EQ Cheat Sheet: Frequency Ranges for Every Instrument

What are the main EQ frequency bands?

Most mixing references divide the audible 20 Hz to 20 kHz range into seven bands, from sub-bass to brilliance^[1]. The edges are conventions, not physics, but they give you a shared vocabulary: when someone says a mix is muddy or harsh, these bands tell you where to look first.

Use this table as the map. The per-instrument sections below tell you which part of the map each sound actually uses.

Two warnings from the same reference: sub-bass is hard to judge at low volume, so avoid boosting it unless your monitors can reproduce it, and heavy boosts around 3 kHz or in the brilliance range cause listening fatigue^[1]. The volume-dependence comes from equal-loudness curves, covered in our Fletcher-Munson guide.

How do you use an EQ cheat sheet without wrecking your mix?

Use the numbers to decide where to start listening, then let your ears pick the exact frequency. Every recording, sample and singer puts its energy in slightly different places, so a chart gets you within an octave, not to the right hertz.

Instruments have a fundamental range and a much wider harmonic range above it. Shure's instrument chart shows both, and notes that a snare's fundamental sits around 150-250 Hz while its snap lives higher up^[2]. Body lives near the fundamental. Character, attack and air live in the harmonics. iZotope's own cheat sheet opens with the rule that matters most: with EQ, less is more^[3].

1. Play the full mix
   Start in context. Solo only to locate a problem, never to judge the final tone.
2. Go to the chart range
   Set a bell band inside the suggested range, for example 250-500 Hz for mud.
3. Boost narrow and sweep
   Raise the band 6-10 dB with a Q around 4-8 and sweep slowly. The problem frequency jumps out when you hit it.
4. Flip the boost into a cut
   Cut 2-4 dB at that spot, then widen or narrow the Q until the problem goes without hollowing the sound.
5. Level-match and compare
   Match the loudness of the EQ'd and bypassed versions. Louder always sounds better, so compare at equal level.

A general habit that holds up: cut narrow to remove problems, boost wide to add character. If you are new to filter types and Q, read what EQ is and how it works first.

Drum EQ frequency chart: kick, snare, toms, hats and cymbals

Drums split cleanly into a body zone, a boxy or ringing zone and an attack zone. Find those three on each drum and you have most of drum EQ. The ranges below follow iZotope's instrument cheat sheet^[3], reorganized by job.

Programmed samples are usually processed already, so start with cuts, not boosts. For deeper kick, 808 and snare target tables alongside free EQ picks, see our free EQ plugins with frequency targets.

What frequency range do 808s and bass live in?

An 808's fundamental is simply the frequency of the note it plays, which for most beats lands between roughly 30 and 65 Hz. That means the key of the song decides where your sub sits, and it moves every time the 808 changes note.

Standard equal-tempered note frequencies (A4 = 440 Hz) give you the exact targets^[4]:

For bass guitar and bass synths, iZotope lists 40-120 Hz as low end, 120-250 Hz as body, 300-500 Hz as mud and 800 Hz-1 kHz as presence, where string attack and definition live^[3].

Small speakers roll off below the sub range, so a clean sine 808 can vanish on a phone. The ear can infer a missing fundamental when enough of the harmonic series is present^[5], which is why light saturation that adds harmonics at 100-300 Hz often helps an 808 translate better than any sub boost. When the kick and 808 still collide, a dynamic band that dips the 808 only on kick hits works well, as shown in our dynamic EQ guide for vocals and 808s.

Vocal EQ frequencies: where to cut and where to add clarity

For vocals, high-pass the rumble below the voice, cut nasal build-up around 500 Hz-1.2 kHz only if you hear it, control harshness at 5-8 kHz, and add air above 10 kHz^[3]. Where exactly depends on the singer more than on any chart.

The low cut should sit below the voice's fundamental. Typical adult speech has a fundamental of 90-155 Hz for men and 165-255 Hz for women^[5]. Singing and rapping range wider than speech, so treat those figures as a floor you should stay under.

• High-pass Start around 70-100 Hz for male voices and 100-150 Hz for female voices, then back off if the voice thins out.
• Mud and proximity boom 200-400 Hz, especially on close-miked vocals. Cut 2-3 dB with a medium Q.
• Nasal or honky 500 Hz-1.2 kHz. Sweep for it; plenty of voices don't need this cut at all.
• Presence 2-5 kHz for intelligibility. A 1-2 dB wide boost goes a long way because the ear is very sensitive here.
• Harshness and sibilance 5-8 kHz. Use a de-esser or dynamic band rather than a static cut so the voice keeps its edge between S sounds.
• Air A gentle shelf from 10-12 kHz up, added after de-essing so it doesn't lift the S sounds.

Guitar, piano, synth and string EQ frequency ranges

Melodic instruments mostly need two moves: clear the low end that doesn't belong to them and tame one harsh area. A piano alone spans A0 at 27.5 Hz to C8 at 4,186 Hz in fundamentals^[4], so decide what part of that range the arrangement needs before you filter.

Ranges for guitars, piano, strings, brass and effect returns come from iZotope's cheat sheet^[3]. Synth pads and leads don't have a fixed range because the patch decides it. The practical rule: high-pass pads until they stop filling the 100-250 Hz zone under your 808, and cut the 2-4 kHz area of busy leads if they compete with the vocal.

Which EQ moves cause the most problems?

The most common damage comes from boosting what your room or headphones can't show you, and from making every track sound full on its own. A mix needs parts that sound thin in solo.

• Boosting sub on small monitors If your speakers can't reproduce 30-50 Hz, you are boosting blind. Check on headphones or a spectrum analyzer before adding sub.
• High-passing everything at 100 Hz A blanket filter can thin the low mids of guitars and keys. Set each filter by ear, listening for the point where the sound starts losing weight.
• Steep filters by default Many EQs offer gentle and steep slopes; Ableton's EQ Eight, for example, has 12 and 48 dB/octave low cuts^[6]. Gentle slopes sound more natural for cleanup; steep ones suit surgical sub control.
• Stacked boosts at one frequency Five tracks each boosted at 3 kHz add up to a harsh mix. Give each part its own presence zone instead.
• Static fixes for moving problems Sibilance, 808 notes and resonances that come and go are better handled by dynamic EQ or compression. Our guide to compression before or after EQ covers the order.