As Jonbouy says, there's nothing inherently wrong with boosting. "Cut don't Boost" is just good advice from the experienced to keep all of us just learning (where I'm at) from falling into the "Louder=Better" trap.

Don't know how many times I've overcooked a track thinking it's the best thing since sliced bread only to listen the next day and wonder what the **** I was thinking.

I hear you on the distractions! In my building there is invariably someone blasting some crappy hip hop at floor vibrating volumes, or someone slamming their front door, or some couple having a domestic. Then outside in the street there are these drunken old losers who do nothing but stand on the same corner and scream and yell and cackle and fight. People who have quiet soundproofed studios don't know how good they have it!

Yeah, I've been guilty of that in the past. I don't seem to destroy anything much these days. Sometimes I'll make things a little too crisp of mid-dy but that usually happens when I've spent too much time in front of the monitors and my ears are tired. I try to take a break every 15 minutes or so when mixing to keep that under control. Seems to work rather well.

@sharke... Sounds like my old hood. I was also flanked by bars, the house was constantly under noisy construction and near the end there were crazy festivals happening all the time. It was fun for a while but eventually it just got nerve wracking. I can't handle any kind of noise now.

Just a quick note on EQ.  These are only generalisations.
 
It is GENERALLY better to cut than EQ, it doesn't mean you should NEVER boost.  Certainly if you're looking for a natural sound and a balanced mix.
 
If boosting, it is better to use a wider frequency band (Q), if cutting, it is better to use a narrow band (Q).  That's why the hybrid QuadEQ is set the way it is.
 
If you boost  frequency on one instrument, it's a good idea to cut a similar frequency in another competing instrument.  It's often about making space for each other.
 
I picked up a tip from Scott G. that I now use all the time.  Set the plot resolution of the QuadEQ to 6dB.  It defaults to Auto.  If it's set to Auto, it is not easy to compare the different track's EQ at a glance.  The graphs may look a similar shape, but one may be boosting 4dB, and another 18dB.  If you set it to six dB, then yo get an idea o the relative cuts and boosts, plus it also warns you if you are making more than a 6 dB alteration.  If you are, it MAY be worth looking at the source material, regardless of what others may say.
 
I didn't say NEVER boost, I add subtle boosts all the time, just be aware, as tkx5050 pointed out, that louder can be perceived as better.
 
Also beware of the solo button.  It's best to listen in context of the mix.
 
There are lots of other pointers that I found helped with EQ, but these are just the ones relating to cutting and boosting.

One more thing.  As an alternative to boosting, try adding a little saturation to the sound.  I like the Sat Knob for this.
 
On a vocal, for example, adding saturation to the high frequencies ("keep high" on the sat knob) can bring the vocal through the mix better than an EQ boost, but not turn it into 21st Century Schizoid man.

Jonbouy

 
I wouldn't worry too much about what you've must have heard from elsewhere about boosts being a bad thing, it's one of those mythical 'don't do's' seem to arise out of nowhere. 

Actually it did come out of somewhere, but the origins are lost in the mists of recording antiquity . "Cut, don't boost" was a valid guideline back in the days of analog EQs and mixers, as we didn't have 64-bit processing engines with virtually unlimited headroom. Furthermore, unlike digital which becomes more distorted at lower levels, with analog distortion always increased at higher levels.


So, is that rule still valid with digital? Technologically, not really. However, there are still instances where cutting means only one parameter change, as opposed to boosting that would require two parameter changes. For example, I get a lot of material in for mastering that's "muddy" in the 400Hz range or so. Cutting just a tiny bit there solves the problem more easily than boosting above and below 400Hz.

Thank you Craig.


The other, related, issue was that boosting in analog usually increased the SNR on the output.



best regards,
mike

If boosting, it is better to use a wider frequency band (Q), if cutting, it is better to use a narrow band (Q). That's why the hybrid QuadEQ is set the way it is.

Gotta love the Hybrid mode!       I find myself using the QuadCurve for everything.
 

I picked up a tip from Scott G. that I now use all the time. Set the plot resolution of the QuadEQ to 6dB. It defaults to Auto. If it's set to Auto, it is not easy to compare the different track's EQ at a glance. The graphs may look a similar shape, but one may be boosting 4dB, and another 18dB. If you set it to six dB, then yo get an idea o the relative cuts and boosts, plus it also warns you if you are making more than a 6 dB alteration. If you are, it MAY be worth looking at the source material, regardless of what others may say.

+1   The default, for me, is too "zoomed out" for precision use.   Plus, I find that dragging the nodes is much more responsive at the 6dB plot size.
 

One more thing.  As an alternative to boosting, try adding a little saturation to the sound.  I like the Sat Knob for this.  On a vocal, for example, adding saturation to the high frequencies ("keep high" on the sat knob)

I'd have to check to be sure, but I think the two "keep" modes are actually maintaining a clean signal through those frequency ranges (wherever the crossover is set) and only affecting the opposite range.   So "Keep High" would only saturate the low end, and "Keep Low" would only saturate the high end.   The third mode saturates the entire frequency range.
 

This is all very confusing for me but fascinating and useful. Can't wait to really dig into it. A few more weeks and I should be able to focus all my attention on learning. If you guys think I absorbed a lot of knowledge in the past six months imagine what I'll be able to accomplish without any distractions and not having to tear down my DAW after every session.