It’s additions like this that help music sound less repetitive – and equalizers have a big role to play here. īut perhaps a more playful example is by boosting a certain frequency range using a bell filter and having it slowly move up & down in frequency either via automation or by using an LFO (pictured above). They can also be used to add dynamic movement to a track.Ī popular example of this is pairing an EQ with a compressor, such as using Multiband Dynamics. You first only hear the throb of the kick and bassline, and then are slowly greeted by the mids and finally the hi’s.ĮQ’s aren’t just static effects. This creates a psychoacoustic image of the bass layer sounding “complete.”ĮQ’s can also be used to recreate special effects.įor instance, automating a low pass filter to slowly open over time gives the effect of a nightclub door opening. This way, the kick has space to punch through the mix, but the bass continues to co-exist in the frequency ranges below and above it. So a producer typically finds the peak frequencies of the kick and notches them out from the bassline. Both these instruments tend to live in the bass & sub-bass part of the mix. The most common instruments that have fighting frequencies are kick drums and basslines. Producers use EQ’s to identify and then notch out frequencies that are fighting from one of the instruments to solve the problem. We’ll explain more about different kinds of filters below.Ī general rule of thumb in music production is to have an instrument that covers every octave in the range of human hearing, for the final mix to sound ‘full.’ But what happens when two instruments share a similar range of frequencies? Naturally, they will clash. The most common application is a low cut filter that removes unwanted bass frequencies to make room for the kick drum & bassline.

In most professional mixdowns, you will find an EQ on almost every track in the mix. Therefore, music producers need a tool to boost desired musical ranges and reduce undesired ones. MixingĪs equal loudness curves (see above) show us, we don’t perceive every frequency range equally. There are many reasons music producers use an equalizer, ranging from technical to creative.

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