advice on EQing a vinyl-recording

so, Ive got a good recording setup (rega p5 w/ exact cart, tdl preamp, mia 24/96) and have recorded loads of albums with Cool Edit Pro. everything is set up correctly, but the overall sound on all my recordings is too bassy/boomy... there's a serious emphasis on the mid and low ends.

any general recommendations for a simple filter/adjustment/etc I can run on these tracks in CEP? a while back ago I sent someone an mp3 of one particluar track; they decoded to wave, quickly did *something* and sent me back a sample... it sounded LOADS better (wish I had asked what exactly they did).

I can find my way around Cool Edit options but don't know SHIT about the basics of EQing, so the more "here's a simple method that will help this 95% of the time" post, the better... especially since all my recordings are done on the same equipment and (IMO) suffer from the same prob.

attached are mp3 samples of 2 analord tracks I recorded so you can see what I'm talking about (most noticeable with the second sample):

sample1.mp3 668.67 kB · 5 downloads sample2.mp3 758.88 kB · 7 downloads

any and all suggestions are seriously appreciated! TIA

Here are my ingredients for ripping vinyl:

Table: Numark TT200 (RCA)

Cartridge: Sure Whitelabel

Sound Card: M-Audio Firewire Audiophile

Mixer: Mackie 1202VLZ Pro

Phono PreAmp: BBE FJB-200X

I suggest you go out and buy yourself a little mixer this way you can control the frequencies. your PreAmp might be doctoring up the sound a bit maybe which might be the reason for the abnormal low end? I typically leave my low, mid, and high knobs on the mixer right in the middle with no coloring and have compared my vinyl rips to CD rips and they are pretty much identical for the most part.

open up a parametric equaliser

set up a band one in from the lowest (which will be the LF rolloff)

put 12 - 24 db of cut on the band

set the Q fairly wide

starting at about 100hz, move the band left and right and listen.

when the rumble goes away, you have found the ugly frequency (range)

if it is above 80hz, you might want to notch it out, but with vinyl, you probably just want to roll off from there downwards

many turntables and mixers have a "rumble filter" which is a fixed rolloff starting at 75hz

  analogue wings said:

many turntables and mixers have a "rumble filter" which is a fixed rolloff starting at 75hz

Yeah that was gonna be my suggestion too. The bass isn't too bad, slightly obtrusive but I've certainly heard a hell of a lot worse. Is the lid of your deck open or closed (if it has one that is), that'll certainly colour the sound anyway.

  mcbpete said:

  analogue wings said:

many turntables and mixers have a "rumble filter" which is a fixed rolloff starting at 75hz

Yeah that was gonna be my suggestion too. The bass isn't too bad, slightly obtrusive but I've certainly heard a hell of a lot worse. Is the lid of your deck open or closed (if it has one that is), that'll certainly colour the sound anyway.

lid was closed.

i've recorded so much already that I don't want to redo them; just looking for a simple eq/filter I can run on these which will take the edge off, so to speak. they sound fantastic, just want to make that little adjustment to brighten them up.

please, more suggestions! I will play with each method posted (and learn something). thanks to those who have replied.

Interesting thread. Its funny how really old records have zero bass. You can really boost the bass (on my mixer the low is set at 80hz) on say an old Weather Report record by a good 10db and it makes a huge difference.

Another thing to bear in mind is the amount of tracks per side of the record. For instance a 12" with one track per side will usually be much louder and more bassier compared to a 12" with a number of tracks on each side.