Every audio engineer needs a starting point. This EQ cheat sheet maps the most useful frequency ranges for every common instrument in a modern mix — drums, bass, guitar, keys, horns, and vocals — with clear notes on what each band controls and when to cut or boost it.
Bookmark it. Print it. Tape it to the side of your monitor. Then trust your ears.
Quick Reference: Where Each Instrument Lives
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 20–60 Hz | Sub-bass | Kick bottom, sub octave, room rumble — usually high-pass everything else here |
| 60–200 Hz | Bass | Kick punch, bass fundamental, low-end of toms, “boom” in vocals |
| 200–500 Hz | Low-mids | Body and warmth — also where mud lives. Cut here first when a mix sounds congested |
| 500–2 kHz | Mids | The “honk” range. Critical for vocal intelligibility and instrument character |
| 2–6 kHz | Upper mids | Presence, attack, definition. Where ear sensitivity peaks — be careful with boosts |
| 6–12 kHz | Highs | Sizzle on cymbals, sibilance on vocals, brightness on guitars |
| 12 kHz+ | Air | “Sparkle” on vocals, openness on acoustic instruments — small shelf boosts only |
Two Rules Before You Touch a Knob
1. Subtract before you boost
For every boost, aim for three to four cuts. Boosts add energy and can make a mix feel crowded fast. Cuts create space for the next instrument to breathe. A clean mix is mostly carved, not stacked.
2. Use high-pass filters — but from the top down
Instead of rolling an HPF up until you “lose something,” start way too high (say, 200 Hz on a vocal) and roll it down until the low end you actually need comes back in. You will hear what you are removing, not what you are missing. Apply HPF aggressively to anything that does not need real low end (electric guitars, hi-hats, overheads, vocals).
Drums
Kick
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 40–60 Hz | Bottom | Reverberation in the shell — can be undefined depending on mic and speakers |
| 60–100 Hz | Thump | The “punch you in the chest” range |
| 100–200 Hz | Body | The “meat” of the kick — the part that sustains |
| 200 Hz–2 kHz | Ring / Mud | Wide band where ringing and muddiness usually live. Cut narrow and surgical |
| 2–4 kHz | Beater attack | The “thwack” — boost here for the basketball-bouncing kick sound |
Snare
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 200–400 Hz | Body | Snare fundamental — most snares live here |
| 400–800 Hz | Ring | Hollow ring tone — usually undesirable, but cut too much and the snare goes flat |
| 2–4 kHz | Crack / Attack | Stick on head — boost for attack |
| 5–10 kHz | Snap / Sizzle | Snare wires — accent or dampen the wire rattle here |
Toms
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 100–300 Hz | Body | “Boom” of the tom. Too much = boomy. Too little = cardboard box |
| 3–4 kHz | Attack | Stick attack — boost for definition |
Cymbals & Hi-Hats
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 200–300 Hz | Clank | The “chink” of a hi-hat foot or stick attack on cymbal |
| 6 kHz+ | Sizzle / Air | The “tssss” — where you brighten cymbals. Tread very lightly here |
808 / Synth Kick
The 808 is technically a tuned tom more than a kick. Usually best to leave it alone and clear out the low end of everything else to give it room. If the sample is fuzzy or distorted, look for adjustments above 250 Hz.
Bass
Kick and bass are mortal enemies — they fight for the same space. Decide which takes the lead in each range before reaching for EQ. A common move: kick owns 60–100 Hz, bass owns 80–200 Hz with a slight cut around 100 to make room.
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 40–80 Hz | Bottom | Sub resonance — especially on 5-string basses |
| 80–200 Hz | Fundamentals | Primary bass tone. Cut around 180–200 Hz if too boomy |
| 200–600 Hz | Overtones | Where bass cuts through on small speakers and laptops |
| 300–500 Hz | Wood | Particularly upright bass — that “woody bark” |
| 800 Hz–1.6 kHz | Bite | Growl and pick attack — boost for aggression |
| 2–5 kHz | String noise | Pick noise, finger slides, fret buzz |
Guitar
Acoustic
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 120–200 Hz | Body / Boom | Adds warmth on solo performance. Usually cut in a dense band mix |
| 200–400 Hz | Wood | Main body tone. Cut too much and you lose the life of the instrument |
| 2 kHz | Definition | Pick attack and chord clarity. Too much = harsh |
| 7 kHz | Air / Sparkle | A small shelf boost opens up the top end |
One note on piezo pickups: it is the wild west. If you find yourself making 10 dB cuts that sound right, you probably are right. Use your ears, not the chart.
Electric
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Below 90 Hz | Mud | High-pass aggressively. Nothing useful lives here |
| 150–200 Hz | Thickness | Body of the guitar tone. Use sparingly — clouds the mix fast |
| 300 Hz–1 kHz | Life | What makes an electric guitar sound like an electric guitar. Be careful cutting |
| 1–2 kHz | Honk | Cut a wide notch here to smooth harshness |
| 3–8 kHz | Brilliance | Where guitars cut through. Watch for amplified pedal noise when boosting |
Keyboards
Acoustic Piano
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 100–200 Hz | Boom | Add for warmth on solo piano. Usually first place to cut in a band mix |
| 3 kHz+ | Presence | Adds air. Watch the 3–5 kHz range for damper noise on strings |
Rhodes / Electric Piano
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 100–200 Hz | Boom | Cut mud first — Rhodes harmonics get dense fast |
| 800 Hz–1 kHz | Bark | Damper noise and bark. Cut to tuck the Rhodes back in the mix |
Hammond B3 / Organ
Most B3 magic comes from drawbar settings and mic placement. EQ should be corrective, not creative. Watch 80–180 Hz for bass conflicts, and 300–500 Hz if it sounds chubby in the middle.
Synths
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 400–600 Hz | Thickness | Where layered synths get muddy — cut for clarity |
| 1–2 kHz | Cut / Bite | Where a synth pokes through the mix — boost or cut to control prominence |
| 3–4 kHz | Presence | Excitement and clarity. Easy to overdo |
Horns
Saxophone
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 300–400 Hz | Honk / Woof | Moves lower for baritone, higher for soprano. Cut to clean up mid mud |
| 1–2 kHz | Squawk | Cut to tame harsh, “parrot on a roid-rage” tendencies |
| 6 kHz | Reed noise | Reed vibration noise — narrow cut to clean up |
Trumpet & Trombone (Brass)
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 100–200 Hz | Boom / Mud | Mostly cut. Brass rarely needs this range |
| 4–10 kHz | Brightness | Brightens dark sections. Trumpets can decapitate at 6–8 kHz — manage carefully |
Vocals
The most fickle and most important element of any mix. Male vocals have more complex overtones than female vocals — pay equal attention to the high end on both.
| Frequency | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Below 100 Hz | Rumble | Mic handling, floor vibration, AC noise. High-pass and forget |
| 200 Hz | Boom | The “head cold” sound. Cut for clarity. Female voice is slightly higher |
| 800 Hz–1 kHz | Word clarity | Too little = unintelligible. Too much = teacher from Peanuts |
| 3 kHz | Presence | Energy and forward placement. Too much = ear fatigue |
| 4–8 kHz | Sibilance | De-esser territory — for “s” and “sh” harshness |
| 10 kHz+ | Air | Light shelf boost opens up the vocal. Easy to make harsh and brittle |
Common EQ Mistakes
- Soloing every track and EQ’ing in isolation. Every EQ decision matters in context with the other instruments. Make moves with the full mix playing.
- Boosting because it sounds bigger. Boosts feel exciting on a single track but turn into mud when stacked. Use cuts to make space first.
- Massive narrow boosts. A wide, gentle boost (Q of 0.7–1.0) usually sounds more musical than a narrow surgical one.
- Ignoring phase and the source. If a kick sounds wrong no matter what EQ you apply, the problem is probably the mic placement, not the frequency. Move the mic.
- Forgetting to A/B with bypass. Compare your EQ’d signal against the unprocessed signal often. Loud is not better — better is better.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Hz stand for in EQ?
Hz stands for hertz — cycles per second. In EQ, it tells you the frequency of the sound wave you are adjusting. Lower Hz = lower pitch (bass, kick), higher Hz = higher pitch (cymbals, vocal sibilance).
Should I cut or boost when EQing?
Cut first, boost second. Cuts create space without adding energy to the mix. A good rule of thumb is 3 to 4 cuts for every boost. Subtractive EQ keeps your mix clean and headroom-friendly.
What frequency is the human voice?
The fundamental range of the human voice is roughly 80 Hz (low male) to 1 kHz (high female), but vocal harmonics extend up to 12 kHz or higher. Word clarity lives around 800 Hz to 3 kHz; sibilance is 4–8 kHz; “air” is 10 kHz+.
What is a high-pass filter (HPF)?
A high-pass filter removes frequencies below a specified cutoff while letting higher frequencies pass through. It is the single most useful EQ tool for cleaning low-end mud out of a mix. Apply it to almost every track that does not need real bass content (electric guitars, vocals, hi-hats, overheads).
The Bottom Line
This cheat sheet is a starting point — not a recipe. Every snare drum speaks differently. Every voice is unique. Every guitar cab gets mic’d slightly differently. The frequencies above are where to start looking, not where to land.
Train your ears. Listen in context. Trust what you hear over what the chart says. With practice, the chart becomes muscle memory and you stop needing it.
