# How to EQ a tight djent?



## jammers33

hey guys

im just looking for some more tips on EQing a tight djent using nuendo. 

I usually cut 100hz and 10K 

sort of dip at around 5k and boost around 2k a little

is there anything else i should be doing?

many thanks


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## Mattayus

try scooping a touch of 250hz and 650hz to make it nice and percussive, also dip around 8k, which i usually do to get rid of hiss. apart from that mate i'm not really sure, i'm kind of in the process of experimenting myself!


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## MF_Kitten

if you put an EQ in front of the distortion (amp or pedal), and boost the mids from 700 Hz up to about 2000 Hz, in a nice "bump" shape, you´ll be djenting your arse off!

and yeah, post distortion, remove some of the 250 Hz area, and the 100 Hz area. maybe you´ll wanna boost the 60-80 Hz areas to get a nice deepness in the guitars, but if you wanna leave that to the bass, that´s fine. if you want to add some fatness, you could do that by pumping the 400-900 Hz area. if you want more cutting power, then 2000 Hz is a nice place for that


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## Ryan

Try palm muting harder. ;-)


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## Mattayus

Ryan said:


> Try palm muting harder. ;-)



doesn't always work that way man, especially if you've got a shitty tone to begin with


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## FoxZero

I'd move the high cut to 12K.

That's all I can say cause my eqing is kind of weird and isn't geared towards tightness. Edit: in a djent sense.


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## Mattayus

I never thought i'd say this but i think i'm actually going off djent. i'm getting back into a more traditional, but not so scooped metal tone. sorta latter pantera, killswitchy, chimaira-ish, sorta thing


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## Dylan S

Djent definitely works well for a lot of things, but I love how the 7 strings sound on Nevermore albums (in particular dead heart in a dead world and this godless endevour) and also on Dream theater albums.

As for EQ-ing a tight djent, a lot of it can be in how tight you are as a player, and how you lay down your tracks when recording. Your tone might not be snappy enough to your ears as just one track, but if you roll back on the gain, and play some very definite start/stop riffs, and get them dead on time with each other, the gain will layer up and you will have a very djenty sound. Obviously you want to get your tone as close to sounding djenty as possible before you record, but when you record, the tone does change slightly, the more layers of tracks you do, so that is just something to consider.


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## MF_Kitten

i love having lots of pre-distortion high-mids. so i boost those.

i love meshuggah´s tone on re:nothing, wher you hear the timbre of the strings insanely well, and you hear what string they´re using from the tone of each note. 

i still haven´t found my perfect tone though, that stuff takes tiiiiiime


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## Dylan S

It does, but oh my god, Meshuggah have some insanely wonderfully EQ'd tone. I love it. The tone on obZen are just amazing. The perfect amount of snap but still chug and djent is the best. It is definitely some of the best tone I've ever heard (imo).

I used to be all about achieving the djent, but now I'm sort of searching for a djent tone, that has a lot more warmth and body to it, so I guess you could say I want the high end to be djenty rather than fizzy, or something else....but still have a nice round sound.

The tone on DHIADW by Nevermore is just to die for.


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## Mattayus

do you guys prefer your mids scooped, or boosted?


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## Desecrated

I like them slightly boosted, maybe 2,5 db or so.


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## zimbloth

Djent is a technique.


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## Desecrated

zimbloth said:


> Djent is a technique.



seriously zimmy, you need to let go of that, words evolves.


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## Jason

Mattayus said:


> doesn't always work that way man, especially if you've got a shitty tone to begin with



Then there is no hope then


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## Jason

zimbloth said:


> Djent is a technique.



True. As is palm muting and soloing but you can dial in your tone a certain why to better suit those techniques.


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## Mattayus

very true.

i think boosting your mids goes the opposite way to djent tbh. obviously dont scoop to an extreme or it just sounds like mud, but it's in the highs and lows that the trickery of djent lies i feel, the mids are just a catalyst if you will


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## Dylan S

Mattayus said:


> do you guys prefer your mids scooped, or boosted?


Well I boost mine fairly high, but I'm using a marshall with my 7 string, so if I have them scooped, I get no definition at all.

I used to get a scoopey tone with a BBE sonic maximiser but it broke and I couldn't be bothered fixing it because it's an old one from the 80's.

I recently aquired an MXR 10-band EQ, that I use to give myself a much more even sounding tone, and a lot of good punch, but I found it doesn't sound as good when I'm recording. what I mean by that is, when I mic my amp to record, it sounds better without the EQ, which is a little weird, but hey...whatever works I guess.

I'd say what I'm boosting and cutting on the EQ but I'm about to go to bed and couldn't be bothered going and getting it.


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## Mattayus

yeah well like i said, i don't like a super scoop, like dimebag or 'tallica on justive for all, that's a bit TOO scooped for my tastes. But i dont like boosted mid sounds, sorta like Shadows Fall, i think it's a bit anorexic if you know what i'm sayin. I mean, 7 strings dont suit being too scooped anyway because of their bass frequencies, but it does sound evil as fuck, and if you sculpt the highs well enough it sounds distinctive too


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## jammers33

Desecrated said:


> I like them slightly boosted, maybe 2,5 db or so.



yeah man i boost around 2k too

cheers for the tips guys!


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## FoxZero

Yeah, that's what I want, sort of djent but with a lot of warmth to it. I think my Cobra does it personally. Lately though, I find myself not using my Screamer pedal a bit, like I don't want too much djent 

I use a switch on my amp that kills most of the mids except for a bit for the low mids, as long as the upper mids are scooped I'm happy. I plan on buying a 31 band eq soon 

Also, best Meshuggah tone? I vote for  Destroy Erase Improve


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## Mattayus

I like meshuggah's tone for meshuggah, just like i like bulbs tone for bulb. but it wouldn't suit my music i don't think. i'm after my own sound which sorta draws its elements from everything metal. it's djenty, but not crazy prog djenty, if u get me... infact, it's a little bit like Dinos in a sense. but less industrial lol

I tried boosting at 2k, just made it sound hissy and horrible personally. maybe i'm doing something wrong? upper mids are a no no in my book, but that's just my preference


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## drawnQ

i'd try boosting at or around 2k, but don't go extreme with it. you can do it at a smaller amount then compress and redo. just remember how compressing will affect signals you have not eq'd


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## FoxZero

Mattayus said:


> I like meshuggah's tone for meshuggah, just like i like bulbs tone for bulb. but it wouldn't suit my music i don't think. i'm after my own sound which sorta draws its elements from everything metal. it's djenty, but not crazy prog djenty, if u get me... infact, it's a little bit like Dinos in a sense. but less industrial lol
> 
> I tried boosting at 2k, just made it sound hissy and horrible personally. maybe i'm doing something wrong? upper mids are a no no in my book, but that's just my preference



Yeah I personally cut cut between 1.5K and 2k. Upper mids equal honk for me, especailly amps with EL34s it seems like.


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## Mattayus

exactly man, that horrible fuckin round sound, eugh!! scoop da whoop!!

btw, i've jst written an article on eq on my site with some examples. have a peep

My Sound Clinic | An Insight into my World of Guitar Playing - Articles, Hints, Tips and Reviews


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## FoxZero

Mattayus said:


> exactly man, that horrible fuckin round sound, eugh!! scoop da whoop!!
> 
> btw, i've jst written an article on eq on my site with some examples. have a peep
> 
> My Sound Clinic | An Insight into my World of Guitar Playing - Articles, Hints, Tips and Reviews



That was interesting, even if I do the opposite of what you do to a degree 
I have always hated low cuts. At least in my band cause the bassist doesn't follow me and the low cut just takes out some heaviness since the bassist doesn't fill it.
Also some engineers consider the upper mids to extend to the 5K freq, but disagree with that to a degree, I sgree they're around the 2k region and they should be stopped at all costs!


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## Mattayus

thanks man. well, my actual amp tone is nothing like that example, it's much heavier. but the only reason i make it more anorexic for recording is because you get much less fuzz, and when multitracking it thickens up, and it doesn't go too chubby on post production.

i've just been lookin at EQ pedals, think i might have to get this one
HARLEY BENTON EQ-100 - U.K. International Cyberstore


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## drawnQ

great article-
simple and to the point
good samples for reference.


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## FoxZero

Mattayus said:


> thanks man. well, my actual amp tone is nothing like that example, it's much heavier. but the only reason i make it more anorexic for recording is because you get much less fuzz, and when multitracking it thickens up, and it doesn't go too chubby on post production.
> 
> i've just been lookin at EQ pedals, think i might have to get this one
> HARLEY BENTON EQ-100 - U.K. International Cyberstore



Yeah I just started multitracking and it does wonders, but I still limit my high cut to 16k just to give the cymbals more breating room. Leads I cut at 12k or lower so my ears don't bleed 

That EQ pedal is a lot like a Boss GE-7, and bands are just too Narrow for me. I was considering one for sculpting my leads tones better, but I was looking into an MXR-108 Ten Band Graphic EQ. But I'd still rather get a 2 channel 31 band eq since I wanna go completely rack.


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## Mattayus

awesome thanks man, i didn't wanna go too 'pro' a) because i dont know too much about it, i am after all an amateur! and b) my site is predominantly for beginners really. not so much beginners but people who are just finding themselves as guitarists. thanks man that's exactly what i was aiming for, wanted to keep it simple, just to the basics



FoxZero said:


> Yeah I just started multitracking and it does wonders, but I still limit my high cut to 16k just to give the cymbals more breating room. Leads I cut at 12k or lower so my ears don't bleed
> 
> That EQ pedal is a lot like a Boss GE-7, and bands are just too Narrow for me. I was considering one for sculpting my leads tones better, but I was looking into an MXR-108 Ten Band Graphic EQ. But I'd still rather get a 2 channel 31 band eq since I wanna go completely rack.



yeah i'm tryin to go rack but lack of funds prevails


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## FoxZero

Mattayus said:


> yeah i'm tryin to go rack but lack of funds prevails



Same here.  But I don't feel the need to Eq my new amp just yet.

Btw you don't consider this clip phissy do ya? No post preccessing at all.
http://foxzero.net/Music/Venom_demo.mp3

It's just a bit thin until I can hook up my dynamic mic.


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## Mattayus

It suits the riff u're playing for sure. There's a bit of fizz, but that's just the nature of the amp really, mine does the same. Less gain would do it some wonders, but other than that it's a fuckin aggressive tone man, i like it


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## FoxZero

Thanks. I don't think I can make the gain lower  It's at 10 o'clock and my screamers drive is at one. I here with this amp there's less fizz at higher volumes, the masters already at 3 o'clock and the channel's volume is at 1, I can't handle any louder until I get tracking headphones.

I'm gona try putting the 16k cut on that clip to see what it does. When I put my D110 bass mic on my amp it'll thicken up for sure. I'm still contemplating getting an SM57, as they deffinately aren't as transparent as my mics.

BTW you want fizz? Check out my old POD tone 
http://foxzero.net/Music/BM TLO82 HG.mp3


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## net48734

I think what has A LOT to do with that djent sound (if thats what your after) is about 50% your finger/playing style/just the way you PLAY strings, and the a good active pickup. EMG, Blackouts..whatever. They do make a world of difference in tonal sound.


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## FoxZero

net48734 said:


> I think what has A LOT to do with that djent sound (if thats what your after) is about 50% your finger/playing style/just the way you PLAY strings, and the a good active pickup. EMG, Blackouts..whatever. They do make a world of difference in tonal sound.



Actives 
My M7 pwns all actives.


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## Mattayus

you're right though, slamming down on the strings, especially the treble notes within a chord, djent out a treat. But you do have to have a clear tone to begin with. if you listen to bulbs tone on some of his soundclick.com tracks without bass, you can hear that his guitar tone is actually really quite tinny and flat, which helps deliver that high crunch. i think his amazing kick pedal might have something to do with it too.


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## net48734

Mattayus said:


> you're right though, slamming down on the strings, especially the treble notes within a chord, djent out a treat. But you do have to have a clear tone to begin with. if you listen to bulbs tone on some of his soundclick.com tracks without bass, you can hear that his guitar tone is actually really quite tinny and flat, which helps deliver that high crunch. i think his amazing kick pedal might have something to do with it too.




Hell yes.. And im sure he'd agree. You mix all the flavors to get the final taste. Take out one (like bass drum, or bass in general) and it tastes sour and thin. His tone is great and he is great at eq'ing. But his guitar tone alone by itself is thin and high. But your right it helps deliver and break through that awesome bass drum and bass guitar tone he has. Now the 8 string.... thats a differnt story. Ever try to get a djent sound out of a bass? 



FoxZero said:


> Actives
> My M7 pwns all actives.




Isnt the M7 primarily used for acoustic guitars?


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## FoxZero

net48734 said:


> Isnt the M7 primarily used for acoustic guitars?



The Lundgren M7 wtf? It's Mushaggah's signature pup and Bulb uses it! 

Anyways I've been experimenting with equing that clip. It's all on the the low range of my 7 so a low pass filter didn't do shit. A dip at 8.3k didn't do anything cause it's not there and a dip a 2k didn't sound too hot this time around. My amp has this notch switch on it that kills most of the mids except for a bit of the low mids. It instantly kills all the honk 

Right now I'm trying to eliminate the fizz.

Here's my mix test using Mattayus's advice. A boost at 650h and a dip slight dip at 1.6k and 8.3k. Also a high pass at 16k but I can't tell with these headphones.
http://foxzero.net/Music/Venom_nm.mp3

The original.
http://foxzero.net/Music/Venom_demo.mp3


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## jammers33

drawnQ said:


> i'd try boosting at or around 2k, but don't go extreme with it. you can do it at a smaller amount then compress and redo. just remember how compressing will affect signals you have not eq'd



yeah man you dont want to boost it too much


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## Harray 18

jaaames harv ses we can go round yours on sunday to record?????

its harry btw


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## jammers33

yeah man thats cool


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## Harray 18

try and get that 5 string coz my bass is wank atm


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## jammers33

ill get it tomorrow man


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## Mattayus

FoxZero said:


> Here's my mix test using Mattayus's advice. A boost at 650h and a dip slight dip at 1.6k and 8.3k. Also a high pass at 16k but I can't tell with these headphones.
> http://foxzero.net/Music/Venom_nm.mp3



its good man but i still think u should roll back the gain some more, esp if ur gna record with it.

also make a big dip at 200hz, get rid of some mud


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## zimbloth

I disagree. 200hz is where a lot of the fullness and punch of the guitar resides. It's below that where the stuff you want to dial out resides IMO. It depends with different amps, guitars, mics, etc... but in general my eq'ing to improve guitars tone and clarity is to do the following:

boost @ ~200-220 hz if guitars need fullness, boost @ 1.5khz (midrange growl/punch) slight boost @ 3khz (attack), low pass filter @ 12khz, high pass filter @ 80-120 khz. I rarely find I need to cut much since I mic up the amp the way I want anyways. If you want to improve clarity and cut out mud, just run the HPF at a higher rate until the boomyness is gone. A slight cut somewhere could be in order, but certainly not at the frequencies Matt is suggesting, at least not in my opinon. Try either way and see what sounds best to your ears 

All of the above examples are with Q's of either 1.4 or 1.0.


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## Mattayus

well it's just my experience, and it works for my tone. recording that is, live amp sound is something completely different. you don't have the opportunity to layer, build up, and thicken tone by numbers, so in that case i would never cut at 200 because it would sound as dead as a doornail. but anyway u're right, it depends on the guitar/pickups/player etc.


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## zimbloth

Mattayus said:


> well it's just my experience, and it works for my tone. recording that is, live amp sound is something completely different. you don't have the opportunity to layer, build up, and thicken tone by numbers, so in that case i would never cut at 200 because it would sound as dead as a doornail. but anyway u're right, it depends on the guitar/pickups/player etc.



yeah its possible your way could work, absolutely, i just figured id throw my 2 cents in so he could try multiple things and see what works best for him


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## Mattayus

sure thing man, i hear ya. just out of interest, what guitars/amps/pedals do you use?


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## FoxZero

haha, if I run the gain any lower I'm gonna feel like I'm not getting my moneys worth out of this amp, but yeah itsa gain whore. I forgot from recording in the past this pencil condenser doesn't like distortion too much so it might be adding the fizz.

Also I don't what the dip at 1.6k did. It cleans it up a tiny bit but kills the punch. A dip at 1.6k did wonders when I recorded with my pod, but I don't like how it sounds on my new amp. I kinda like it where it's at so I'll leave that frequency alone.

I'm gonna re-record that whole clip with my dynamic and condenser. The clip should be the best it can be before you mix in my opinion.


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## JBroll

When recording, you do need to pull gain back significantly. Double-track and it'll all seem to be there in the final product, but if you don't let some transients through it'll just sound fucking tiny and hissy. Just do a track with your normal gain and a track with lower gain (a notch and a half or two notches back, give or take), put them on opposite sides, add demo drums and bass, and see which ones you can actually hear. I've never heard a track where the fizzy hissy overgained sound was better for the mix.

Jeff


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## Mattayus

erm wtf happened to the last page of posts on this?


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## Desecrated

Mattayus said:


> erm wtf happened to the last page of posts on this?



http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/site-news-support/49732-kaboom.html#2


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## Mattayus

Christ, ok


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## FoxZero

I was just looking up that last tip on here, damnet.


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## Mattayus

ok i'm an honest guy, i know when to hold up my hand and admit i'm wrong, boosting at 2k is actually the shit, but only a tiny bit, like 3dbs max, try it, you get the nice pick attack squelch that helps extend the djent


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## demonlord78

I've always followed the principal that your tone should start with your amp, guitar and playing technique. If your looking for a more djenty sound try tweaking your amp settings rather than trying to adjust the sound after you've recorded. If you go in with a great sounding tone then all that is needed is a little post production eq and some compression. I've found that using lighter gauge strings and raising your bridge a bit higher helps in obtaining good bite. That in conjunction with lower gain settings really makes your notes pop out more in the mix. Just my 2 cents.


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## Mattayus

yeah well when i talk EQ i mean before recording, amp or pedal EQ, not studio EQ. infact i rarely do anything to my songs post-production wise, because i think if u have to do alot post-production you obviously missed something pre-production


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## demonlord78

Oh sorry Mattayus. My question was directed towards the initial question. Hopefully you didn't take it as if I were contradicting your post. I should have quoted.



jammers33 said:


> hey guys
> 
> im just looking for some more tips on EQing a tight djent using nuendo.
> 
> I usually cut 100hz and 10K
> 
> sort of dip at around 5k and boost around 2k a little
> 
> is there anything else i should be doing?
> 
> many thanks


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## All_¥our_Bass

I think using an OD type sound, with LOADS of mids into a (somewhat/slightly) scooped, more saturated tone. Cause cranked OD's with loose-ish strings gives you djent, but the distortion you put on top of that gives you the real "crunch" sound to it.


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## elite8

Mattayus said:


> exactly man, that horrible fuckin round sound, eugh!! scoop da whoop!!
> 
> btw, i've jst written an article on eq on my site with some examples. have a peep
> 
> My Sound Clinic | An Insight into my World of Guitar Playing - Articles, Hints, Tips and Reviews



dude i love the tone on the song "limb", on the myspace

is it at all possible to get those eq settings?

cheers, elite 8.


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## Jason

elite8 said:


> dude i love the tone on the song "limb", on the myspace
> 
> is it at all possible to get those eq settings?
> 
> cheers, elite 8.



You couldnt PM him? You _really_ bumped a 2 year old thread to ask that?


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## Hyacinth

zimbloth said:


> Djent is a technique.



Djent isn't anything. Djent is an onomatopoeia, people so often ambiguate the word djent. It's just a really tight percussive tone.


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## Fiction

MatthewLeisher said:


> Djent isn't anything. Djent is an onomatopoeia, people so often ambiguate the word djent. It's just a really tight percussive tone.


 
2 years later, bravo!

This is why people argue about djent, because its just mentioned anywhere regardless of context


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## sh4z

<3 quality Thread. Thanks for posting.


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## JohnIce

Let's keep this thread open for another 2 years so someone can make it a hat-trick!


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## FoxZero

JohnIce said:


> Let's keep this thread open for another 2 years so someone can make it a hat-trick!



Why not? lol

I needed to be reminded of this stuff anyway, even though I'm going for a completely different tone these days.


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## DarkWolfXV

Is it just me or necroing very old threads is a trend on sevenstring forums?


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## FoxZero

DarkWolfXV said:


> Is it just me or necroing very old threads is a trend on sevenstring forums?



I'm not around much anymore, but I do see subscriptions of mine from 4-5 years ago popping up in my UCP. It's all good; keeps me entertained!


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