# 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 {#eq}

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](/manual/sound-in-ten-ideas#masking) explains why. Cutting is usually the better move than boosting: taking away what you do not want leaves the rest clearer.

<AudioSet title="A bass and a low pad" hint="The pad still sounds like itself. The bass is the one that became clearer." :examples="[['idea-masking-fight', 'No EQ'], ['idea-masking-carved', 'The low end of the pad cut away']]" />

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 {#eq-band}

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 {#eq-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.

<AudioSet title="A high shelf on the whole song" :examples="[['eq-shelf-dark', 'Shelf down'], ['eq-shelf-flat', 'Flat'], ['eq-shelf-bright', 'Shelf up']]" />

## Frequency {#eq-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](/manual/sound-in-ten-ideas#pitch). 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.

<AudioSet title="The same boost in three places" :examples="[['eq-frequency-low', '250 Hz: thicker'], ['eq-frequency-middle', '1 kHz: nasal'], ['eq-frequency-high', '5 kHz: sharper']]" />

## Gain {#eq-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.

<AudioSet title="A bell at 2.5 kHz" :examples="[['eq-bell-cut', 'Cut by 9 dB: softer, further away'], ['eq-flat', 'Flat'], ['eq-bell-boost', 'Raised by 9 dB: forward, edgy']]" />

## Width {#eq-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.

<AudioSet title="The same boost at 1 kHz" :examples="[['eq-width-wide', 'Wide: a change of colour'], ['eq-width-narrow', 'Narrow: one ringing tone']]" />

## The spectrum {#eq-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.