EQ & Frequency Range Cheat Sheet
What lives where in the frequency spectrum — the mixing bands from sub-bass to brilliance and what each does, plus the key frequency ranges of common instruments.
| Band | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Sub-bass | 20–60 Hz | Felt more than heard — rumble, weight and power. |
| Bass | 60–250 Hz | Fundamentals of bass and kick; warmth, or mud in excess. |
| Low mids | 250–500 Hz | Body and fullness; boxiness when overdone. |
| Midrange | 500 Hz – 2 kHz | Where most instruments sit; honky or nasal if pushed. |
| High mids | 2–4 kHz | Attack and definition; harsh and fatiguing if boosted too far. |
| Presence | 4–6 kHz | Clarity and vocal intelligibility. |
| Brilliance | 6–20 kHz | Air and sparkle up top; also sibilance and hiss. |
Instrument frequency ranges
Approximate fundamental and character ranges — useful starting points for EQ and mixing.
| Instrument | Key frequencies |
|---|---|
| Kick drum | 40–100 Hz body, 2–4 kHz beater click |
| Snare | 150–250 Hz body, 3–5 kHz snap |
| Bass guitar | 40–400 Hz fundamentals, 700 Hz–2 kHz definition |
| Electric guitar | 80 Hz–5 kHz |
| Male vocal | ≈ 85–180 Hz fundamentals |
| Female vocal | ≈ 165–255 Hz fundamentals |
| Piano | 27 Hz–4.2 kHz fundamentals |
| Hi-hat / cymbals | 300 Hz–1 kHz body, 8–16 kHz shimmer |
| Violin | 196 Hz–3.5 kHz fundamentals |
To sync EQ sweeps or tremolo to tempo, see the delay-time calculator (it also gives LFO rates in Hz).
How to read this
These bands are starting points for listening, not settings to dial in. The useful division:
20–60 Hz sub felt more than heard
60–250 Hz bass weight and power
250–500 Hz low-mid mud lives here
500 Hz–2 kHz mid body, boxiness
2–4 kHz upper-mid presence, attack, harshness
4–10 kHz treble clarity, sibilance
10–20 kHz air opennessNotes & gotchas
- Cut before you boost. Removing what is in the way is almost always more effective than adding what is missing.
- 250–500 Hz is where mixes get muddy, because almost every instrument has energy there and it accumulates.
- 2–4 kHz is the most sensitive band for human hearing, so boosts there read as loud and quickly become fatiguing.
- Sweep to find, then cut narrow. Boost a narrow band, sweep until the problem jumps out, then invert.
- Level-match before deciding. Any EQ change alters loudness, and louder always sounds better.