One of the most precious assets of an audio engineer is a top notch vocal sound. Due to the versatility of the human voice, every vocal recording is different and will require different tools and techniques to reach its full potential.

To be able to get the best outta your plugins or gear, you have to know how they work and understand their influences & interferences when applied to audio. That means that, not only being familiar with the processor and knowing what each knob does, but also understanding the properties of audio signals and how to treat them properly.

.. and the EQ makes or breaks your vocal!

Don’t just put an EQ on there and sweep the spectrum to “find” resonant frequencies. This kinda works but there’s a big flaw: EVERY frequency will sound like a resonant frequencies if you push it enough.

I’ve put together a Vocal EQ Cheat Sheet, going over the different “regions” that I feel are crucial for every vocal. Keep in mind these are all suggestions and I will not tell you to boost and/or cut anything. You will have to use your ears to determine what the vocal needs but these frequency ranges will give you a great starting point to achieve your desired vocal sound!

I will go through every frequency band that I consider important from bottom to top, using my standard male vox preset. (add ~100hz for upper reg. males & female singers)

I usually cut anything below 50-100Hz with a high pass because there’s nothing useful for a vocal down there, leaving us with our first important frequency:

It’s basically the lowest part of the vocal so it has a lot of warmth but will also be in the balls of Bass & Kick. This frequency will give you the classic radio announcer rumble, but be careful with sung vocals!

Especially for females & upper reg males, this band will hold most of the warmth & soul of the vocal. Adding a bit of 100-200Hz to a “thin” vocal will definitely thicken up your track!

This band still contains a lot of character & body of the vocals, so cutting too much will change the sound dramatically. If your vocals are too boxy or honky though, cutting a bit around this band will tame that a lot!

I am usually very undecided about this band, because it doesn’t contain anything important for the vocal and still is a crucial part of the spectrum. It has some body, so cutting too much will loose you lots of essential material, while at the same time containing a bit of boxiness so boosting too much doesn’t do it either. The one thing that lots of vocal benefit from in this band, and I use it a lot is ~700/750Hz. This frequency somehow takes up a lot of space in my ears and it really softens the vocal when soy cut a bit there, try it out!

This band is very soulful & present, somehow the “center” of the vocal but also a bit nasal if you boost too much! I don’t find myself cutting or boosting the band a lot actually.

Cutting here will loose you some presence, but also a lot of nasal sound. This band is closely tied to band 5 (like every band interacts with its neighbors) so you will have to find a compromise between them.

Super important for the clarity & intelligibility, but very harsh when applied too much, this band will almost never be cut or boosted but always be paid attention to.

This band is not as harsh as 4k and will add a lot of clarity to you vox if needed! Sometimes it will contain a lot of “tinny” material, so you might also cut this one every once in a while.

Probably the most important band when it comes to taming Ss and such & closely tied to band 8 and your de-esser. Finding a good compromise between those will determine the clarity and/or sharpness of your track!

Not a lot to say about this. This band will make your track shine & i almost never cut here on vocals. It adds a lot of breathy stuff & sizzle, but will also be affected by the compressor, so be careful!

ALWAYS remember that all of these bands will ultimately overlap so you have to find a compromise for each one of them!

To give you something you can actually work with, I put together an EQ preset from which i can perfectly start every vocal mix with all of the above bands set and ready to go so I can easily adjust them to fit the tone and vocalist & this is how you put it together:

For anyone who wants to support me by saving this article, I have another EQ chain of 3 different analog EQs and a similar, but more advanced approach.

I hope i could shine some light into the secrets of vocal EQing and how the human voice works in our ears & speakers! If you read until this point, THANK YOU!

One of the most precious assets of an audio engineer is a top notch vocal sound. Due to the versatility of the human voice, every vocal recording is different and will require different tools and techniques to reach its full potential.

To be able to get the best outta your plugins or gear, you have to know how they work and understand their influences & interferences when applied to audio. That means that, not only being familiar with the processor and knowing what each knob does, but also understanding the properties of audio signals and how to treat them properly.

.. and the EQ makes or breaks your vocal!

Don’t just put an EQ on there and sweep the spectrum to “find” resonant frequencies. This kinda works but there’s a big flaw: EVERY frequency will sound like a resonant frequencies if you push it enough.

I’ve put together a Vocal EQ Cheat Sheet, going over the different “regions” that I feel are crucial for every vocal. Keep in mind these are all suggestions and I will not tell you to boost and/or cut anything. You will have to use your ears to determine what the vocal needs but these frequency ranges will give you a great starting point to achieve your desired vocal sound!

I will go through every frequency band that I consider important from bottom to top, using my standard male vox preset. (add ~100hz for upper reg. males & female singers)

I usually cut anything below 50-100Hz with a high pass because there’s nothing useful for a vocal down there, leaving us with our first important frequency:

It’s basically the lowest part of the vocal so it has a lot of warmth but will also be in the balls of Bass & Kick. This frequency will give you the classic radio announcer rumble, but be careful with sung vocals!

Especially for females & upper reg males, this band will hold most of the warmth & soul of the vocal. Adding a bit of 100-200Hz to a “thin” vocal will definitely thicken up your track!

This band still contains a lot of character & body of the vocals, so cutting too much will change the sound dramatically. If your vocals are too boxy or honky though, cutting a bit around this band will tame that a lot!

I am usually very undecided about this band, because it doesn’t contain anything important for the vocal and still is a crucial part of the spectrum. It has some body, so cutting too much will loose you lots of essential material, while at the same time containing a bit of boxiness so boosting too much doesn’t do it either. The one thing that lots of vocal benefit from in this band, and I use it a lot is ~700/750Hz. This frequency somehow takes up a lot of space in my ears and it really softens the vocal when soy cut a bit there, try it out!

This band is very soulful & present, somehow the “center” of the vocal but also a bit nasal if you boost too much! I don’t find myself cutting or boosting the band a lot actually.

Cutting here will loose you some presence, but also a lot of nasal sound. This band is closely tied to band 5 (like every band interacts with its neighbors) so you will have to find a compromise between them.

Super important for the clarity & intelligibility, but very harsh when applied too much, this band will almost never be cut or boosted but always be paid attention to.

This band is not as harsh as 4k and will add a lot of clarity to you vox if needed! Sometimes it will contain a lot of “tinny” material, so you might also cut this one every once in a while.

Probably the most important band when it comes to taming Ss and such & closely tied to band 8 and your de-esser. Finding a good compromise between those will determine the clarity and/or sharpness of your track!

Not a lot to say about this. This band will make your track shine & i almost never cut here on vocals. It adds a lot of breathy stuff & sizzle, but will also be affected by the compressor, so be careful!

ALWAYS remember that all of these bands will ultimately overlap so you have to find a compromise for each one of them!

To give you something you can actually work with, I put together an EQ preset from which i can perfectly start every vocal mix with all of the above bands set and ready to go so I can easily adjust them to fit the tone and vocalist & this is how you put it together:

For anyone who wants to support me by saving this article, I have another EQ chain of 3 different analog EQs and a similar, but more advanced approach.

I hope i could shine some light into the secrets of vocal EQing and how the human voice works in our ears & speakers! If you read until this point, THANK YOU!