I’m currently working at a rock show in Indianapolis. The house speakers are EAW kf850′s which were the standard 10 years ago, but sound a bit honky. (See photo below).

Most of the day has been spent listening to complaints about the sound and EQ of the cabinents. The EQ has been redone 3 times now. I’ve had those frustrating days when nothing sounds right, but sometimes, you just have to make it work.

An EQ that is all over the place is not solving your problem. In fact, sometimes it can produce new problems. If you completely take out 3 consecutive frequencies, you’re removing an entire octave of sound! Of course it’s going to sound empty.

If you find a lot of frequencies ate giving you trouble, ask yourself if there is something else that might be the issue first. Is your crossover set? Could you switch mics? Are the speakers/ monitors positioned poorly?

When you do grab that 31 band EQ, limit the amount of sliders you actually touch. Remember our theme: less is more.

Focus on finding the 1 slider that helps improve your sound instead of grabbing a section of them. Don’t need a lot of low end? Don’t just push all the low sliders to the ground, use a low cut filter. If you start moving more than 8-10 sliders, you’re going to be affecting volume more than anything else. Analog EQs will also start affecting the phase if mess with a lot of sliders.

Be patient and keep at it. Don’t give up. Start over multiple times if you need. It takes time to learn, but when you do you will be happy you made the investment.