When you run sound on Sundays, do you show up before everyone else? There’s a lot to do! You have to turn the system on, fire up the lights, change the batteries, set out all the mics, check all the monitors, and try to find where the teens put the drummer’s sticks… Again. And then, if something does go wrong, like the pastor’s wireless having some serious interference, what do you do?? I know what you’re thinking though. You’re gonna tell me you couldn’t get anyone to show up early on Sunday mornings unless it was their turn on the audio rotation.

Understanding and using EQ is essential for any audio engineer. Going beyond treble and bass and learning what frequencies sound like when they are too loud or missing from an input will allow you to shape the sounds into full, smooth, natural pieces of your mix. This post is going to focus on how to get some practice listening to different frequencies, shaping the sounds into the best they can be, and some common traps some fall into that you should try to avoid.

Not long ago I wrote a post about EQ and what the numbers mean. It’s one thing to be told that humans can hear 20Hz to 20kHz and that we consider 1,000Hz (1k) the mid-way point, but it’s another thing to  know what a kick drum actually sounds like with a bump at 2k and some low mids cut out at 400Hz. In this post, I’m going to talk a little about some of the basic concepts I use when applying EQ. I’m also going to give you some tools to help you along the way… if you haven’t found them already. The first concept I’m going to mention though, has nothing to do with EQ!