Notes On EQ

I found these notes today while cleaning up. I got this from a couple of different books some years ago but can't recall which ones.

Anyway,

Cut to sound better
Boost to sound different

Use narrow bandwidth when cutting
Use wide bandwidth when boosting

for something to stick out roll off bottom end and
for something to blend in roll off the top end

roll off a lot of the bottom end on some tracks, especially those w/ compression, so the effect does not introduce low end rumble and noise

Add a small amount to two different frequencies rather than a large amount at one frequency

Sound muddy? Cut @ 250Hz
Honky sounding? Cut @ 500Hz

Sub bass: 16-60 Hz
Bass: 60-250 Hz
Low mid: 250-2000 Hz
Hi mids: 2kHz-4kHz
Presence: 4kHz-6kHz
Brilliance: 6kHz-16kHz

31Hz: rumble/chest
63Hz: bottom
125Hz: boom, thump, warmth
250Hz: fullness or mud
500Hz: honk
1kHz: whack
2kHz: chrunch
4kHz: edge
8kHz: sibilance, definition
16kHz: air

Bass Guitar: bottom at 50-100, attack at 700, snap at 2.5kHz
Kick Drum: bottom at 80-100, hollowness at 400, point at 3-5kHz
Snare: Fatness at 120-240, boing at 900, crisp at 5kHz, snap at 10kHz
Toms: fullness at 240-500, attack at 5-7kHz
Floor toms: fullness at 80-120, attack at 5kHz
Hi Hat + Cymbals: clang at 200, sparkle at 8-10kHz
Electric Guitar: fullness at 240-500, presence at 1.5-2.5kHz

Kick:
add a little at 100
cut at 400
add at 3 or 5 kHz

Snare:
find the poinjt: boost upper mids +5 or 6 db at 2kHz or so then narrow the bandwidth until you get only the part of the snare sound you want boost at 10kHz for snap boost at 125Hz for filling out the snare

Bass:
ration between low bass 80-120Hz, mid bass 130-200Hz use two narrow peaking bands, one at 100Hz and one at 140Hz, boost one, cut the other
also try boosting in the 1kHz area
limit the low end at 5Hz or so to stay tight add a little 7kHz to get a bit of string sound add between 1.5-3kHz for snap

Guitars:
boost at 1.5kHz for a more present sound

Vocals:
boost a little at 125-250Hz for more chest boost 2kHz-4kHz accentuates consonants and makes vocals seem closer cut below 20Hz to eliminate rumble try boosting at 4-6kHz range

EQ for definition:

set boost/cut to moderate level, 8 or 10 db sweep freq. until boxiness is gone and most definition is found adjust amount to taste add point by boosting upper mid add sparkle at 5-10 kHz add air at 10-15kHz

EQ for bigness -- bass and sub bass 40-250Hz
i.e., <--------------100-------------->

set boost/cut to 8-10 db sweep freq. in bass band to find the fullness
adjust amount go to freq. either 1/2 or x2 the freq. used and add a moderate amount there

EQ to fit elements

start w/ rhythm section make sure no 2 eqs are boosting the same freq.
if one eq is boosting at 500, cut at 500 on another move on to the next most prominent element add one element at a time