Hi Jon,
I think the general guidline of flat from 60Hz to 1-2kHz and then rolling off 10-20 db at 10kHz is a useful starting point. When I analyze the waveform of a particular track, I first just even out the peaks and valleys a bit in the yellow trace, following the natural curve of the waveform. Then I listen and use the low and high shelving cursor tools to achieve a pleasing balance. But you're right about the bass. If it ain't there on the recording, it ain't there! Same with the higher frequencies. So I try to be conservative, but I'm a compulsive tweaker, I'm afraid. Man, do I go through the cdr's! Gotta get a music server!
I need to experiment more with a reference file. Since I primarily work with boots, it might get me in the ballpark faster. Recently, I've been eliminating the splits for each individual song to create one large wav file, doing a overall balance and then re-splitting into tracks again. A little time consuming... I have found the "Advance Tutorial - An Introduction to Emphatic Equalisation" in the manual to be very helpful also. With commercial recordings, especially older cds, I have been able to pretty much eliminate the digital harshness that drives me knuts. So I think the aim, especially with commercial recordings, is not to do violence to the overall sound intended by the artist and producer, but just to make a more pleasing sounding recording based on one's own ears and listening environment. Thanks for posting!
