Is it common to notch EQ in mastering? Not neccessarily if there's like a hum, or some major mess-up, but if you get a decent mix that's just too busy and overcrowded, then would notch EQing possibly work to seperate things? Or is it almost always higher bandwidth EQing in mastering?
It is a combination of both. Notch eqing would be used if there was a buildup in a very narrow band. wide bandwidth eqing would be used for overall shaping
Is it common for narrow bandwidth buildups to go unnoticed?
I realize it depends on the professionalism of the mixer and the monitoring etc... But basically I'm wondering if in the day and age of home recording it is very common for notch EQing in the final mastering process.
Although I tend not to for the most part, there are several valid reasons to notch out problems that can't otherwise be fixed.
Two examples that I get on a regular basis...
50 or 60 cycle hum. There's no more effective way than ultra-tight parametric filters to get rid of it (aside from getting rid of it AT THE SOURCE).
Another that I've been getting more and more recently over the past several years is video monitor noise. It's a sharp point, somewhere between 13.8 & 15kHz (depending on the refresh rate of the monitor).
One of the real problems in that case is that you'll never hear it in the studio if your monitors are on. You could print it to several tracks, compress it so it pumps, make it nastier by adding high shelf - You get the idea.
Even with that, it "normally" notches out pretty easily.
