EQ

In the desktop app. EQ is a device of the desktop app, arriving in its beta; the web studio does not have it. The examples on this page are made with a reference version of the effect, applied to sound from the studio’s engine: they show what each control does, and the device itself may differ a little in character.

What it is for

An equaliser, EQ for short, turns ranges of frequencies up or down. It does not change the notes; it changes the colour. With it you take out what is in the way (the boom under a guitar, the harsh edge of a synth), make room for one instrument by cutting another, or add a little of what is missing.

Reach for it when a sound is muddy, boxy, harsh, thin or dull, or when two instruments hide each other. Two sounds can fight for the same place explains why. Cutting is usually the better move than boosting: taking away what you do not want leaves the rest clearer.

A rough map of the range, to know where to look:

• Below 100 Hz: the weight of kick and bass. Most other instruments have nothing useful here.
• 100 to 400 Hz: warmth, and when it piles up, mud.
• 400 Hz to 2 kHz: the body of most instruments. Too much sounds boxy or like a telephone.
• 2 to 6 kHz: presence and edge. Where a sound cuts through, and where it turns harsh.
• Above 6 kHz: brightness and air.

Bands

An EQ is made of bands. Each band is one change at one place: this range, up or down by this much, with its own Shape, Frequency, Gain and Width. A few bands doing a little each almost always sound better than one band doing a lot.

The EQ has six bands. The row of numbers 1 to 6 under the curve chooses which band the controls below belong to: one band is shown at a time, and all six are drawn in the curve. On switches the chosen band in or out, which is the quick way to hear what that one band changes. A new EQ starts with the first band as a low cut and the others flat.

Shape

The shape of a band decides which part of the range it touches:

• Bell: a hill or a dip around one frequency. The everyday shape.
• Shelf: everything above (high shelf) or below (low shelf) a frequency, raised or lowered together. For “a bit brighter” or “a bit less heavy”.
• Cut: removes everything below (low cut) or above (high cut) a frequency. A low cut on every track that is not bass or kick is the single most useful move in mixing.

Frequency

Where on the range the band works, in hertz. Low numbers are the low end of the sound, high numbers its top; see Pitch is frequency. To find a frequency that bothers you, raise a narrow bell and move it slowly until the problem gets worse, then turn that band down instead.

Gain

How much the band turns its range up or down, in decibels. A few dB is already clearly audible; changes of more than 6 dB usually mean the problem is somewhere else, in the sound itself or in the arrangement.

Width

How much of the range around the frequency the band takes with it, in octaves: 1 oct reaches about one octave around the frequency, the distance from one C to the next. Wide bands sound natural and are for shaping the overall colour. Narrow bands are for removing one ringing note or one whistle without touching the rest.

The spectrum

Behind the curve the EQ draws the sound that is passing through it: low frequencies at the left, high at the right, louder is taller. Use it to see where a sound lives before deciding what to change, and trust your ears over the picture: a peak in the drawing is not a problem unless you hear one.

Each band that is on has a point on the curve. Drag a point sideways to move the band’s frequency and up or down to change its gain: both at once, as one step to undo. Clicking a point also chooses that band for the controls below.

When a track has more than one EQ, the spectrum is drawn in one of them at a time; the others show their curve alone.