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What'sTheFrequency?
A Guide To Eective EQ
Production
By Paul White & Matt Houghton PublishedDecember 2008

Manipulating the frequency spectrum is one of the most important skills in

recording and mixing. We explain the dierent types of EQ you can use in your
mix and share some tips on how to get the best from them.

Equalisation, more commonly abbreviated to 'EQ', is one of

the key elements of the recording, mix or mastering engineer's
toolkit, and you'll hear engineers talking at great length about
the sound characteristics of specic makes and models of EQ
such is the importance of EQ to a modern recording. But
simply knowing that engineer Bloggs uses a Pultec on his kick
drums teaches you very little about how and why he uses it. In
this article, then, we'll take you through the dierent types of
EQ and explain their applications, as well as oering tips and
tricks about which frequency ranges you might nd most
useful for common instruments.
It's always worth thinking about where you
place EQ in relation to other processors. It
WhatIsEQ? makes sense to perform corrective EQ before
any compression, so that the compressor isn't
triggered by and doesn't boost any unwanted
The term 'equalisation' comes from the pioneering days of the frequencies. This means that if your sequencer
telephone, when it described the process of correcting for has a builtin channel EQ, you need to think
or 'equalising' tonal changes caused by losses in the long whether it is more appropriate to use an insert
or possibly both, as shown here.
telephone lines, but today the term is more generally used to
cover all types of audio 'tone' controls. To put it very plainly,
an equaliser is a frequencyselective lter that's able to cut or
boost the level of specied parts of the audio spectrum. The
simplest equaliser consists of just one capacitor and one
resistor. With the resistor in series and the capacitor linking
the output to ground, you get a highcut (alternatively, 'top
cut' or 'lowpass': they all mean the same thing) lter that's
just like the tone control you nd on an electric guitar that
is to say, one that lters out the higher frequencies. Putting Using high and lowpass lters (top), you can
the capacitor in series and the resistor to ground gives you a 'bracket' the frequency band you want to let
lowcut (or 'highpass') lter, that cuts out lower frequencies. through, cutting out unwanted frequencies on
either side a helpful way of making space
As long as no additional electrical load is applied to such for other elements in a mix. High and low shelf
lters level out ('shelve'), so are a better option
circuits, the response is 6dB/octave (which means that the
when you want to apply a gentle boost to the
signal level drops by 6dB for every octave below the lter's top or bottom end.
'turnover' frequency), or 'rst order'. These simple, passive
circuits cannot be used to boost frequencies, they can only cut them. To achieve an EQ boost, you have to
combine the lters with active circuitry, which is what Peter Baxandall did when he developed his bass and
treble equaliser, which was capable of cutting and boosting both low and high frequencies using two

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independent controls. Baxandall's basic circuit still forms the basis of many mixing console high and low
equaliser sections and is mimicked in the form of presets on a good number of EQ plugins.

TheHighs&Lows
Let's look more closely at the simple rstorder lowcut lter.
As I've just mentioned, the signal level drops by 6dB for every
octave below the lter's turnover frequency, and this means
that any components two octaves down from that frequency
will be attenuated by 12dB, those three octaves down will be
attenuated by 18dB, and so on. If you need a 'steeper' lter
slope, you put two rstorder lters in series, creating a
secondorder lter with a 12dB/octave response. Such lters
are very useful for attenuating frequencies that are outside
There aren't really any hard and fast rules for
the area of wanted frequencies, and they form the basis of the EQ you do what sounds best but a useful
lowcut lters found in microphones and mixers. However, guideline is to use narrow notches for 'surgical'
although their response shape is useful for cutting, wiring removal of unwanted frequencies, but gentle,
them into a boost circuit can be problematic, because for broad boosts when looking to augment one
aspect of a sound. You may be able to achieve
every octave you go past the lter's cuto point, the gain rises
more radical notches by combining more than
by 6dB (doubles in voltage), which makes it incredibly easy to one lter.
run into clipping problems.

A more practical option for boosting a frequency region is the

'shelving' equaliser. In these designs, instead of the gain
continuing to change by 6dB per octave, the curve attens out
or 'shelves' so that you can adjust the gain of the desired
high or low section of the audio spectrum by the same
amount. For example, if you've a lter that's designed to aect Why are some analogue EQs, such as the Neve
model emulated below, so revered? It's
only frequencies below 100Hz, once the lter attens, out all
because they do more than cut and boost
the low frequencies will be cut or boosted by the same frequencies: phase shifting and distortion also
amount when you turn the EQ gain control. Again, the more colour the sound. Linearphase digital EQ is
lters you stack in series, the steeper the transition at the much more precise, but doesn't always sound
lter's operating frequency. (The screen shot at the bottom of as pleasing. Some plugins, such as the ddmf
LP10 shown left, oer variable phase for each
this page shows a shelving equaliser plugin.) Because the
lter, giving access to the best of both worlds.
amount of gain levels out, this type of lter is less likely to
cause clipping problems when boosting. Most equalisers will
use high and lowpass lters only for cutting the extremes of
the audio spectrum, and shelving lters where both cut and
boost are desired.

What'sInTheMiddle?
While the lters described so far are useful for general high
cut, lowcut and boost purposes, you'll often nd frequencies
between these two extremes that need attention such as
when you need to reduce the boom of an acoustic guitar body,
for example, or emphasise the crack of a snare drum and this is where the 'bandpass', or 'peak' equaliser
comes into its own. This is essentially a tuned lter that oers both cut and boost, and operates on a specic
band of frequencies. The range of frequencies that are aected is determined by the bandwidth of the lter
(measured at its 3dB points). These adjustable lters can usually be tuned over a wide frequency range,
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although the technical limitations of analogue circuitry mean that analogue bandpass EQs seldom cover the
entire audio spectrum with a single lter. Digital equalisers, on the other hand, can have pretty much whatever
range their designers decide they want to build into them.

The shape of the band-pass EQ curve is sometimes described as belllike: the maximum cut or boost occurs at
the centre of the bell and gets progressively less each side of it. The centre frequency of the lter divided by its
bandwidth at the 3dB points gives the 'Q' of the lter, meaning that the higher the Q value, the narrower the
lter response.

On smaller mixers (and some less sophisticated EQ units) with socalled 'sweptmid' controls, the bandwidth
of the mid lter is preset or may perhaps oer a couple of preset widths but in a true 'parametric'
equaliser the lter width is variable, which means that the user is able to apply a broad boost, or to focus in on
very narrow sections of the audio spectrum or, of course, anything in between these two extremes.
Parametric equalisers oer control over lter frequency, cut or boost amount (usually up to about 15dB) and
bandwidth (or 'Q'), so there are three controls per band. Most practical parametric equalisers have two or
more bands that can be used at the same time to tackle problems in dierent parts of the audio spectrum.

GraphicEQ
Graphic equalisers are based around a large number of xed
frequency lters, either with xed bandwidth or proportional
Q responses, usually spaced by a half, a third, or a whole
octave, depending on the number of bands. Each band is
controlled using a vertical slider, which governs the cut or
boost, with 'at' being in the centre position so clearly the
name 'graphic equaliser' comes about because the faders
show the general shape of the EQ curve. Individual lter
bandwidths are arranged so that they overlap smoothly, while
the highest and lowest frequency sliders are usually linked to shelving lters to provide more useful control
over the high and low extremes. Although there's no reason not to use a graphic equaliser in the studio, most
engineers prefer the parametric EQ because it gives them more precise control. Live sound engineers also
often like to use graphic equalisers, because they're fast to set up and quite useful for tackling general room
EQ problems.

MinimumVsLinearPhase
Analogue equalisers tend to colour the sound in a way that's
more complicated than simple frequency bosts and cuts,
because they introduce phase shifts, some of which will be
more musically pleasing to the ear than others (one of the
reasons that people admire some particular 'classic
outboard'). Unsurprisingly, digital equalisers are often
designed to emulate such characteristics, to the extent that
both the frequency curves and attendant phase shifts are
emulated as closely as possible. This type of EQ is a
'minimumphase' design, but digital equalisers can also be
created with 'linearphase' characteristics, where no phase
shift is introduced between low and high frequencies when cutting or boosting and this sort of EQ is ideal
for correcting spectral balance issues without changing the sound excessively.

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It's probably true to say that the phase changes introduced by many classic equaliser designs make an
important contribution to their sound, so it doesn't always make sense to choose the technically more precise
linearphase option. You should also bear in mind that linearphase equalisers introduce quite a lot of delay,
which means that they'll increase the latency of your DAW by a signicant amount. I like to think of traditional
minimu-phase EQ as 'art' and linear-phase EQ as 'science'. Put another way, analogue or minimu-phase EQs
tend to be better for creative tonal shaping where you're looking for a musically pleasing sound, whereas
linearphase designs tend to be better for corrective, 'surgical' jobs, such as notch ltering.

Analogue EQs tend to sound dierent for a number of

reasons, not least the shape of the EQ curves which may
depart from the theoretical curves we've discussed so far by
intent, or perhaps by some accident of design. Then there's
the quality of the circuitry, as equalisation places heavy
demands on both the headroom and bandwidth of the active
support circuitry. Some vintage equalisers may distort in a
musically pleasant way, while a badly designed one can run
out of headroom when large amounts of cut or boost are
used, which can result in a harsh, unpleasant sound.
Engineers creating digital models of classic analogue gear go
to great lengths to emulate all the subtle distortions and
quirks of the original, as it is often these that give it a unique
sonic signature.

SomePracticalConsiderations
When using EQ, it's useful to understand something of the way our ears perceive the changes we make. In fact,
you can try this for yourself by playing a mix through the equaliser and then listening to the subjective results
of narrow EQ cuts and boosts at dierent parts of the frequency spectrum. What should be evident right away
is that narrow EQ boosts sound much more obvious and unnatural than correspondingly deep EQ cuts.
While EQ boost can be useful, it tends to sound most natural when the range of aected frequencies is fairly
wide, and where the amount of boost used is quite modest. However, before you boost something you'd like
to hear more of, try instead cutting those parts of the spectrum that you feel are overpowering it: sometimes
the eect of cutting a lower-frequency sound can make the higher frequencies seem brighter, even though you
haven't EQ'd them at all.

You can also sometimes make instruments sit better in a mix by using low and highpass lters to 'bracket'
the sound, removing unnecessary low and/or high frequencies in fact, if you ever read our Mix Rescue
articles you'll know just how useful this can be for decluttering a mix. The classic example is the acoustic
guitar in the rock mix, which can sound much better with a lot of low end shaved o, because this prevents it
from conicting with other sounds in the mix. The steeper the lter, the more assertive the bracketing
typically a lterslope of between 12dB/octave and 24dB/octave will do the trick. You can also aord to be
fairly heavyhanded in this respect with instruments such as electric guitar, which don't really have a 'natural'
acoustic sound to get wrong. The same radical approach can often be used for synths, where conning pads
sounds into a narrower region of the audio spectrum can avoid conict with other instruments and thus really
help to clean up a busy mix.

One pitfall you should avoid is EQing each sound in isolation to make it sound as big and shiny as possible.
Although this might make instruments sound good alone, the subjective sound of each part will change once
the other elements of the mix are brought into play and if you've tried to tune up each sound on its own,
the chances are that your mix will sound somewhat messy, as all the parts will probably be ghting to be at the
front of the sound stage. In reality, some sounds, such as vocals, need to be treated to sound very upfront,

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while other sounds can play more of a supporting role, and really shouldn't sound so big and glossy. If you
listen carefully to some wellcrafted commercial records and try to pick out the various dierent elements of
the mix, this should be very obvious.

When it comes to recordings of acoustic instruments and voices, you should always try to get the best sound
you can at source, because many problems simply can't be xed by EQ. What you may think of as a 'coloured'
or 'boxy' tone that EQ should be able to x may, in fact, be down to room reections caused by insucient
damping in the recording area or by inappropriate mic placement and where this is the case, you'll often
nd that EQing will make little or no improvement.

To nd the parts of a sound that need equalising, the most common and, indeed, the easiest method is
to use a parametric EQ with a Q setting of around 1, turn the boost right up, and then sweep the EQ across the
frequency spectrum. Listen for those elements that benet the sound and those that cause problems: the
unpleasant elements should really jump out at you when you sweep through them, giving you an idea of which
part of the spectrum to cut. You can then experiment with the depth and width of cut to get the best subjective
result.

Some engineers may prefer to estimate the problem frequency before applying any such cut or boost, because
this oers the advantage that they haven't had their judgement clouded by the sound of a harsh EQ boost, but
getting this right is, of course, something that comes with experience and plenty of eartraining 'on the job'.
Either way, remember what we said above: always make your nal adjustments to a sound with the rest of the
mix playing, because what sounds good in isolation doesn't always sound good in context.

TheEqualiser
Finally, then, a knowledge of EQ is important to today's music production process, and it can be used either to
correct problems or in a more creative manner, to shape sounds in a less natural but musically satisfying
way. All these uses are valid, but whatever you do, don't fall into the trap of thinking that radical amounts of
EQ will help you x an imperfect sound at the mixing stage because very often it won't!

WhereToCut&BoostForCommonInstruments
The English language is a wonderful tool in that it usually oers many alternative ways of describing
similar things. Alas, that can also make it rather imprecise and confusing particularly when it comes
down to describing sound! We might describe a sound as deep, warm, bright, shrill, crisp, forward, or
perhaps shimmering. They're useful terms because we all know roughly what they mean, but they're not
a lot of use when you're trying to narrow down which frequencies to cut or boost.

In the main article, we describe how you can sweep a narrowish parametric EQ boost to zoom in on any
problem frequencies that you might want to 'notch out', and this approach can also be useful to train
your ears, so that you get used to the dierent elements that make up the sound of dierent
instruments. In time, you'll start to know intuitively which areas to cut and boost to get the sound you
want. Until then, here's a mini reference guide. The list below isn't exhaustive, but it provides some
useful starting points for commonly used instruments and as you can see, the same term can mean
dierent things for dierent instruments. One word of warning: as always, these are only guidelines, and
you really have to listen and experiment if you want to get things working in the context of your track.

Kick Drum: Bottom or depth is usually found in the 6080Hz region; slap at 2.5kHz.

Snare Drum: Weight, fatness or body at about 240Hz; bite at 2kHz; crispness at 48kHz.

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Hihat: 'Gong' at 200Hz; shimmer at 7.512kHz.

Cymbals: 'Clunk' from 100300Hz; ringing overtones at 16kHz; sizzle at 812kHz.

Rack Toms: Fullness around 240Hz; attack at 5kHz.

Floor Toms: Fullness around 80120Hz; attack at 5kHz.

Congas: Resonance around 200240Hz; slap at 5kHz.

Bass Guitar: Bottom at 6080Hz; attack or 'pluck' at 700Hz to 1kHz; 'pop' at 2.5kHz.

Electric Guitar: Mains hum at 50Hz (UK) or 60Hz (US); fullness at 240Hz; bite at 2.5kHz

Acoustic Guitar: Bottom or weight at 80100Hz; body around 240Hz; clarity from 22.5kHz.

Hammond/Electric Organ: Bottom from 80120Hz; presence at 2.5kHz.

Acoustic Piano: Bottom from 80120Hz; presence between 2.5 and 5kHz; attack around 10kHz;
'shrillness' at 57.5kHz.

Horns: Fullness at 120240Hz; shrillness from 57kHz.

Brass: Warmth at 200400Hz; 'honk' at 13.5kHz; 'rasp' at 68kHz; shrillness at 812kHz.

Solo Trumpet & Sax: Warmth at 200400Hz; nasal tones at 13kHz.

Strings: Fullness at 200300Hz; 'scratch' (bow and string noise) from 7.510kHz.

Vocals: Fullness around 120Hz; 'boom' around 200240Hz; presence at 5kHz; sibilance from 7.510kHz.
Matt Houghton

FiveEQTips
1. You can't boost what isn't there, so get things right at source. Boosting the top end will only result in
undesirable crackle and noise if there's little there to augment.

2. You should always EQ in the context of a mix because that's where things need to sound good no
one else is going to be listening for the perfect hihat in isolation!

3. Too much bass or subbass will eat up your mix headroom, which makes highpass lters your best
friend.

4. Narrow notches and broad boosts usually work best: so if you hear can hear a nasty resonance, try a
narrow cut with a linearphase EQ; and if you're looking for tonal change, work with gentle, broad boosts
and cuts using an analogue EQ (or analoguemodelling plugin).

5. Dierent analoguestyle EQs impart dierent characteristics, so try to experiment with dierent
hardware or plugin EQs to get the results you want. Matt Houghton

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