EQ Introduction (w/ EQ Tables)

[Sith Angel]

50Hz
1. Increase to add more fullness to lowest frequency instruments like foot, toms, and the bass.
2. Reduce to decrease the "boom" of the bass and will increase overtones and the recognition of bass line in the mix. This is most often used on bass lines in Rap and R&B.
__________

100Hz
1. Increase to add a harder bass sound to lowest frequency instruments.
2. Increase to add fullness to guitars, snare.
3. Increase to add warmth to piano and horns.
4. Reduce to remove boom on guitars & increase clarity.
__________

200Hz
1. Increase to add fullness to vocals.
2. Increase to add fullness to snare and guitar (harder sound).
3. Reduce to decrease muddiness of vocals or mid-range instruments.
4. Reduce to decrease gong sound of cymbals.
__________

400Hz
1. Increase to add clarity to bass lines especially when speakers are at low volume.
2. Reduce to decrease "cardboard" sound of lower drums (foot and toms).
3. Reduce to decrease ambiance on cymbals.
__________

800Hz
1. Increase for clarity and "punch" of bass.
2. Reduce to remove "cheap" sound of guitars
__________

1.5KHz
1. Increase for "clarity" and "pluck" of bass.
2. Reduce to remove dullness of guitars.
__________

3KHz
1. Increase for more "pluck" of bass.
2. Increase for more attack of electric / acoustic guitar.
3. Increase for more attack on low piano parts.
4. Increase for more clarity / hardness on voice.
5. Reduce to increase breathy, soft sound on background vocals.
6. Reduce to disguise out-of-tune vocals / guitars
__________

5KHz
1. Increase for vocal presence.
2. Increase low frequency drum attack (foot/toms).
3. Increase for more "finger sound" on bass.
4. Increase attack of piano, acoustic guitar and brightness on guitars.
5. Reduce to make background parts more distant.
6. Reduce to soften "thin" guitar.
__________

7KHz
1. Increase to add attack on low frequency drums (more metallic sound).
2. Increase to add attack to percussion instruments.
3. Increase on dull singer.
4. Increase for more "finger sound" on acoustic bass.
5. Reduce to decrease "s" sound on singers.
6. Increase to add sharpness to synthesizers, rock guitars, acoustic guitar and piano.
__________

10KHz
1. Increase to brighten vocals.
2. Increase for "light brightness" in acoustic guitar and piano.
3. Increase for hardness on cymbals.
4. Reduce to decrease "s" sound on singers.
__________

15KHz
1. Increase to brighten vocals (breath sound).
2. Increase to brighten cymbals, string instruments and flutes.
3. Increase to make sampled synthesizer sound more real.

 

[Sith Angel]

EQ Tables

bump

 

[Preach]

EQ Tables

i have that one. it's good to go by but there's so much you don't learn about equalization by just looking at that table. it's a common misconception that eq can fix anything, when in fact if what you are starting with sucks an eq job will only boost the shittyness.

rule of thumb, eq is not a tool to save your shit from sounding ass. it's not something you use to add something to a mix (not a remix, a mix, to any mix em up-ers ) which was never there, it's not something you use to make a bad sample or instrument sound good. if anything, it's something you use to make a good instrument sound better. during mixing it's the final touch that gives your track an edge. equalization is there simply to filter out what you don't want. i realize you can use it for both filtering and making your mix sound "better", and some times a boost can make your mix sound better, but one should not use eq for that. the idea of equalizing is to give every element of a mix it's own key frequency. panning also comes into play here, but eq just as much. if you boost the bass drum and the bassline in the 30-300hz area they are gonna get cluttered and you won't be able to tell them apart on standard speakers. remember that a mix isn't only supposed to sound good on your speakers or in your headphones, if you're ambitions enough to hope and think that someone out there will one day be bumping it on their computer, on their mp3 player, on their hi-fi or in their car, you should make sure your mix sounds good on all of those. that's what makes a professional mix. that is why you have the mixdown and mastering process, although mastering is really just about equalization and stereo field stuff. even if you have 20 instruments in your song you can make it sound non-cluttered if you're good with equalization and panning. you don't want one sound to cover up another, therefore you use eq to make sure that if a trumpet is cluttering up the cymbals, you boost the cymbals in the 5k-12k area and cut the trumpet in the same area. that will make a hole in the trumpet that the cymbals can slide through. stupid example because a trumpet could never cover up cymbals unless you did a low-pass filter and boosted the remaining frequencies by 10dB. if you do that you're a moron and should delete all audio software on your computer and burn all audio hardware in your possession immediately. i never was a man of great analogies and examples, you get what i'm talking about though

furthermore, people should read up on equalization in depth to realize what it does to the sound instead of just assuming this table tells you how it is. a string melody with a low tone resides more in the lower mids area than strings with a high tone, which would be higher up in the frequencies. this table is a good place to start though.

another rule of thumb - never over-do it. it's like salt and pepper. first of all, you don't put salt and pepper on a strawberry cake because it's not needed. secondly, you don't put too much salt and pepper on anything that needs it because that'll make it taste like shit. yeah, stupid analogy, the point is you shouldn't use eq just because you can and you shouldn't over-do it. subtlety is key. likewise, you won't not put salt in your pizza sauce. you can't make pizza sauce and not put just a wee bit salt in it. even if it makes no actual difference, any chef with some self-respect will put a little bit of salt and pepper in his pizza sauce. another stupid analogy. for instance, it's a common thing to cut anything below 30hz on an equalizer because generally, unless you are going for an earthshattering bass effect, you don't need it. it only clutters your sound and those frequencies are so low that they are nearly uncomprihensible to the human ear.

and a third "rule" of thumb, if you want to call it that - EXPERIMENTATION! don't be afraid to turn the knobs and see what they do. i said you should read up on some in depth eq info to understand what it's about, what it does, and how it alters the sound, but in fact that's only half of what it takes to learn how to use it. experiment. if you use a parametric equalizer (one which lets you decide what frequency range the various bands should affect), appoint one band to the 0-30hz area. boost it by 5-10 db and then slowly turn the freq. range knob so that the little "tower" you would see on a graphic equalizer moves from all the way to the left and all the way over to the right. listen to what happens to the sound in the different frequencies. afterwards, rewind and re-do, but with a cut instead of a boost.

summary: don't be afraid to experiment, learn the theory as well as the practical use, don't over-do it, don't under-do it, use it to remove what you don't want in your mix, don't use it to add something you do want that's not there.

hope that adds some useful information to the already useful eq table which i in fact used at one point finally, some word eplanations for those who are very very new to eq:

lows: any frequency below 400-800hz i'd say. this area is predominantely occupied by instruments like toms, kick drums and bass. there are exceptions, but you can tell because most low-tone sounds are affected by this range.

mids: anything between 400-800hz and 6-8khz. in fact i won't bother listing instruments, the table kinda does that.

highs: 6-8khz and beyond.

lowpass filter: you cut anything above a set frequency, and let everything below it go through. you can cut at 5khz and let everything below go through and it's basically still a lowpass filter lol. the idea though of a proper lowpass filter is to cut all mids and highs and only let the lower frequencies be heart. a highpass filter is the opposite. it's in the name really.

 

[EriMakaveli]

EQ Tables

thanks this is usefull

 

[RFTP]

EQ Tables

Pardon my ignorance, but what's this for exactly? I'd like to know so i can use it, I think