I was mixing guitars recently and I got really confused when I cut the mids... my ears were saying YEEES but my eyes were saying NOOO. I understand now. Thanks man, great video!!

@josemason7082

4 жыл бұрын

This is a wonderful comment.

@scottdunn2178

2 жыл бұрын

For a tight punchy power metal type tone, the trick is to boost the 800hz mids before distortion, but scoop the 400-500hz mids after distortion. This will give you that Akira Takasaki growl in the pre-amp without sounding like a shoebox in the tone-stack on your amp.

@FEAROWNAGE

Жыл бұрын

@@scottdunn2178 I love that you mentioned Akira Takasaki.

5 minutes of precise information about midrange Damn that was interesting

NO MIDS ALL THE GAIN

@davidborrego4781

6 жыл бұрын

SLAYEERRRRRRR

@JohnMeraMusic

6 жыл бұрын

METALZONE!!!

@willprince643

6 жыл бұрын

CHEAP DRIVE PEDAL

@profd65

5 жыл бұрын

So fucking gross.

@profd65

5 жыл бұрын

@@Admiral_Bongo Shut the fuck up.

Really thoughtful and helpful info. Thanks J!

What a genius this guy is!! I having been watching your videos and really enjoyed your precise, efficient analysis and commentaries. You cut out much of all the inbetweens excessives (the mids) while delivering a beautiful clear cut voicing that we hear! Not to mention you're an extraordinary guitar player with the guitar facial expressions to equally match. I have learned alot from watching you play and even more from listening to you speak intelligently, expressively, but yet kindly!! This world needs more enriched spirits like yours and enlighten souls like yours.

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

So happy you got something out of the vid; thanks so much for keeping an eye on this page as well :) I'm really glad you enjoy the approach of this channel: it's a lot of work, but incredibly worthwhile!

J, loving your content; very insightful and easy to understand. Thanks for your continued awesomeness!

great video. Very helpful information.

Don’t smoke mids kids

@JBmusicart

2 жыл бұрын

If it's all ya get

@jakefall9838

Жыл бұрын

This comment deserves 22k likes. Honestly have me a good laugh

Great job Jay! Very nice explanation of crafting a tone and fitting in within the space of the music.

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks Robert! Keep an eye on the page, we have a pretty packed "May Long Weekend" of Keeley vids on route ;)

Very well explained! Thanks!

Man this theme insight is so important possibly the most important one and you bring it perfectly! Thanks!

super infornative!! great video

This is a very interesting video. It got me thinking about some things I never considered before. Thanks for posting this.

J Leonord great content: short to the point not lacking what we need to know though great job, thank you.

This is the best. Super changed my thought process on tone and fitting in mix! Love your stuff!

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

Glad you got something out of it :) Thanks for writing!

This is great. Love finding stuff like this years later. This is what I really like. I don't understand the numbers but the sounds I can feel and understand. Great vid as always JLJ!!

Jay, thank you for explaining mids in such a short and simple fashion.

Very insightful recording info. Good suggestions 👍🙏

Thank you. Surprisingly awesome explanation. I’m hooked

What a great video - thank you Jay

Awesome video, thanks. Those mushy mids were giving me grief but I couldn't quite put my finger on where I needed to cut. Perfect explanation.

This is exactly what I'm talking about, you can't just scoop the mids on any amp and say that it can't be heard or that it sounds bad, most guitar players in the 80's would have these high gain marshall amps and scoop the shit out of them and they still sounded great

@matttaylor1449

5 жыл бұрын

Those amps had overly mid dominant heads and cab speakers though. These days we push mids more because the amps are already a bit scooped for the metal player in mind.

@teamatfort444

5 жыл бұрын

WarheadTV because Marshall’s are naturally more middy

Amazing video, thank you!

Really enjoyed the philosophy and explanation. Looking forward to more videos like this...

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for writing! Yeah, I definitely need to do more in this style :)

great lesson, sir!!

Thks a lot, this clear my question why we need an EQ

Thanks, man! It was really cool!

Thanks Jay set my eq pedal with your recommendation. Sounds wonderful.

I just wanted to thank you for the video. Really useful info that you have given to all of us. More videos like this one will be really appreciated. Thanks a lot!!

Great video. Thank you sir!!

Useful! Thanks!

I'm with you J

great stuff!

Great video! Subscribed! :D

Great tone info for us happy-go-lucky guitar-heads. U rock on the Keeley Oxblood Germanium demo.

Nice and clear explanation men, regards from Argentina.

Mate, I found your channel because Of the neunaber review and I subscribed straight away, awesome stuff. But THIS.... this is GOLD. This kind of information its quite rare and you explained so well, straight to the point and with a really practical approach. Thanks for this. Would be awesome if you could do more videos like this (regarding tone, and how to get the best sound out of specific fx pedals etc).

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much!!! These are my favorite types of vids to make, I'll keep them coming!

It also depends of what kind of tuning you use. A guitar tuned standard or e flat (or even D/drop C) then chances are you don't need to rocket the mids to the skies, cause you already around that area of hrz where you have plenty of mids, and would also depend of the type of speakers you use: a greenback will need more gain than a V30, for example; and also the type of pickups you are using.

As a bass player i'm actually totally on board with this, that mid spot you talk about being scooped is just where our mids come in!

Makes sense. Thank you

Jay, your the gentleman of the music trade, i've really learned so much in the short time i've subscribed to you page, thankyou.

@JayLeonardJ

5 жыл бұрын

Happy to have you part of our little page community! Rock on :)

Jay is so nice. Love to watch his videos

great video jay, never seen anyone get specific and detailed on this subject. So my question is then in a live setting is this where a graphic e.q. would come in handy? so you can target a certain midrange instead of just cranking the mid knob on your amp and hoping for the best? and what pedals can you just click on and they would target those desirable frequencies and take out guess work that the majority of us would face with a graphic e.q.

Many thanks JLJ. I’ve spent the better part of this year alone honing two parametric eq units to shape the tonal outputs of my old peavey bandit and chorus. I admit to focussing heavily between 800 and 1750, feeling that this was where the irritating mush was coming from. The end result is a very crisp sound, but it gets markedly sharper the more volume I apply. I dropped the master Mid down to 2 from 5 and changed the Parametric Eq units to concentrate on shaping at 400Hz and 2kHz instead. Pure magic! Or rather, pure math-magic 😈

I literally just came back from watching a vid about "boosting the mids". However, the guy didnt go into detail like you did here. Thanks a ton!

Scooped mids sound good on guitars on their own in isolation, in a band live setting, you need to cut through and that's usually where mids help.

@crackawood

Жыл бұрын

Queens of the Stone Age boost the hell out of the mids live and in the studio. Eric Valentine, the engineer for Songs For The Deaf, killed all the highs and lows, then super double boosted the mids for the guitars. Bob Balch, the guitarist for Fu Manchu, has a Railhammer pickup that boosts the mids because it sounds so good through fuzz. I have them in Special Jaguar HH. In my Vintera 60s Jaguar (I know, I have an affinity for Stoner Rock and Jaguars) with single coils I have custom made Sonic 60s Mid-Range pups from Jaime Campbell at the Creamery. Probably my favorite pickups of all time. I think it all depends on the sound you're going for.

Thanks Jay, very useful. Being in a 7 piece band - the whole issue of competing mids has been something I've battled with for a while. A few years ago I purchased an Empress Parametric EQ. This is so useful, not only to get rid of nasty frequencies (usually bass booms from big hollow stages amplifying specific frequencies) but also allows me to instantly tweak the mids when I feel some mid cancelling is happening. I've never thought about asking band members to tap into a different mid-range to mine. A great idea. Thanks for that.

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

That is an amazing EQ: super easy to use too. Yeah, it wasn't until I started playing with bigger groups that I really started paying attention to my role in the sonic space. Thanks for watching :)

I'm pretty late here, but I must say, I am completely blown away by this! You've shed a whole lot of light on the subject of mid frequencies! Thanks for the knowledge man! Really appreciate it! 👍😊

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

No prob! I hope it helps you out in the future :)

great vid!!! We want more of this..... pleeeeaaaase? ;)

@AverageWannabe

6 жыл бұрын

cutting the mids is like cutting the bullshitting, just like this vid. Straight to the point, concise and clear.

Hi Jay... great videos for the knowledge and I totally agree about cutting mid.. but what I’m curious that do I have to cut my mids at all my guitars? Like if I own a Strat, tele or more guitars and I playing in one gig... do I have to do the same EQ as well? Thanks man... keep on doing what you’re doing now... God Bless

@JayLeonardJ

6 жыл бұрын

I say use your ears. Gibsons HBs and P90s tend to have a LOT of mids, so I gentle dip in the mud area is a nice touch. Single coils already have a bit of a dip to begin with, I always like to boost the low mids with them :)

Well said 👍

When you explained the mid scoop I got goosebumps. No shit... Been needing this information for a while now. Thanks bru

Excellent. My added comment would be that due to the separation necessity that you mentioned, the higher the harmonic distortion, the less mid mids the tone can handle. Gain up mids down and vice versa. Also more mids can slow down the attack, you can play faster the less mids you have.

That advise where you find the mid range/spot that best suits the guitar within the set of instruments in a project was what I needed to hear, Great work Jay..

Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!! I am certain that I just learned something incredibly valuable, useful, and important.

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

You are definitely welcome!!! So happy I could help ya on your tone search :)

This was great thanx man, what would you say is an ideal way to pop out for a solo during a gig? Eq pedal in the effects loop highlighting those frequencies you mentioned??

@JayLeonardJ

6 жыл бұрын

If you want a super cutting lead tone, try boosting those upper mids and tastefully cutting out the stuff below it. That would narrow your frequency band and help you cut. Sort of like a Treble Booster :)

It's a very nice video. I would add that an EQ has to be as well a good compromise. I recently experienced that having a perfect clean tone compromise my Tube screamer tone. I tried to tighten the low end on my clean by cutting a bit on 200 and 400 and when I turned on my Tube Screamer it sounded horribly thin. You have to give the Tube screamer something to eat 😝. So I had to balance a bit my mix to find a creamy nice Tube Screamer and a nice warm clean. And my superb High Gain Bedroom tone just turned transparent when I had a drums next to it. I had to boost a bit my low end and low mids to exist in the mix. So all in all an EQ is maybe the most vital pedal to have to get valid (great) tones.

This video made me subscribe. As a guitarist, I really dig this. Thank You.

@JayLeonardJ

2 жыл бұрын

I really appreciate it: thanks for following!

I would love to know what frequency is bring adjusted by the midrange control on different amps. For some amps, it feels more like a low-mids control, and on other it's more like a presence control (high-mids).

Ok this really helps! So i have a boost on my amp which pushes the 1 to 3 k upper mids area. Lowering the general mids and boosting upper mids sounds already way better. Thanks for this!

Great information! I've always felt guilty for cutting my mids. Now I can do it with precision and without the guilt!

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

haha, I can relate to that EXACT feeling. It wasn't until I started mixing tracks when I realized the power of the mid cut :)

Yes this definitely makes your tone super clear. Makes me wonder why amp manufacturers have the dial control all of the mids essentially making that control useless to use. Instead they should have a dial specifically for cutting a very precise part of the mids.

@davidmusicstuff4979

Жыл бұрын

*coughs* metalzone

@Cam_B

Жыл бұрын

EQ pedal can fix that

SLAYER!!!!!!!

great video... I have a DV mark micro 50 amp that has a very different sound than most guitar amps with EQ att noon.. The bass knob is very effective to the point that the eminence GB128 speaker I have in an open back 1x12 cab flubs out when pushed above 10 o'clock... The amp is very dark so I put the Treble at 2 or 3 oclock,, GB128 is a little dark,,, The mid knob are though very different than many guitar amps.. The center frequency seems to sit low,, (500Hz would be my guess) ,, The problem is that the GB128 has a lot of mids at 600Hz-800Hz. THe saying I need mids to hear myself in the mix.. It depends on the mids.. When I have the mid knob at noon, bass between 9 and 10 (oclock) and the treble at 2 o'clock.. I could hear that I was "Loud" (volume knob at noon) but the sound kind of got lost in the mix.. I heard somebody else commenting on the mid knob of the DV micro amp saying the mids when increased never get harsh.. Which tells me that the center frequency of the mid knob sits low.. What I think I needed in the mix was high mids from 1.2kHz to 2kHz to hear myself clearly in the band mix. The 1x12 cab is sits on a low table so it is elevated a bit..

Thanks for this video. I just bought a quilter 101 micro head. It has two rotary eq knobs. They represent different eq patterns. Kinda different but with your advice I think I've got it setup for my gig tonight. We're a ten piece motown band so I have to really find my spot in the sound. Thanks

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

Great! Let me know how it worked out :)

@ramilak

7 жыл бұрын

Oh man, everyone said it sounded great. Thanks again for the tutorial.

You should do a video about your pedalboard, maybe a gig board and studio board? Great video btw.

@JayLeonardJ

6 жыл бұрын

That is definitely one of my most requested vids!

Great info. But I need me some funky Jay riffs in any video you post.

@coffeewaldo

7 жыл бұрын

chiricm I always say he's one funky player.

Fantastic, you’re a genius.

@JayLeonardJ

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! 😊

Nice the way you placed it in context. Ive been playing in bands, recording, almost my whole life and thats what ive been doing, just cant explain it in words. Its really using your ears and playing smart. Depends on the gear you use too. When i use my SG i really have to dip it. With my tele not too much. Going mids all the way also sounds crap to my ears.

Some very good information as general principles. That being said, sometimes it's cool to come up with abstract sounds, which may include the generally undesirable tones you mentioned in the video. I grew up with the old music, and it seems like certain bands would have two totally different sounding guitars. Guys like Page and Hendrix would do overdubs with various sounding tracks... I like that. It does (perhaps for similar reasons) what you described by manufacturing by means of manipulating exact frequencies in the mid-range section among band mates does... if I worded that right.

Can you do a part 2 of this video and sample tones on this principle?

@JayLeonardJ

5 жыл бұрын

Good idea

Nice video. I'm in a power hard rock power trio. Mids are the key to cutting through the drums and bass for me. I have them set at about 11 o'clock, minimum. I keep the treble down pretty low to kill any fizz, and I mix in the bass to a sweet spot that compliments the mids. Cut's thru the live mix like a hot knife through butter. A nice fat, clear, powerful punch in the face.

time to find my spot in the "MIDSt" of the band - thanks Jay!

Mids does give clarity, you need separation between instruments to give definition of instruments!

Explained perfectly.

Agreed on all fronts. I have a PRS from the 90's that sounds killer but has this weird little muddy low to mid frequency. I did the drop at 750 and boosted the 200-400 range as well as the 2000 as in the video, and it sounds waaaay better on stage and in general. Thanks JlJ, really dig your playing and video's.

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

So cool: I'm pumped that you were able to dial in those tones so quickly!!! Thanks for watching and hopefully that PRS will get some more play time now :)

Now that sounds reasonable! :)

Yeah good vid, was just reading the Mixing Engineers Handbook by Bobby Owsinski, also a great book, as mentioned in the book for electric guitar you get fullness at 240-500 hz and presence at 1.5 to 2.5khz. Tip: reduce at 1khz to get a 4x12 cab sound.

hi, so if we have a little scooping going on warming up with no other instruments, when we play as a band, (they scoop a bit too_) thats why i cant hear myself play much at alll? In fact i could be almost playing a totally different song than the others and nobody could even telll hardly! (over exaggerating a bit) ? I did that to the guys and the point was made loud and clear. So thank you for your information, great advice on mids!!!

Guitar pickups are very high in the mid range. People don't realize that if you run direct and drop the mids, you are actually evening out the spectrum to more of a flat line.. So when you drop the mids, depending on how far you drop the mids, you still actually have a high level hump in the middle. Amps are designed around the input of the high mids. Tone nobs and your sliding pickup selector has a drastic affect on your overall tone. In general you can get a great tone by understanding your guitar first and how it reacts and responds to an amp with all tone nobs at 12' o'clock... Best way I could explain it, Hope this helps...

Great video, plenty of food for thought here. I guess the classic problem is when you spend hours sculpting your tone at home only to have it sound awful at band rehearsal. I've never thought of perhaps putting at EQ at the end of my chain and tweaking the mids 'live' as it were. Thanks so much for posting Jay., wonderful stuff.

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

No prob! yeah, live EQ changes are definitely the way to go... You would be amazed at how different your tone live would be compared to your home rig :)

Hi, what is your opinion on pickups for a new telecaster that I have built by a guitar maker. I thought to put a Fender telecaster 52 in bridge and a p90 in neck. I know the texas special. Sorry for my english, I'm french speaking

I tend to agree.. Different tone stack cuts the mids at different center frequencies.. The VOX TB stack cuts mids centered at 800Hz, the marshall cathode follower TMB stack cuts much less in the mids but has its center around 750Hz.. The Fender blackface tonestack has a large mid dip centered at 500Hz.. I feel the blackface can be a little too hollow with the large dip at 300-500Hz with the standard 6.8k mid resistor and a mid scooped Jensen P12Q. .. . The VOX amp is slightly more beefy in those low mids.. and need the attenuation of the high mids 1000Hz-1500Hz due to the rich amounts of harmonics in the non-feedback cathode biased output stage..

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

Great insight. Its amazing how much you can affect your tone by just tilting those mid cuts left or right a few Hz :)

so should i lower the MIDS on my fender blues jr and just pump the bass and treble? do you use that amp and if so what are you're settings, thanks again for the video, i def had no idea what to do w my MIDS lol

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

The Blues Jr does have some tricky mids. I usually run the mids and trebles pretty high and the bass low. I also keep the mid switch off. good luck :)

Awesome video. It's nice to move my knowledge past the simple idea that "tube screamers help you cut through the mix." It also reinforces why the Way Huge Green Rhino MKII is such an awesome pedal with its parametric mids control. Thanks for dropping that knowledge bomb!

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

Love the Green Rhino!

@showansusholm2831

6 жыл бұрын

Phillip Lindholm we have the same last name wtf

@showansusholm2831

6 жыл бұрын

My last name is lindholm wow

Bro the video was very useful, but I want to know that I do editing tones in my professor (VOX TONELAB EX) which i use headphones directly to the processor and do the editing. But when I come to live on stage and not getting the exact tone which i have edited... And please give us a video of tribal, bass and midd so that we can able to understand about tone clarity....

Awesome

Thank you sir

One of the reason the Yamaha studio is the most recorded drum in history is because it's high quality birch. This has the characteristics of extreme highs and extreme lows. Most people describe this characteristic as "pre-EQed type of sound. If you ever had a birch kit you'll know what I mean. With extreme highs and lows, there's space left in the middle for the rest of the instruments. Isn't it interesting that alder is very closely related to birch!

I love the 2 K freq as long as I don't boost them all the way up maybe halfway.

Would have loved some examples!

Dont kno about the numbers , i try to adjust eq so each string comes across fairly equal out the speakers. Then the way i play causes the dynamics , rt or wrong idk ,seems to work.

That 2k range is tricky when it comes to guitar and vocals! Intelligibly in the vocals sits around here but if the parts and arrangements are good it all works!

It seems like you really know what you're talking about Jay because it was evidenced in the, "It Aint Over Till It's Over" vid. A great sounding band and great recording!

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for writing in :) Always a blast to hear from you and thanks for liking the vid!

@MrMongo321

7 жыл бұрын

When you get the chance, can you play some rock-a-billy music? Specifically something by Brian Setzer.

Thanks! Question, my friend has a VOX amp with so much more presence than my Fender AMP. Do you know if it has to do with a certain mids range?

@TheDankCat127

3 жыл бұрын

Super late reply... but yes, Voxes are known to have a lot of upper midrange in addition to a lot of top end, giving them a lot of bite and chime.

So if have the 3band eq knobs on my over drive pedal, such as pete cornish cc2. Higher treble could get attenuation of the mids. And Bass slightly over the noon. And cut the knob of mid as 10 oclock. Could it be what you wanted to say through this vedeo? Or give me the tip plz. I like john mayer tone.

There's a reason the V-shaped scoop is popular for metal. You have the lower and upper mids boosted but you have the 750 Hz band scooped the most, which is the very slider that's lowest when people use a 5-band graphic EQ. The V-shaped scoop on a graphic EQ is far more precise and ideal for scooping than simply turning the midrange dial down. Even so, don't scoop all the way or you will disappear in the mix entirely. You still want some mids, even in the 750 Hz range.

Adam Jones of Tool has a ton of mids and everyone in the band is easily heard. He also cuts back his treble and turns up his bass. Obviously it depends on the style of music we're playing and what we're trying to do, but cutting the mids as a general rule isn't good, but as I said, it depends on what you're trying to do. I personally cut the treble on most amps then roll back the tone knob a bit and dial in the sound I like, usually adding bass and mids. Treble is easier to control with choice of pickup or the tone knob, but scooping the mids out is hard to get back. We all have our own style, sound we like and way of setting up our amps, so nothing is ever wrong.

@carlosangel9404

5 жыл бұрын

I know Stevie Ray Vaughan got his tone by turning down the treble a little under 11 o'clock, upping his mids to 2 o'clock and cranking the bass to somewhere between 2 and 3.

@johnthecreative

4 жыл бұрын

The bass player said he had to start using a special bass because they couldn't hear his mids on his p bass or stingray or whatever it was, so their sound is only possible with a very special, expensive bass guitar with precise active controls. A regular p or j bass would be drowned out.

@MrIniquitous1

3 жыл бұрын

It would be the two bass cabs run on Diezel heads that would up Adam Jones bass. Justin Chancellor is also a God in effects, which would change his frequencies somewhat in comparison to that of less pedal heavy Rigs

@chrisbruford881

Жыл бұрын

Also Brian May has a lot of mids and he sounds great, this video is shit, LOL!

I'm playing on an amp with pedals. I can't sculpt my sound as precisely as with a computer. Do you have any tricks. Thanks for your work.

@JayLeonardJ

7 жыл бұрын

Try lowering the amount of bass you use with a band. Lowering the bass also lowers the low mids a bit, so it will help those upper mids cut through better :)

@najecram

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks

@MrSpock

7 жыл бұрын

JayLeonardJ thanks for doing the follow up video :)

@leonardrouaud

7 жыл бұрын

najecram You could also buy a graphic eq pedal, and shape a V like he did

@johnthecreative

4 жыл бұрын

Easy and cheap fix for live performance: Behringer EQ700 Graphic Equalizer pedal.

Ok, just tell me what setting I should put my mid knob on my amp.