Free Vocal EQ Cheat Sheet (Key Frequencies to Know)

• Download and/or print our handy vocal EQ cheat sheet.
• Learn the crucial frequency areas of controlling vocals in a mix.
• Adopt a proper mindset of how to approach EQ in your mixdowns.
• Consider checking out our vocal compression cheat sheet and guitar EQ cheat sheets as well!

Before we jump into the vocal EQ chart below, let’s discuss some basic principles.

What is EQ In Music?

An EQ can be used in countless ways and varying applications, but its main function can be broken down into three main categories:

1. An EQ allows you to shape things tonally

Hang out with producers long enough, and you’ll likely hear the words ‘carve’ or ‘sculpt’ being used in conjunction with EQ. That’s because they are the perfect analogy to describe one of its primary functions: tonal shaping.

In sound design and music production, an EQ lets you cut or boost frequencies to get the balance you want. Typically, this is done with software (or a ”plugin”) in a producer’s DAW. Many of these not only sound great but are completely free.

2. An EQ is a corrective/enhancement tool

If you’ve ever recorded a vocal in a space where environmental noise bled into the mic, and re-recording wasn’t an option, an EQ could be your lifesaver.

Say an air conditioner hum made its way into an otherwise fantastic take. An EQ lets you find and pull out those unwanted frequencies.

Here, an EQ becomes a corrective tool because it allows you to identify and remove unwanted frequencies.

3. An EQ is also a creative tool

EQ may have started as a corrective tool, but its creative uses go much further. A common example is using an EQ to create an old ‘telephone’ effect on your vocals.

The world of equalization is both exciting and difficult to master. If you’re interested in learning about the different types of EQ, practices and common use cases then look no further, we break down everything you need to know here.

Alright, let’s move onto the Vocal EQ cheat sheet/chart.

Vocal EQ Chart (Your Vocal EQ Cheat Sheet)

💡Important! This vocal EQ cheat sheet serves as a guideline for EQ’ing vocals in a mix. The keyword here is ‘guideline’, and hence should only serve as a rough guide to help you identify the important frequency areas to pay attention to.

Consider that these 3 factors will affect the approximation of the key frequency areas:

• The gender and age of your singer
• The singing style (alto, tenor, baritone, falsetto, screaming, whispers, etc.)
• The natural tone of the singer’s voice

Now, with that out of the way, here is your glorious vocal EQ chart/cheat sheet (click to zoom). Kudos to John Dobie Design for whipping this up for us!

Download The Vocal Cheat EQ Sheet In Full High-Res

Breaking Down The Vocal EQ Chart

Let’s go through the key frequency areas. The adjustments in the chart are for illustration only, so focus on the regions and use them to get in the ballpark.

So, what Hz do vocals occupy? The voiced speech of a typical adult male has a fundamental frequency of roughly 85 to 180Hz. For a typical adult female, it’s roughly 165 to 255Hz.

20Hz-80Hz

Vocals don’t contain much sub-frequency energy, and they often add nothing valuable to a modern mix. It’s common practice to roll off this content to clear room for instruments that should own these lows, like bass guitar and kick drum.

Proximity effect, the boost in low-end response as you get closer to the mic, hits this region hard. Plosives (words with overly percussive phonetics, like “potato”) can also cause problems here, especially without a pop filter or foam cover.

100Hz-300Hz

This is where the vocal’s fundamental/bass frequencies live. It’s an incredibly important area, and it can make or break a sound.

It’s also a troublesome zone, since things get cluttered fast in busy mixes with full drum kits and distorted guitars.

A common move is to roll off the low end of the vocal, typically somewhere between 80Hz and 200Hz depending on the mix and your intention. The more you roll off, the lighter and less “present” the vocal will feel.

Experiment to taste, and always reference in both solo and in context of the full mix.

350Hz-600Hz

This is where the vocal gets its warmth and fullness of body. It’s the zone that supports the upper harmonics of the voice, and mismanaged treatment of this area can make or break your vocal mix. Too much gives a ‘boxy’ sound, and too little gives a hollow one.

It’s an area many beginner producers struggle with. Getting the balance right requires a lot of patience, and focused studying of professional mixes.

A little tip though… scooping out a little around 350Hz-600Hz on adlibs and backing vocals can make them sit further back in the mix and clear space for the lead vocal.

1kHz-4kHz

This is where the vocal’s intelligibility lives. Consonants and the edges of words carry a lot of weight here, so your EQ skills in this region are going to decide how easy it is for listeners to understand the lyrics.

In the studio, you might hear a producer or engineer use the words “bite” or “presence”. You can be fairly confident that they’re referring to this EQ region, because that’s exactly what 1kHz – 4kHz is responsible for.

This area is busy, especially in heavier styles. Too much energy here is common in amateur mixes and turns the vocal harsh, brittle, or fatiguing, and it gets worse with many layered takes, where resonant peaks build up if you don’t control them.

Too little and the vocal sounds dull, distant, and muffled, which can be exactly right for a shoegaze or lo-fi sound. For most modern radio mixes, though, clear high-mids give the vocals presence, and make the lyrics land.

5kHz-8kHz

This is where a vocal’s sibilance and brilliance get shaped. Over time, vocals have been given a bump here, and sometimes above, for a bright, “larger than life” sound.

Done with precision and finesse, it works wonders. Pushing this region adds “sheen,” but in the wrong context it can sound disjointed from the mix and fatiguing on the ears.

As a rule of thumb (which you have permission to break), shallower, broad ‘Q’ ranges are more appropriate for vocal EQ once you start approaching this end of the spectrum.

10kHz-20kHz

By this point, most vocal harmonics and overtones have naturally rolled off. Producers now often push this area with a shelving EQ like a Baxandall, to add “sheen” and “hi-fi” presence. Compare a 70s recording to a modern one and you’ll hear how much brighter things have become.

Some producers do the opposite and roll this region off with a shallow high-cut or high-shelf. That sacrifices some “air” and “sheen,” but it frees up space for instruments like cymbals or airy synths.

Vocal EQ Tips

Treat the tips above as examples, not rules. Every vocalist is unique, microphones have different frequency responses, and every track has its own needs. Let the song guide your decisions. As much as EQ is a science, never forget that music is ART.

And for the record, there are no “best equalizer settings.” Every EQ move should have a specific purpose. If you don’t know why you’re EQ’ing something, chances are you should probably do something else.

And remember a lot of EQ philosophy is about making strategic trade-offs. It’s just a constant game of give and take. Ten full-frequency instruments and vocals that sound amazing in solo won’t all fit together perfectly, so EQ becomes a series of small compromises for the good of the overall mix.

Finally, no magic chart will make you a professional mix engineer overnight. It takes years of practice, which is why the best mix engineers in the world command top rates.

All that said, our EQ cheat sheets are a great place to start getting your head around the general ‘recipe’ of where elements sit.

Download them, print ’em out. Give them to your dog. I don’t care…

…Just have fun making music.