Effect Series: How to use Equalizers

Want to learn how you can use Equalizers in your project? Then this post is for you! We'll update this post every week for three weeks, so stay tuned! 

If you have any questions on this, comment below and our Audio Producer will reply! 

If you look at a professional productions, you’ll see equalizers everywhere. That’s not just for show, they really are handy tools.

Each of your instruments and vocals contain a ton of frequencies. These frequencies decide the character of the sounds, but the different tracks’ frequencies can also collide with each other. A piano track will overlap with your vocals in frequencies, which will make your vocals sound unclear and muddy.

The EQ resolves this issue by letting you boost or lower frequencies in a track, so that the sounds can give room for each other. EQ’s can also be used for cleaning up unwanted noise and to color the sound of your tracks. By EQ:ing, you can bring out the best in each track, and make your instruments work together. 

Put the ‘Equalizer’ effect on a vocal track, and nudge the sliders in the high section up just a bit. That should give you more lush and airy vocals!

All the sliders in ‘Equalizer’ represent different frequencies. Up means boosting, and down means lower. Nice and simple, right? 

Let’s do some cleaning! It’s essential to manage the frequencies in your mix, to keep tracks from colliding and creating mud. If the frequencies are balanced in your mix, you can hear all the instruments clearly. Think of a band you like, and imagine them playing - they’re complementing each other, right? So should the instruments in your mix, and the EQ can help with that.

The ‘Parametric Eq’ lets you manage all frequencies with just a few knobs. The Freq knob sets the frequency you want to target, the Gain is used for boosting or lowering those frequencies, and the Q knob decides how wide the range is for each frequency band (low, mid, high).

Apply ‘Parametric Eq’ on a keyboard track, and drag down the gain on Low Freq. Now, the keyboard track will give room for a bass track, and the low frequencies in your mix will sound more tight. 

By equalizing, you can make tracks become friends instead of fighting each other. Friends respect each other - so should your kick and bass! Let the kick come forward in the lowest frequencies, and make the bass cut through above the kick. Put an ‘Equalizer’ on both your drum and your bass track. Start with scooping the lowest frequencies out of the bass, with a slight curve to keep the bass from sounding too thin. We still want the bass to have low frequencies, but it doesn’t need the absolute lowest ones.

Equalizer - Bass

Continue with the drum track, and scoop the 3rd and 4th frequency band in the EQ.

Equalizer - Kick

Now, peace should be settled between kick and bass, which results in a more balanced mix!

Want to try it out? Go to the studio.

If you have any questions on this, comment below and our Audio Producer will reply!