Lest we forget the mids.

[Marvin]

I posted a thread about tone several months ago. In it several posts referred to the mids in getting their tone, specifically cetera.
Since Christmas I've been playing through a zoom pedal and got a little sidetracked, however this afternoon I was twiddling with my practice amp and remembered what cetera said about inverting the usual U shaped eq that many of us go for. And.......oh yes, push up those mids, turn down the bass and treble (but not too much) and what a difference. Literally a tone I've been looking for.

Two problems though. The zoom pedal is not needed (although I suppose I could try and get the same result through it) and the amp I was using is only a 35w practice job so not really suited to anywhere outside the living room .

I just wanted to share that. Don't forget those mids.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Marvin

[gary mac]

Yes remember when I discovered that on my trace. Suddenly had the sound I wanted when gigging.

Still miss my trace rig, but not the weight.

[wateroftyne]

It's all in the mids.

In fact, here's a c&p from the Oxford English dictionary:

[size=5][font="Book Antiqua"][b]mids[/b] ('midz') a. [i][b]noun[/b][/i] The bit where the tone lives, innit.[/font][/size]

Edited May 6, 2010 by wateroftyne

[Doddy]

I've always had a slight mid boost in my EQ. I tried it years ago after reading a thing on
Will Lee's tone,and loved the sound I was getting. I've done it ever since

[GreeneKing]

Preaching to the converted here

[Higgie]

I always found I could hear myself better by bumping the mids a little bit. Scooping the EQ just results in a woofy clanky mess I find (obviously depending on how much!). I usually boost the bass and treble, then add just a touch more mids, so your still boosting everything for a bit more oomph, but just the mids a tad more to cut through!

[Buzz]

I feel like I've stumbled into a thread on BW, circa 2006.

[OldGit]

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='829870' date='May 6 2010, 05:59 PM']Preaching to the converted here [/quote]

+1

Once, many years ago after a particularly terribly sounding gig for me the sound man approached and gave me a lesson on how to twiddle the knobs.
His first point was "don't unless you really need to". Then "cut, don't boost".
We then discussed the bass sounds I admired and he recommend some eq settings that would help me achieve what I wanted.
Out with the standard MarkieKing / Tracy Elliot smiley face thing, (and the Ashdown rig, actually), then set everything flat but down a tad from the notch except for the upper mids. That did the job.

Edited May 6, 2010 by OldGit

[Rosh]

I'm gonna have to evaluate my EQ if there's this much positive review occuring!

on my Warwick head I have: (amongst others) Lo, Lo Mid, Hi Mid, Hi


Gonna have a twiddle at practice, the only thing is we have a synth and reed organ which is very mid-dy, which means I need to be lower to get heard!

Mind you, I do turn the volume down on the bridge pickup so I just get that lovely P-like sound!

[Pete Academy]

I've always boosted my mids to the max. It's the way to cut throught the mix. I know someone who sets his graphic EQ in a smile with mids totally cut. No definition whatsoever.

If you want to hear the notes, the mids are essential.

[OldGit]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='829911' date='May 6 2010, 06:50 PM']I've always boosted my mids to the max. It's the way to cut throught the mix. I know someone who sets his graphic EQ in a smile with mids totally cut. No definition whatsoever.

If you want to hear the notes, the mids are essential.[/quote]


Well I blame Mark King and Trace Elliot for that.

[NJE]

Converted to mid boosting years ago, it is the only way to be heard in a band mix. Years ago I used to have a 2 band Stingray and I boosted the bass and treble and then had a 'smiley' EQ on my trace......what was I thinking.

[Conan]

[quote name='Higgie' post='829874' date='May 6 2010, 06:03 PM']Scooping the EQ just results in a woofy clanky mess...[/quote]

Yup. Guilty of that one for many years! It's funny how this obvious insight comes to us in our later years... I always wondered how JJB was so audible in the mix - whether live or recorded. Bloody mid-scoop. Who needs it?!

Edited May 6, 2010 by Conan

[Marvin]

[quote name='Buzz' post='829887' date='May 6 2010, 06:18 PM']I feel like I've stumbled into a thread on BW, circa 2006.[/quote]


I've gone green and started recycling.

[Marvin]

[quote name='Conan' post='829964' date='May 6 2010, 07:41 PM']Yup. Guilty of that one for many years! It's funny how this obvious insight comes to us in our later years... I always wondered how JJB was so audible in the mix - whether live or recorded. Bloody mid-scoop. Who needs it?! [/quote]

I've a feature on my practice amp that scoops the mids. It makes me sound a million miles away.

[MuseMatt]

The only way to get through the noise in rehearsals and actually hear instead of feel what I was playing: mids. I love it! I think I tried that one after reading about the sadface smiley here somewhat over a year ago and never got back from it!

[Wil]

Gotta love that low mid thump. It's a bit of an art dialling it in on a head that's based on a Sansamp, though!

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='Wil' post='830022' date='May 6 2010, 08:44 PM']Gotta love that low mid thump. It's a bit of an art dialling it in on a head that's based on a Sansamp, though![/quote]
I can imagine... that's why I sold mine!

[Wil]

I seem to be able to do it by cutting the bass and treble on the head and jacking the master volume up. There is of course a second channel with a parametric mid but I can never get my head around getting the best sound from it.

[Mr Fudge]

I have my markbass SA450 flat. You can hear everything. Might give the mids a whirl though as ther are the extra ones?

I wonder what they would do?

[essexbasscat]

Just checked this to be sure. The Markbass Sa450 owners manual gives guidance on the characteristics and use of frequencies of the low, low - mid, upper mid etc

Helped my understanding by more than a tad !!

T

[Mr Fudge]

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='830068' date='May 6 2010, 09:37 PM']Just checked this to be sure. The Markbass Sa450 owners manual gives guidance on the characteristics and use of frequencies of the low, low - mid, upper mid etc

Helped my understanding by more than a tad !!

T[/quote]


Yes will have to dig it out and a general mess about. Always pleased with this amp though, a real Rolls Royce of an amp.

[rohan]

I always used to go for a huge mid scoop, as tone wise on it's own it sounds pretty punchy, but in the context of a mix, sounds awful.

[nick]

I go for all controls flat on my TE V-Type (at 12'oclock) - perfect for me.
If I really need to cut through, there's a push-pull upper-mids boost on the mid control - Like a kick in the chest!

Edited May 6, 2010 by nick

[51m0n]

sa450 eq is uber powerful, but the ae410 has that bit of agression inherently built in.

Last gig I actually scooped that out a smidge, and boosted down in the lo mids. Set the compressor with a smidge of sub 40Hz Bass Expansion (love the Compounder for that - its not like eq, quite, very cool).

Sounded awesome, just massive, kept up with a 4Kw rig, drums (miked), electric kit (two drummers you see), guitar and vox.