tones. If you have an overdrive that you’d like to make a little more “screamer,” add a bit of 800 Hz. If your sound has got a little too much of that green pedal honk, cut 800 Hz just a hair. If your chunky rhythm sound lacks clarity, cut from 200–250 Hz. This is where the low-midrange mud lives.
“If the unobtanium overdrive du jour is a Ferrari, then an EQ is like a Honda Accord.”
Almost every move has a practical reciprocal. You can add clarity by cutting low mids or boosting high mids by a commensurate amount. I normally recommend cutting first as a rule of thumb, as excessive boost can make things squirrelly, due to increased overall gain. That said, boosting around 500 Hz can add midrange body; around 2 kHz can help a neck pickup cut through the mix; and around 5 kHz can add airy click to your sound.
As you tweak, remember the upper-frequency bands will have more of an effect when placed after overdrive and distortion in your signal chain, as those processes generate harmonics that add energy to higher frequencies. But, there are no hard and fast rules. Adjust with listening ears! Your sound is like a ball of clay, and EQ can help you shape it just how you’d like.
Experiment with EQ placement as well. Apply EQ after dirt in order to carve your signal like the channel strip on a mixing console. Apply EQ before overdrives to cause them to saturate sooner at specific frequencies. This can greatly affect a pedal’s feel as well as sound.
If the unobtanium overdrive du jour is a Ferrari, then an EQ is like a Honda Accord. It’s practical, modest, and functional, but most people don’t dream about owning one. However, with the ability to subtly sculpt and cut or boost in the extreme, EQ can get you where you want to go.
John Bohlinger and the PG video crew head west to explore the two brands that helped spark hot-rodding instruments and tricking out "super strat" shredsters. Talented master builders Pasquale “Pat” Campolattano, "Metal" Joe Williams, and Dave Nichols (aka “Red Dave”) unlock the door to their twisted sanctuary and let the sawdust fly showing us their hands-on approach to building drag-racing guitars.
Hermanos Gutiérrez release "Until We Meet Again," the latest preview of their forthcoming record Sonido Cósmico, produced by Dan Auerbach and out June 14 via Easy Eye Sound.
This month, Hermanos Gutiérrez will also make their Coachella debut and embark on a run of dates with Khruangbin before they head out on a tour of their biggest venues to date — including Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium and two nights at NYC’s Brooklyn Steel in May (one just added, one sold out). Along with today's new song they've shared an additional 13 tour dates, with shows newly added across the Southwestern U.S., West Coast, and Europe. Full dates below.
Just as the title suggests, “Until We Meet Again” is an ode to the lighter moments of long distance: the bittersweet melodies of two guitars chasing each other until they finally intertwine. Hopeful, soft, and full of emotion, the track is a warm moment of connection on an otherwise otherworldly record. Directed by frequent collaborator, Robert “Roboshobo” Schober (Metallica, The Killers, The Arcs), the video for “Until We Meet Again” relishes in the supernatural.
Hermanos Gutiérrez - "Until We Meet Again" [Official Music Video]
Says Hermanos Gutiérrez on writing “Until We Meet Again”: “It was during soundcheck in San Antonio, TX where we accidentally discovered the idea for this song. It stayed present for months and always reminded us of one of our favorite movies, Paris, Texas directed by Wim Wenders. The pace and the warmth of the song are inspired by the scenery and aesthetics of the movie, following the narrative of father-son relationship and their way of reconnecting while being on the road together through the landscapes of the American Southwest. The song somehow reflects our relationship as brothers of finding ourselves together again while being on the road and sharing our music with so many beautiful people.”
Elsewhere on Sonido Cósmico, the brothers turn to more extraterrestrial inspirations: broadening their rhythmic palette with strokes of cumbia and salsa on the moonlit “Cumbia Lunar,” exploring the eerier sides of outer space on the haunting “Low Sun”, and adding subtle touches of strings to the more Dune-inspired title track, “Sonido Cósmico”.
Produced by their third brother, Dan Auerbach — GRAMMY®-winning producer and lead singer of The Black Keys — Sonido Cosmico is meant to lift the listener away from the desert landscapes of 2022’s breakout El Bueno Y El Malo, which Rolling Stone said “shimmers with hallucinogenic energy” and NPR celebrated with a Tiny Desk performance and by naming the LP one of the Top Latin Albums of that year. Finding solace in the stars and the unknowable expansiveness of our limitless world, Sonido Cósmico is a minimalist, mystical listening experience thatis the perfect capture of the brothers’ otherworldly bond with each other and their music.
For more information, please visit hermanosgutierrez.ch.
Upcoming Tour Dates
April 14 - Coachella - Indio, CA
April 16 - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park - San Diego, CA ** SOLD OUT
April 18 - Alex Madonna Expo Center - San Luis Obispo ** SOLD OUT
April 19 - Alex Madonna Expo Center - San Luis Obispo ** SOLD OUT
April 21 - Coachella - Indio, CA
April 23 - Las Vegas, NV - Brooklyn Bowl **
April 24 - Las Vegas, NV - Brooklyn Bowl **
April 26 - Albuquerque, NM - Revel **
April 27 - Albuquerque, NM - Revel ** SOLD OUT
May 7 - Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN
May 8 - The Hawthorn - St. Louis, MO
May 9 - The Truman - Kansas City, MO
May 11 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
May 12 - Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL SOLD OUT
May 13 - Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL
May 14 - Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Toronto, ON
May 16 - SalleWilfrid-Pelletier - Montreal, QC SOLD OUT
May 17 - Royale - Boston, MA
May 18 - Brooklyn Steel - New York, NY SOLD OUT
May 19 - Brooklyn Steel - New York, NY
June 14 - Black Deer Festival - Kent, UK
July 31 - The Van Buren - Phoenix, AZ
August 6 - Grand Lodge - Portland, OR
August 8 - The Orpheum - Vancouver, BC
August 9 - Thing Festival - Seattle, WA
Aug 9-11 - The Thing Festival - Carnation, WA
August 23 - New Century Hall - Manchester, England
August 24 - Troxy - London, England
August 25 - Huvila Tent at Helsinki Festival - Helsinki, Finland
August 27 - Cirkus - Stockholm, Sweden
August 29 - Mojo - Hamburg, Germany
August 30-31 - Paradiso - Amsterdam, Netherlands
September 1 - Dr Koncerthuset - Copenhagen, Denmark
September 3 - Silent Green - Berlin, Germany
September 4 - Grand Rex - Paris, France
September 5 - Olt - Antwerp, Belgium
** with Khruangbin