I did it, and I'm impressed. Like, that is… it goes from "Cool beat, thanks," to "Oh, this sounds like a record, let me rap." Peace, my name is Paul "Willie Green" Womack. We're here at the GreenHouse, part of Brooklyn Recording Paradise here in Brooklyn, New York. And we're going to take a look at SplitEQ today, and some techniques for working with multi-tracks and two track beats; and see just how powerful this new EQ is. My sampling technique is very choppy. I'm kind of old school where I like my sample chops to sound like sample chops, and not just like a loop. If I just want a guitar loop, I'll get a guitar player. But I want that sound of the sample being manipulated. So a lot goes into the process of making it sound right. And there used to be a lot of things that were kind of unsampleable – things with a lot of bass limit how I can write a bass line to the track. So using SplitEQ allows me to reduce the bassline while still keeping the drums – if I want the kick drum in there to go with what I'm programming.
I can keep the drums, reduce the bassline, and then create my own thing. So SplitEQ gives me a lot of flexibility to make space of what might be a busy sample. You know, there's such a wide range of how producers work nowadays, and producers do so much work on the front end before I get files to mix. And so a lot of times, I do just get a 2 track of the beat – the producer got it to where they wanted to get it, and so they're like, "This is it, I'm locking it in." But sonically, I might have to do some tweaking or some improving or clearing out to make it work with the full song.
So Split has just been an amazing tool for working with two tracks, because I can reach in and bring out a little bit of the strings; or I can push that organ part back a little bit, because it's right in that same frequency range that I need for the vocal. So while it's super powerful on individual instruments, it's a tool that I just haven't had that level of power and detail to work with a two track, where a two track is not an impediment anymore.
Because I can reach in and get whatever I need out of it very easily. All right, so I got a beat here that I made, I've got some multitracks and also a two track of it. And I'm going to show some of the different applications of SplitEQ and how you can really fine-tune and refine your sounds to what you're looking for. So we'll play a little bit here, just so you can kind of see what's happening. I'm gonna go through: All right, so pretty basic beat. We've got kick, snare, hats, another snare drum that I kind of manipulated a bit, bass, string sample, and a synth pad. So standard things that you would find in a beat.
But all of them have their own little problems and challenges, so how do we get them to work together? Let's start with the drums, because I generally start with the drums. That's the kind of person I am. And particularly with the hi-hats. Which can be a challenge for a lot of people. A lot of modern hip-hop is very hi-hat focused, which means your hi-hats have to be right. So, dry, right out of the box, this is what the hi-hats sound like: So I like the pattern, but it kind of sounds like spare change in a soda can. So we got to tighten that up. Not quite trap hi-hats, but they have some of those faster tendencies, so we don't want a really long tail on them. We want to be pretty short and precise, so they're not clouding up our whole top end. So SplitEQ lets us do that in a few different ways, to really tighten them. First, I'm using a high pass filter just on the tonal side, and I'm cranking that thing all the way up, really to 5k. I want the short sharp attack from the transients, and a little bit of body, so it doesn't sound like, I don't know, insects crawling or whatever.
But I don't want it to stretch out too long, because the high end of the strings is there. I need to leave that open for that definition. So we'll roll that off here. I'm going to turn this band off and let's hear what the hi-hat sounds like: And bypass: Yeah, that's so much longer. There's so much more hi-hat in there than we need. So here, again, that's bypassed: And this is with it in: Right, so we're tightened up. But I want a little bit more of the attack, I want it to really just tick there. So on band five, here, way up at 10k, I'm adding a peak on the transient side, just to kind of push that, the definition of that.
So let's hear that: And bypassed: And back in: So it's just enough, just to give me a little more definition there. And then finally I'm reducing the tonal side on the master tonal gain a little bit, just down about 4.5 dB, just to accentuate, one more time, give me a little bit more of that definition, because there's a lot of other rhythmic elements at play. So this is with that at zero: Zero, there you go: All right so we still get a little bit too much of that length. And then we just roll that down, and that's nice and tight. That's nice and crispy. Right, so that's really fitting in there. Nice. So that's sounding great. I'm a drummer, and I grew up in marching bands. So you find a lot of my beats, I've got marching snares and that kind of stuff in there.
And I wanted that vibe. But with this hi-hat pattern, which is the more important of the two elements here doing a lot of that work on the top end, I wanted to imply the marching snare, but not go crazy with it. So turn off this cool delay I have on here first: I do some surgery here. What I've done is a little bit of the opposite: I want more of the tonality from that marching snare to come through, and less of the sharp transients, because I don't want that to interplay with the transients from my hi-hat. Bypass, this is what that snare sounds like: Pretty marchy.
That's a whole lot for this track. We don't need quite that much. This is it in context: Exactly, like… we don't need to hear that much of that anymore. But let's bring in SplitEQ. And now: what I've been able to do is push that back. With SplitEQ, you can start getting more into 3D, because you can adjust your transients – which is going to make it feel like you're pushing it back further, and you're just getting the tone of it; as opposed to being right in your ear, which was very annoying a second ago.
So what I've done, again, I've rolled down the master gain, now on the transient side, and I've done a big dip on the transients on the high end with a shelf. And I brought down a bit on the tonal, just so it wasn't going too crazy up top, but I wanted to take down the crack of that snare and leave some of the body. And so, I've got a little bit of a hump here in the tonal. And I'm notching now where the lower part of that attack would be in the transient here on band two.
Just brought that down. And that gives me less of the thud there, but the still full drum sound. So let's A-B that: Bypass: So I'll bypass band six, that's what's doing the most work here. We'll hear how it just kind of eases off, shaves down those sharp edges on the top: Like, that's so freaking cool. It just moved the drum like 50 feet back. Now the snare drum is on the 50 yard line, not right in the end zone with us.
So we're just pushing that back. And it's just, the depth of field is just crazy, because it just now gave me a 3D view on it. Let's see what the effect on band 2 is real quick: So you hear that (drum sounds) – that's not what we're looking for. It's pretty subtle, but it does just enough, because we have other things happening in that space. I'm going to bring our string track back in, which is our main melodic sample here. And now I'm going to bring in that second band and we'll see the space that makes there: So this is without that second band activated: So that peak right there, around 200, that's where the cellos are kind of living. So this is not a marching snare song. This is – the string sample is the main thing. So we're gonna get that part out of the way: So it has a dual effect: it gives the strings space to breathe, and actually, by cutting out that tubby low end in the snare, makes the snare feel brighter; but without having to have all that bright attack on top.
So I can roll that attack off, and then keep it feeling bright and light by bringing down the attack in the lower end, the lower mids. So that puts that snare right where I want it. Let's hear that in context now: Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot actually. And then I got a little delay on it, H3000, you know, that's always got the sauce. So we can put that on for a little bit of pizzazz: Without: Like, "That's alright!" That? That's where it's at. That's where it's at. But like we said, the string sample here is the main thing. So let's take a look at how we're using SplitEQ on that to really bring out the life in them. You know, string loop, sounds nice off the jump. Let me bypass, this is what we're looking at, just out of the box: So that's cool, it's nice. I chose it because it sounds cool. That's the whole idea. But it sounds just a little bit in the box; I want a little bit of life, a little bit more out of it.
So, taking it pretty easy, I don't have to do a lot, but a little goes a long way. I want a little more strike and attack on the top end of the strings. When everything comes in, we got marching drums and other stuff, I want the top end of that to really kind of come through. The "(string noises)". And the string sound. That's what makes strings sound dope, is that rub of the bow on the strings, right. So at about 5k, I'm using transient side, and I'm just bringing that up, just to get a little bit of that sharpness. And then above that, I'm using the tonal side – this is one my favorite moves with SplitEQ – on the tonal side, way up top above 10k, if you boost that, the tonality there, what you're getting is the air around what's happening. And even with the sample, I don't know if these were recorded, these might have been recorded live or with a very good library, but there's air in there to be brought out.
You know, in a vocal, if you want your vocal bright and airy but not sibilant, this is the move. You boost the tonal side up top, and you're getting the space around it, but you're not bringing out the really sharp stuff that slices your ears there. So let's A-B. This is bypassed: Yeah, that makes me smile. It just kind of lifts it up a little bit, you know, it gives then, it puts them in a little bit of space. I got a little reverb on them, but just lifts it and kind of opens them wide. And with that, what we can also do, what I like to do, there is a panning section in SplitEQ, which is super powerful. If you got a sample where, you know, like in early stereo days, you'd have stuff panned all wild – you'd have the bass on the right, and the orchestra on the left, and stuff like that. And it's kind of weird. We got away from that, thankfully. But if you need to narrow, and specifically, often you want to narrow your low end, right.
Especially if you're making records that are going to vinyl; too much low end and subsonic information on the sides is going to be problematic, and it's going to really have an effect on how your vinyl is cut. But you can use the panning section to narrow things. Or if I isolate the snare, and I want to throw it off to the left like I'm making a 60s record, I can grab that band and I can pan that to the side. So you can pan independently the tonal and the transient, you can narrow things. It's pretty wild actually. So with the air on top, I brought the air in, but let's really spread it out, let's make some room here: That's really cool. I don't know if you heard that, but the violins actually, the top of them, actually shifted a bit to the left, which, in an orchestra, is where the violins are.
So just that little bit kind of put them where they actually belong, a bit, which is cool. Maybe you want that, maybe you don't, but you can do it if you need it. And that's really what that's about. So that's just a little bit on the strings. And let's hear all this in context: Bypass: And that's cool. And that, you know, that panning stuff, that's the ear candy for those who listen in headphones, or who have the nice speakers – you want to give them a little extra for really focusing on your stuff. So give them this wide, lush space. They'll appreciate it.
So those are some techniques if you have the multi-tracks, if you get everything all broken down, or if you made the beat yourself and you've got it right in front of you. But I get a lot of stuff in that's just a two track, that's just everything bounced. And maybe a hard drive died and this is what we've got, or maybe this is what the producer intended and they don't want you changing the levels or whatever, but, you know, you might need to change levels a little bit or do something, just to kind of juice it up.
Well, SplitEQ can do that for you too. And this is where it gets pretty wild. We'll bypass, this is bypass, this is a bounce of the same beat that we're working on. Let's move forward a little bit to where we've got some synth pads and stuff. There's a little more tonal energy to deal with. So this is bypass: So a lot of those elements are in there. When I printed this, I hadn't done that air on top with the strings. So as we start to bring this in now, you'll see on that high band, right there, up around 10k, we've got the high shelf. And we're lifting that air on the tonal side. And then same thing around 5k: I'm bringing out the the attack on those strings. Now when you're working with two tracks, it's important to remember: if you're adjusting one thing, you're adjusting everything. So as I bring out that high end on the tonal side, I had to think, okay, that's also now bringing out some of what I took out in the hi-hats.
Or in this case, what wasn't there in the hi-hats, if we forget that we ever had the multis, right. So, you know, you have to work within what you're given. But this is really where things like the decay controls and the separation controls really come in handy. As I'm adjusting the decay, now I can zone in on where we have the attack of the hi-hat, and the transient where that transition is. I can zone in and fine-tune that. So I'm getting the air, but not boosting the parts, the hi-hats that we don't want.
And then down here in the low end, this is also where SplitEQ gets really dope, is low end management. I like a lot of bass. I tend to put a lot of bass in my beats, and I know I'm not the only one. I hope some of y'all are doing the same thing, cause we want it to bang, we want it to rumble. But sometimes we get a little over excited and maybe we put a little bit too much in. But the kick has to still knock. So how do we balance that? Well, we can bring the tonal down on a low shelf, and kind of subdue the longer notes of the bass, and we can compensate on the kick drum by bringing up the transient. So the bang still comes through, but the rumble is just that little bit of subdued, if you need that. I'm gonna bypass band one, So again, it's subtle, and you're thinking, why would you want less bass? You want good, solid bass.
You don't need all the bass in the world, if your bass is done right. So we're just controlling the longer bass notes, so the kick can bang like it needs to. Everything can't bang all at the same time. If not, it's madness and chaos. You gotta just reign things in a little bit so other things can shine. It's a two-track, everything's playing at once, you've only got but so much control. And then finally here in the middle, where my snare and then the marching snare are kind of coming together around 1k, it's kind of like the nasally part there. And then I've got strings that are hitting there. I'm just bringing down a little bit of the transient, just so that's not jabbing you in your ear, but you still do have that full sound.
So we'll A-B that: Right, so, just enough to kind of take the little sour note out of there a little bit. And then lastly, what I might do if I had a vocal with this, I might want to make some space for the fullness of the voice. And it's a puzzle piece, right? Something's got to give somewhere. If you want the voice full, then you have to make space in the beat, or the voice is boomy and parts aren't working in the beat. Then you make room there. Everything needs to fit together, you can't just boost and boost and boost and boost, because you run out of space, you run out of headroom.
It's a real thing. So I might, in this case, I'll take band three here, let's go right here around 300, that's where that kind of happens. And we'll take the tonal side, and we're just going to bring that down. So we're not losing the punch of the kick, the bottom of the attack of the snare. You know, snare is a very full range instrument; it can go from 100 hertz all the way up top, all the way up to 10k, because of what it is. So you might need to poke some holes in it to make your whole thing fit together. But you want the full attack. If not, you get a hand clap, not a full snare.
We're not doing hand claps today. So I'm gonna make a little bit of space, but leave the attack there; and then with my decay, it's about 37%, so it's gonna ring a little bit, and then it's gonna go away. If I want it shorter I can adjust my decay, can make the decay shorter, and then it's just more of that chop and not the full ring out.
So here is the two track with the SplitEQ bypassed: I did it, and I'm impressed. That is, it goes from, "Cool beat, thanks," to, "Oh this sounds like a record, let me rap on it." And that goes a long way with your beats. The closer it sounds to a record through the whole process, the better the song is going to be. It'll be more inspiring for the artist to write to, more inspiring for the artist to sing to or rap to or perform; and then your mix is going to be easier, and the listeners are going to love it. Everywhere along the whole process, you have all the tools here to do what you need to do, and cover all your bases and make your beat sound like records, which is the goal. So that's my breakdown of my techniques with SplitEQ. I'm curious about y'all's techniques! Hop in the comments, let us know how you're using it. Again, my name is Willie Green, we're in the GreenHouse here. You can find me on Instagram and on Twitter, @WillieGreen1.
Got a lot of things going on that I'm using SplitEQ on all over the place: new projects for Fielded, projects for Deaf C. I had it a little bit early, so you can hear it on Armand Hammer / The Alchemist's Haram, the album that a lot of folks talking about this year. I'm using it on everything, you know, in real life – not just on the video. So it's a real tool. It's powerful, it's great, and it does everything that you need. So again, I'm Willie Green, and this is SplitEQ, and I'll see you next time.
Peace!.