The Steel Guitar Forum

I guess I've never really understood "mids" to the extent I should. Now, playing just lap, I'm more into hearing every note: its tonal characteristics and how does it fit with the last note I played and the note I'm going to play next.

So, mids. I read/hear about how a certain guitar's sweet spot is the mids or "scooped mids" (which I guess is cutting them - by how my I don't know) or players who really boost mids, like Eric Clapton.

What do I need to understand about mids?
-When and where to consider boosting vs scooping vs leave at 12:00.

-Style of music per above: rock vs jazz vs blues vs country vs etc.

-Major vs minor keys?

-Whatever else (amps/pickup types/????)

Thanks very much!!!

To start out understanding Mids, set up your amp with all the tone controls in the middle (on 5). Move the Mid control back and forth while you strum. Listen. Your ears will tell you what's happening. Play with the Bass and Treble controls, too, to train your ear.

FWIW, I used to set up my '64 Super Reverb/Strat combo by starting with all the tone controls on 5. I then would turn one of them down, then bring it back up but only to the point where I could hear that it was just starting to affect the sound, then repeating the moves with the other two controls.

I think of mids as "the muddiness factor". I dont mean that as a negative term,, but for my mind it makes since. Like calling distortion dirt. I use the mids to "muddy" the highs when they are to peircy or tinny. When I play hollowbodies like a gretsch 6120 through a fender I crank the mids. For steel I tend to cut them down below everything and like I said, use them to muddy the overall tone to keep my tone balanced.

Leo Fender called midrange "fluff" and the Telecaster was designed to emphasize the bass & treble, a sound Fender admired in steel guitars he'd heard. Like a clean Tele, the Fender Dual Pro & Custom have a rather "scooped mid" sound for this reason.

Scooping (cutting) the Mids also makes room for the vocals in the sonic tapestry (mix).

If you look at the frequency response of the human ear (see chart below) you will see that it peaks somewhere around 1000 to 2000 Hertz so that explains why we like to hear "scooped" mids. This is a simplification as the human ear response also varies as the sound pressure level changes. At low SPL, we don't hear the bass freq.'s as well.




Greg

The term "scooped" is applied to the Fender amp sound also. Many Fender amps have that sound (which I don't really like for steel guitar) My Princeton Reverb has it, but my big Fender isn't as pronounced. The Princeton is going to get a mod to lose the scooped mids. Stringmasters have that sound also, but it seems different than the sound the amps have (?)

fast shredder metal genre guitar players liked reduced or scooped middle frequencies. I believe it keeps the tone clear and not mushy and garbled.
I personally like my mid freqs not scooped. but then I am not a shredder.
in two different recording projects I did recently I boosted the mids for a guitar lead track a friend sent. the original track was recorded too low. I reaised he mids up and the guitar stood oput in the mix.
with another project I had to scoop the mids on a bass track a friend sent. I wanted the bass to be louder in the mix, but whenevr I increased its volume the bass became distorted and muddy. I played with all the freqs. but when I reduce the mids the bass became clear. I thenn turned up its volume in the mix and it sounded like a nice bass.

EQ is intesting.

It sounds like you have the EQ under control Randy