Digital Desk EQ Presets

[ChrisTS]

Hi all, :)

 

I just wonderd to all people who engineer with digital desks, Do you use the EQ presets stored in you desks?

 

I say this as I read the post on Digital Desks as in house consoles, the guy posting it was quite keen to use the EQ presets on the desk when another engineer comes into his venue to use the system etc Which seems very logical in his situation, if say it's the same venue all the time, and you had a present for the "lecturn mics" and "our set of drum mics"... As the acoustics for those would rarely change, but their channel on the desk might etc...

 

-but this also puzzeld me as having owned a digital desk for what must be over a year and a half now I haven't ever used this feature of it, I didn't even put the "eq presets" file onto the desk that I came with it as I didn't think at the time there was a need for it... as I EQ each source when I get it, every venue is different and therefore all will need Slightly Different EQ to sort feedback etc? :D (I run a sound and lighting company so could walk into any venue...)

 

I as this time, wouldn't ever do a gig where upon having an Acoustic Guitar plugged into a DI put in front of me, I would go into the desk's EQ and load a preset for it? As everything would need to be EQ'd from scratch?

 

So really, I just wondered if anyone uses the presets and if you do does it help alot or is it easier from scratch in a live situation?

 

 

Cheers

Chris

[mackerr]

I use digital consoles almost exclusively, and I have not yet, nor do I intend to soon use an eq preset from the board. It is just as easy to eq a channel from scratch as it is to load a preset that you will have to modify anyway. I do a lot of preproduction where I set up the console, and set all the routing and patching. I don't do any preliminary eq beyond setting HPF on channels where I know I will need it, such as lavs. Mic placement as well as instrument or vocal tonality will have a much profound effect on eq than room acoustics.

 

Mac

[Albatross]

I say this as I read the post on Digital Desks as in house consoles, the guy posting it was quite keen to use the EQ presets on the desk when another engineer comes into his venue to use the system etc Which seems very logical in his situation, if say it's the same venue all the time, and you had a present for the "lecturn mics" and "our set of drum mics"... As the acoustics for those would rarely change, but their channel on the desk might etc...

 

Hi Chris,

I guess I am "that guy"

 

Not having a digital desk in my venue, I was imagining scenarios that it may be possible to save time on. In a fixed venue, such as a Theatre, then it's generally the same kit used over & over. That's why I mentioned the overheads & the Lecturn.

They are regularly used & are always in the same positions. The Overheads are attached to an LX bar & flown in to a set height, so this gives a pretty good chance that their position will be the same within inches, with respect to the fixed speakers.

 

The Lecturn & Mic are generally only used in 2 positions on the stage, so are always in the same relationship to the rest of the Theatre.

 

So same microphones in as near as possible exactly the same position, with the same speakers in the same position, in the same room, with fixed capacity & fixed air-conditioning, & hence the same EQ should be possible.. in theory. :D

 

I always patch exactly the same way to the tie lines from stage to control room, so it would just be a matter of plugging the mic line in & calling up the overall patch.

 

These Desk Eq ( & other settings) patches would be ones that I'd made to suit certain repeating situations, as good starting places.. not meant to be Set & Forget.

I certainly wouldn't dictate to an income engineer that those were THE settings they HAD to use, but just what had worked for me in the past.

[MarkPAman]

I do have a set of presets saved. But I'll only use them on those occasions when there is no sound-check.

[Bobbsy]

For live work I rarely to never use the manufacturer provided presets, though I do have my own set that I've stored to use as starting points. To a large extent, these just move the centre frequency and "Q" roughly to points I'll find useful for certain types of voice or instrument. I still adjust everything on the fly, but I start from a closer point.

 

One of my desks is a DM1000 and, when not doing live work, this finds its way into my home studio. In THIS application, I've been known to use some of the manufacturer presets as "starting points". Some actually sound okay, though when you try to adjust them (which I invariably do) it can be confusing to work out which part of a general curve comes from "high mid", which from "low mid" and so on, since they all blend together!.

 

Why do I differentiate between live work and recording? Have a look at this recent thread: http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=14712

 

If you wade your way through it, you'll see that for live stuff the purpose of EQ can be a bit different to recording (which is what Yamaha's presets are for, methinks). For live, the purpose is not so much to make each instrument or voice as good as it can (as I would do when tracking a recording) but rather to make it sit happily in the mix alongside everthing else. This means that, even if the presets were great (and they're not), they often fight against what you're trying to do with a mix.

 

However, as hinted at in my first paragraph, the ability to have presets is greatly useful...just use your own. The "starting point" example I mention is one of them but another which is great in the theatre is where you have radio mic swaps. You can just store as many adjustments as you need for each character using the same mic and call them up as required. Not a world I move in, but I also suspect that if you were a band that played the same venues over and over, you could have regular setting stored for these...and so on.

 

Bob

 

Edited to clean a couple of typos. Today's typo excuse is the 2 year old spilling the 15 year old's cereal on the living room carpet while I was typing. Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode of "Life with the Bobbsys".

[ChrisTS]

Hi there,

 

indeed Ric, you were "that guy" :D And yep using the presets for overhead and lecturn will work there, we all seem to be agreeing too that live you need to use EQ how I'd have thought, ah good, I shall not be going and loading the presets on just out of interest! :(

 

I like the idea of saving settings for live work that movie the centre frequency and Q roughly to points that'll be useful, I may indeed try this as this may save time, you never know

 

Thanks for the ongoing replies :)

 

Cheers,

Chris