Suggestions for string EQ (if EQing is the answer...)

[fabiolcati]

Dear Fellows,
Mr Michel R. Edward (aka as qccowboy) talks in another forum/thread here at Garritan Central about the peculiar odd "zinginess" of string sounds.
I'm facing the same issue in my renderings, where I wish my string sections (not to talk about solos) to have a more round, smooth-edged, mellow tone, a less harsh one.
How can achieve this?
Any suggestion will be appreciated.
Cheers

[Raymond62]

Learned from DPDAN and applied the following:

Strings Violins and Violas in GPO have some formants at:

~7500 KHz
~6200 KHz
~5500 KHz
~3200 KHz

very noticeable when playing loud.
Any decent sequencer must have some automated multiband equalizer. I use Sonar and the equalizer has a couple of bands. I set the "write on automation" at the equalizer per band and listen to audio track of that particular instrument. When the volume raises I also lower the dB value and vice versa. You have to experiment the Q value. Use the ears, you must have two of them. I used to do that for every band and every string instrument as mentioned above.

A second helpful tool is the nature of the reverb. I am an Altiverb user. Certain IR's bend the character of the sound well enough. This of course has some influence on the equalizer settings (mentioned earlier), but for a clean recording ignore (disable) the reverb and go for automation on equalizing. With the reverb back on, it will only be better.

Hopefully you understand what I am saying.

Raymond

[Jeff Turner]

Yes, an equalizer is what you need. Most DAWs come with come with several processing effects, including EQ. Google something like "understanding EQ" and you'll get several sites with explanations/tutorials. Take your time in reading through this material. Experiment with what effects you might already own. Once you're familiar with these tools and need more control, there are several third party effects that are outstanding.

One of the tips that I was given, when experimenting with EQ, find the frequencies that annoy you, the most harsh ones. Isolate those frequencies by raising them to a high level. Once you have pinpointed the frequencies , then lower them dramatically until you lose that harshness.

[swinkler]

Yes, an equalizer is what you need. Most DAWs come with come with several processing effects, including EQ. Google something like "understanding EQ" and you'll get several sites with explanations/tutorials. Take your time in reading through this material. Experiment with what effects you might already own. Once you're familiar with these tools and need more control, there are several third party effects that are outstanding.

One of the tips that I was given, when experimenting with EQ, find the frequencies that annoy you, the most harsh ones. Isolate those frequencies by raising them to a high level. Once you have pinpointed the frequencies , then lower them dramatically until you lose that harshness.

What about using the EQ built into ARIA? I guess it's not multi-band, but if you're a notation user for example that might be the only option. Is that true?

[Jeff Turner]

I've never used any effects from inside Aria. So I can't comment on how they work. I'm running Finale on a Mac. Built into the Mac OSX is a basic group of audio effects, including an EQ. These are accessible fromFinale. Maybe there's something similiar in the Windows OS???

I've purchased a third party set of post production plugins, including EQ. I'm able to use this in both Finale and Logic if I choose. But honestly, at this point, I don't even bother worry about tweaking Finale's playback. I just use it for basic playback and audio proofing, then move to a DAW to make a good recording.

I just did a quick Google search, EQ plugins for Windows. A whole bunch came up. Don't know anything about them. Some were shareware, some weren't. But I'm sure you could use these in Finale also.

[swinkler]

I've never used any effects from inside Aria. So I can't comment on how they work. I'm running Finale on a Mac. Built into the Mac OSX is a basic group of audio effects, including an EQ. These are accessible fromFinale. Maybe there's something similiar in the Windows OS???

I've purchased a third party set of post production plugins, including EQ. I'm able to use this in both Finale and Logic if I choose. But honestly, at this point, I don't even bother worry about tweaking Finale's playback. I just use it for basic playback and audio proofing, then move to a DAW to make a good recording.

I just did a quick Google search, EQ plugins for Windows. A whole bunch came up. Don't know anything about them. Some were shareware, some weren't. But I'm sure you could use these in Finale also.

Ok fair enough. I did forget I can run plugins in Finale. I sometimes use Reaper as my DAW but not too often. I just wondered if there was a viable solution inside Finale. Thanks.

[fabiolcati]

Thank you to the world' most helpful community!
I'm printing out all of your answers to read it carefully.
I have enough work for years to come!
Expect additional questions from mine. ;)
Regards.