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A Quick But Effective Guide To Drum EQ

A Quick but Effective Guide to Drum EQ

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A Quick But Effective Guide To Drum EQ

A Quick but Effective Guide to Drum EQ

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A Simple and E ective Guide to Drum EQ

BY BJRGVIN BENEDIKTSSON 18 COMMENTS

The drum sound is the backbone of any mix. The bass drum keeps the pulse going,
the snare drives the rhythm forward and the feel of the drum beat is what gives the
song its groove.

Knowing your way around the EQ is a very important aspect of getting a great drum
mix going. The following post will give you the best principles for getting that great
drum EQ.
Every drum mix is di erent and your preferences will vary depending on what kind
of sound you are going for. That said, looking around in those frequency areas will
give you a good starting point to that awesome drum sound.

Kick Drum EQ
The happy medium in a kick drum sound is a thick bass thump from the low-end
combined with a driving click from the mids. Di erent genres have di erent drum
EQ, but those two areas are universal when it comes to a good kick drum sound.
50 100 Hz Boost to add low-end punch. Beware of boosting too much though as
it can clutter up the low-end and get in the way of the other instruments occupying
this spectrum.
150 250 Hz If youre worried about boosting the low-end too much because you
think the kick drum is already pretty thick, try cutting in this area. It reduces potential
boominess from the kick while allowing the lower bass frequencies to breathe.
Basically, cutting here gives thickness to the low-end without adding muddiness to
the overall sound.
300 600 Hz Here you nd the infamous cardboard sound. If boxiness plagues
your kick drum sound, cut somewhere in this area. Metal and hard-rock kick drums
have a scooped drum EQ at 300 Hz, and some kick drum microphones even have a
pre-designed EQ curve that scoops out the mids to reduce boxiness.
2 4 kHz This is where the snap, crackle and pop is. If you have a hard time
getting the kick drum to cut through the mix, dont add more low-end, add more
mids. A broad boost in this section will bring out the beater sound, Where you
decide to boost depends on the genre. A broad boost in 2 kHz is good for any

pop/rock style while a narrower boost at 4 kHz will bring out the click you hear so
prominently in metal music.
10+ kHz You dont always need to do anything to the area above 10 kHz. Kick
drums rarely need air since most of their character comes from the low-end and
the mids. You could even lter out the higher frequencies with a low-pass lter to
reduce drum bleed. It can also give your kick drum a thicker, more focused sound.

Snare Drum EQ
Many of the guidelines still apply for any drum. For instance, if a drum is too thick,
you can x it by cutting out some of the low-mids. If its too boxy you need to tame
the area around 300 600 Hz.
150 Hz If your snare sounds too thin and needs some extra weight, adding some
150 Hz can easily thicken things up.
500 Hz For more body to your snare, the fundamental frequencies around 500 Hz
gives the snare a rounder sound.
3 kHz Add clarity and punch by boosting this area in the upper mids.
10+ kHz You dont notice a big di erence when you start adding air to the snare,
but it does lift the snare sound up a bit. A boost in the highs is similar to how a low
boost in a bass instrument is felt rather than heard.
Snare drums can give you annoying ringing overtones that you need to deal with.
The best is to use a separate EQ to cut the ringing sound out. Use a narrow Q, boost
all the way up and sweep the boost across the frequency spectrum until the ringing
sound pops out at you. When you nd it, simply reverse your boost to get rid of the
ring. Rinse and repeat.

How to EQ Toms

Toms are simple to EQ. You want to reduce boxiness, increase thump and add
attack.
Heres what you do:
Cut the Mids Wide boosts work really well when you just want to completely get
rid of that boxy sound. Just make sure you leave some left so that it doesnt sound
hollow.
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Add the Lows Since every tom has a di erent diameter, their fullness frequencies
di er. Floor toms sound full when boosted at lower frequencies, at 80 100 Hz for
instance, while smaller toms need boosting at closer to 250 Hz. Sweep around until
you nd the sweet spot to boost.
Sprinkle with Highs Similarly, add the attack by boosting from between 5 kHz and
7 kHz, depending on the size of the tom.

Overheads
I like taking a master EQ approach when it comes to overheads. Bus both of your
overheads together so that you only need one stereo EQ.
Then you can approach it one of two ways:
Master EQ Do slight cuts and boost to create the best sounding overall EQ. This
means adding slight low-end boost to bring out the kick drum, reducing some of the
overall boxiness and adding presence and air in the upper-mids and high
frequencies. This will give the overheads a great overall drum sound. With this
method you can start your drum mix with the overhead sound. Then you can add
the other drums to the overheads to enhance an already great sound from the
drum-kit.
Cymbals only If you only want to use the overheads for the sound from the
cymbals, use a high-pass lter to cut out everything up to about 500 Hz. Sounds

drastic, but if the other microphones sound great and you cant get a good overall
overhead sound going, this method can be a great alternative.

Overall EQ with bussing

Finally, you can do the same overall EQ as I explained with the overheads, but this
time with all of the drums. Simply buss them all together to one stereo group and
add a stereo EQ. Then use that to sculpt a perfect master EQ for your drums.
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Use this guide the next time youre EQing your drums. I guarantee that these
frequency areas will help you solve many of your drum EQ problems.

The Ultimate Guide to EQ

For an in-depth guide into the EQ spectrum,
check out The Ultimate Guide to EQ Your
Blueprint to the Frequency
Spectrum(www.audio-issues.com/ultimateguide-eq)
11 concrete chapters on solving your
EQ problems
Video tutorials including a one hour EQ walkthrough of an entire mix
A rundown of the complete frequency spectrum, showing you the
characteristics of each frequency range
Dedicated guides to drums, bass, guitar and vocals
EQ insights from Grammy award winning engineers
When to use EQ and when to use compression

Image by:Rob Stemple

Filed Under: Music Mixing

Tagged With: Drum Eq, Drum Kit, Drum Mix, Drums, EQ, featured, kick drum, Kick Drum Microphone, Kick Drum
Sound, Snare Drum, Sound Recording

AboutBjrgvinBenediktsson
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Hi my name is Bjrgvin Benediktsson. Welcome to Audio Issues.

Audio Issues gives you a solid understanding of the various aspects

of producing music. I try to give you everything you need to know when it comes
to producing your own music in your home recording studio. Follow me on
Twitter and Google+ and don't forget to sign up to the email list for your free
eBooks.

18Comments

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Jointhediscussion
mj2yearsago

Whatashityandunprofessionaltext.HowyoucanwrtieaboutaddinganythingduringEQ!!!!EQisto
onlycuttingtocompensateforbadroomacoustics.Youshouldhavebestsoundoutofdrumsandgood
setofmicsandthereisnooptiontocompansatethisbyeq!!!!!!!!!
1

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BjrgvinBenediktsson

Mod >mj 2yearsago

AndaMerryChristmastoyoutoo!Igiveyouthegiftofdisagreementonthisissue.
Takecare,don'tletthatangereatyou:)
5

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Lufferov>BjrgvinBenediktsson2monthsago

Thismjchapclearlyhasnoideawhathe'stalkingabout!Thisisagreatresourcetogivea
startingpoint(andthat'sallthiscanbe),forsettingupadrummix.Takethesepointersas
aguideonwhattolistenfor...mostimportantlyformethough,istolistentotheFULLkit.
It'sallwellandgoodtoEQeachmicindividuallywiththedrummerhittinghisTomsor

It'sallwellandgoodtoEQeachmicindividuallywiththedrummerhittinghisTomsor
Snareagainandagain.ButyouMUSTdothisisrelationtoalltheotherdrums...Getthe
drummertoplayhisfullkitandthenfigureoutwhatneedstweeking.

Reply Share
Raipmastur3000ayearago

Illreku