EQ Frequency breakdown (1/2)
<= 30Hz |
Virtually undetectable, you can safely cut these frequencies |
40-60Hz |
Sub bass Frequencies. "Feel" only |
60-200Hz |
Add for tom "boom". Cut to decrease bass "boom" |
80Hz |
Boost for the kick drum lower end to cut through the mix. Notch most other instruments here. Rolling off the electric guitar here is advisable |
80‐200Hz |
Boost bass instruments for presence. Boost will add warmth and fullness to guitars, vocals and horns |
100Hz-4kHz |
Scooping/notching instruments here will provide room in the mix |
<=120Hz |
Add for warmth. Too much will sound muddy |
120-125Hz |
Top of the range for most subwoofers. Also the low end of music such as kick drums and bass guitar. Bottom end of acoustic guitar and piano. Add for warmth |
120-600Hz |
Boost for strong vocal presence. Causes problems with vocal resonance and fatiguing |
200Hz |
Slight boost for depth. Cut to reduce muddiness. This is a good area to get the "gong" out of cymbals. |
240Hz |
Boost to fatten the snare. Boost acoustic guitars slightly to add fullness. Scoop vocal here if muddy. Notch filter here can add thump to a kick drum |
350-400Hz |
Cut to remove the "cardboard" sound of drums - Notch the bass guitar a little bit to reduce presence |
0.6-3kHz |
Provides presence, but are hard in nature. Good for rock. |
800Hz |
Boost the bass guitar for punch. Cut the electric guitar to remove the "cheap" sound |
2-4kHz |
In this area you can emphasize the "smack" of the kick's beater |
2.5kHz |
Good for adding to a dirty guitar for some real sizzle. Boost this area for bass guitar if using the pop/slap style |
2.5-5kHz |
Boost for clarity with an acoustic guitar and piano |
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EQ Frequency breakdown (2/2)
3-7kHz |
This is the area where vocal sibilance resides. Boost slightly to add sense of "volume" It also adds a harshness that is particularly fatiguing. Add warmth without loss of clarity by attenuating this region a bit |
4kHz |
Boost vocal here for presence |
4-9kHz |
Brightness, presence, definition, sibilance, high frequency distortion |
4.5kHz |
Extremely tiring to the ears, add a slight notch here |
5kHz |
Add a crisp, sharp "crack" to the snare. Also a good place to add some attack to the toms. Cut on background parts to make them sink in to the back a bit |
>=7kHz |
Add for the sense of quality and accuracy for cymbals. Too much output will come off as lacking definition. Cut vocals to decrease sibilance |
8-12kHz |
Cut or Boost to adjust brightness for cymbals and acoustic guitar |
9-15kHz |
Adding will give sparkle, shimmer, bring out details. Cutting will smooth out harshness and darken the mix |
10kHz |
Boost to add "air" and clarity to acoustic instruments |
EQ Instrument breakdown
Vocals |
presence (5 kHz), sibilance (7.5 ‐ 10 kHz), boom (200 ‐ 240 kHz), fullness (120 Hz) |
Electric Guitar |
fullness (240 Hz), bite (2.5 kHz), air / sizzle (8 kHz) |
Bass Guitar |
bottom (60 ‐ 80 Hz), attack (700 ‐ 1000 Hz), string noise (2.5 kHz) |
Snare Drum |
fatness (240 Hz), crispness (5 kHz) |
Kick Drum |
bottom (60 ‐ 80 Hz), slap (4 kHz) |
Hi Hat & Cymbals |
sizzle (7.5 ‐ 10 kHz), clank (200 Hz) |
Toms |
attack (5 kHz), fullness (120 ‐ 240 Hz) |
Acoustic Guitar |
harshness / bite (2 kHz), boom (120 ‐ 200 Hz), cut (7 ‐ 10 kHz) |
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EQ Helpful suggestions
Embrace the idea of “notching”, when in doubt, cut instead of boosting. |
Allow instruments to have their own “space” in the frequency spectrum; don’t make them fight for it. |
Understand that instruments of the same type can and will sound different, EQ accordingly. |
EQing WILL NOT save your mix; you can't EQ out bad sound. |
Cut frequencies below 90Hz for vocals, they add little to the mix except mud |
Listen to 15 minutes of well mixed audio before any mixing session |
Limit Stereo Width to 30% except special effects |
Don't forget the noise gate |
The old RIAA AES mechanical rule for vinyl was to cut at 47Hz and 12k, and some great recordings were made this way. Human perception at extreme highs and lows is not all that accurate or sensitive, and a little goes a long way |
EQ Glossary
Attenuation |
the reduction of a signal level |
Band |
range of frequencies |
Boost |
selected frequency levels are amplified |
Cut |
selected frequency are attenuated |
Presence |
increasing causes the sounds of voices and such instruments seem more "present" |
Q |
describes the shape of the EQ curve (higher Q = narrower range, lower Q = wider range) |
Sibilance |
refers to the hissing "s","sh","z", or "zh", sound of the human voice |
Warmth |
sound where the bass and low mid frequencies have depth and where the high frequencies are smooth sounding opposed to aggressive or fatiguing |
|
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Comments
Very cool, Fred! I knew nothing about equalisers and after reading this I feel like I've learned something!
Invaluable chart, thanks for posting it!
This is really cool. I do a lot of recording, and this gives me some great ideas on how to improve the sound!
I'll be using this for my guitar, cheers. :)
Very good but one thing, of course you can EQ out bad sound!
does anyone know how to get rid of unwanted bass sound from noisy neighbours electronicaly
Bass sounds from neighbours tend to propagate quite far and through walls. I was going to suggest noise cancelling headphones (over-ear might help in this bass-y case).
If it's a really loud neighbour, best thing would be to go talk to them politely and explain you can hear their bass through the walls...Good luck!
There are a few good tips in this, but in the most cases it's better if you use your ears. Take it with a grain of salt.
That chart really helped me .Thanks !
God bless you!, Your advice is more useful than the;
1. Ten books I've purchased claiming to be the guide to a "Pro mix"
2. The racks of one particular music magazine and it's less than professional end result.
3. The three educational DVD I posses.
4. All those real pro’s doing all those B.S. interviews on Youtube, but not really telling sH@t.
You’re the Man!
sound good to me
Great advice and invaluable for mixing. Thankx
This is awesome! Thank you.
Very useful information. But I was wondering, if you're mixing both a kick drum and a bass guitar, how do you divi up those low frequencies? They can't share it, can they, without it sounding like the bass is fighting?
<3 u.
Thanks a million for posting this!
Every time i reference this stuff as something I know, you WILL be getting the credit!
u guys r awesome thanks a ton
Valuable information and practically good enough.
Thanks! Great chart - I am experimenting with finding the correct frequency band to notch out my wife's constant vocal hum in the background. I guess she is trying to talk to me or something along those lines, but I think I can EQ it out. Hee hee
Finally a list that is comprehensible and considers everything I need.
Thank you!
This is what a mastering enginerer understands to have commercial standard track.
Thanx.. man very helpful nd useful fr upcoming talent...
What do you mean when you use the term notching??
Stepping up to digital mixing with 4 band Parametric EQ I ws in need of exactly this sheet :-) Thanks !
You're a star. Exactly what I needed to get going. Thanks a million
Cheers, 4 sharing!
This is great info just the missing piece of the puzzle I needed I will be sharing this
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