Hi Sonic academy I want to understand the frequencies ranges used in different instruments and in vocals and why some frequencies are not used and why some are boosted. I’m looking forward to your answer. Oh understanding compression has help me a lot in my productions great job with that.I would love to see the same for equalizing chow
That would be awesome to have an EQ tut.
General:
20 Hz and below - impossible to detect, remove as it only adds unnecessary energy to the total sound.
60 Hz and below - sub bass (feel only)
80(-100) Hz - feel AND hear bass
100-120 Hz - the “club sound system punch” resides here
200 Hz and below - bottom
250 Hz - notch filter here can add thump to a kick drum
150-400 Hz - boxiness
200 Hz-1.5 KHz - punch, fatness, impact
800 Hz-4 KHz - edge, clarity, harshness, defines timbre
4500 Hz - extremly tiring to the ears, add a slight notch here
5-7 KHz - de-essing is done here
4-9 KHz - brightness, presence, definition, sibilance, high frequency distortion
6-15 KHz - air and presence
9-15 KHz - adding will give sparkle, shimmer, bring out details …
cutting will smooth out harshness and darken the mix.
Beatz.
60Hz with a Q of 1.4 (Adds fullness to kicks)
100Hz with a Q of 1.0 (Adds fullness to snares)
200 - 250Hz with a Q of 1.4 (Adds wood to snares)
3Khz with a Q of 1.4 (Adds attack to snares)
5Khz with a Q of 2.8 (Adds attack to kicks)
7Khz with a Q of 2.8 (Adds sharpness to snares & percussion)
10Khz with a Q of 1.0 (Adds brightness to hats & cymbals)
Vox:
Boost these frequencies to bring out your vocals - So it says.
200 Hz with a Q of 0.4 to 1
3 kHz with a Q of 1
5 kHz with a Q of 1
7 kHz with a Q of 1
10 kHz with a Q of 1
16 kHz with a Q of 1
More Drumz:
cut off kicks at 80-100 (with a not-too gentle roll off) and take a big piece out at 300ish. boost snares aroung 150-200 and 1000-1500. 150-200 is where the meat of the snare is, and 1000-1500 is where the snap is
Snares
fatness at 120-240Hz
boing at 400Hz
crispness at 5kHz
snap at 10kHz
Voice: presence (5 kHz), sibilance (7.5 - 10 kHz), boominess (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)
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), boominess (120 - 200 Hz), cut (7 - 10 kHz)
Bassdrum:
EQ>Cut below 80Hz to remove rumble
Boost between 80 -125 Hz for bass
Boost between 3 - 5kHz to get the slap
PROCESSING> Compression 4:1/6:1 slow attack med release.
Reverb: Tight room reverb (0.1-0.2ms)
Snaredrum:
EQ> Boost above 2kHz for that crisp edge
Cut at 1kHz to get rid of the sharp peak
Boost at 125Hz for a full snare sound
Cut at 80Hz to remove rumble
PROCESSING> Compression 4:1 slow attack med release.
Reverb: Tight room reverb (0.1-0.2ms)
Hi-Hatz:
EQ> Boost above 5kHz for sharp sparkle
Cut at 1kHz to remove jangling
PROCESSING> Compression use high ratio for high energy feel
Reverb: Looser than Bass n Snare allow the hats and especially the Rides to ring a little
BASS:>
Compressed, EQ’d with a full bottom end and some mids
misc octaves:
The “Q” control sets the width of the band of frequencies that will be boosted or reduced; in other words it affects the amount of frequencies around the center frequency which will have a similar amount of boost or reduction. The width of the band is given in octaves. Q affects this width, but high Q numbers mean a narrower band of frequencies will be affected. To start, you will need to be able to identify the “Q” settings that go as narrow as 1/2 octave to as wide as 2 octaves. The conversion chart below relates Q settings to bandwidth.
Q Setting Bandwidth
0.7: 2 Octaves
1.0: 1 1/3 Octaves
1.4: 1 Octave
2.8: 1/2 Octave
Also, in case anyone doesn’t know -
20-40hz 1st Octave
40-80hz 2nd Octave
80-160hz 3rd Octave
160-320hz 4th Octave
320-640hz 5th Octave
640~1.2kHz 6th Octave
1.2~2.4kHz 7th Octave
2.4~4.8kHz 8th Octave
4.8~10kHz 9th Octave
10kHz~20kHz 10th Octave
also Sound systems will crossover from bass bins to midrange/main speakers around 100-300hz; mostly around 200-250hz.
Harmonics:
If you have a 100hz tone,
the first harmonic is at 200hz
2nd @ 400hz
3rd @ 800hz
4th @ 1.6kHz
etc …
This next bit is just a rough quick guide to what the key eQ expressions are by using Reason m-class an an example:
In Reason the M-Class Equalizer has 4 bands [low, mid low, mid high, high] and it also has 3 knobs per band.
Freq = Frequency
Gain = Gain [obviously]
Q = Width.
The lower we set the “Q” the wider the frequency band will cover.
A higher tighter Q is good for cutting whereas a lower wider Q is good for boosting !
I cant remember where i got this i just saved it in Word
I have it tattoed down each arm 
These have been posted before but are good and recommend fabfilterQ
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Nice posts lads, thanks.
[quote]slender (17/01/2011)[hr]I have it tattoed down each arm
These have been posted before but are good and recommend fabfilterQ
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that filter looks sweeeeeet. gunna get that later today.
[quote]dubVision (17/01/2011)[hr][quote]slender (17/01/2011)[hr]I have it tattoed down each arm
These have been posted before but are good and recommend fabfilterQ
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that filter looks sweeeeeet. gunna get that later today.[/quote]
Check out Volcano from them too its a multi filter and you can completely **** up a sound with it 
make twisty noisia sound
Its the only eq I use now its just so clean
[quote]slender (17/01/2011)[hr]Its the only eq I use now its just so clean[/quote]
That one’s classy, I’ve been looking at it for a while. How’s the CPU usage?
[quote]jwalley08 (18/01/2011)[hr][quote]slender (17/01/2011)[hr]Its the only eq I use now its just so clean[/quote]
That one’s classy, I’ve been looking at it for a while. How’s the CPU usage?[/quote]
I have no problems with the CPU usage
Been looking at it for a bit too. Haven’t seen those vids before and that’s just ‘sold’ it to me - now to find the money 
Damn I should write to Fabfilter for commission :hehe:
I’m a big fan of the Pro Q as well. Obviously it is another digital eq so you don’t really need it, but I wouldn’t use anything else now.
I also have their compressor, the Pro C, which I also really like. I still use the Ableton compressor as well, but I like NY compression with the Pro C and sometimes I get better results on my busses.
[quote]TheAnt (18/01/2011)[hr]I’m a big fan of the Pro Q as well. Obviously it is another digital eq so you don’t really need it, but I wouldn’t use anything else now.
I also have their compressor, the Pro C, which I also really like. I still use the Ableton compressor as well, but I like NY compression with the Pro C and sometimes I get better results on my busses.[/quote]
We’re like peas in a pod - I also use both Albleton’s Comp and Pro C
[quote]slender (18/01/2011)[hr][quote]TheAnt (18/01/2011)[hr]I’m a big fan of the Pro Q as well. Obviously it is another digital eq so you don’t really need it, but I wouldn’t use anything else now.
I also have their compressor, the Pro C, which I also really like. I still use the Ableton compressor as well, but I like NY compression with the Pro C and sometimes I get better results on my busses.[/quote]
We’re like peas in a pod - I also use both Albleton’s Comp and Pro C[/quote]
Ha - last time we had a Pro Q love fest I didn’t have the Pro C, but then I saw a tut “somewhere else” that used it for NY compression and I was in, and I haven’t looked back.
fab q is the ****. I’ve been looking for a sweet graphical equalizer like cubase or logic.
thanks again!
These are new bits of kit to me,
I def gonna try out the demo when I get home from work,
Ye would obviously recommend them them lads yeah??
EQ imo is alot easier to grasp than compression but I think if SA did a tutorial on the different types of EQ it would be beneficial to everyone. I mean an EQ like the Sonnox Oxford really gives you ultimate controle but something like the Pultec gives you less controle but adds a nice warm character to the sound, sometimes you get better results from the pultec even tho it only has like 3 knobs. But that chart that was posted with the different frequencies etc for different drums is a great starting point to start tinkering with. My personal notes what ive found with eq is 60hz usually is the sweet spot for your kicks, 250-300hz is a muddy area that can do with a slight cut and 12khz and above is nice to boost to get some air and sparkle. Also with EQ its alot more effective to cut rather than boost and dont go too drastic, small cuts and boosts are way more effective imo.