Tutorials Audio Engineering

EQ Cheat Sheet: Best EQ Settings for Vocals

Intermediate · ~20 min

Overview

EQ is the most powerful tool in vocal processing, and the most abused. This guide gives you specific frequency targets and the reasoning behind them, so you can make decisions by ear rather than guessing. The golden rule: always cut before you boost, and cut with a narrow Q, boost with a wide one.

What You Need

Any parametric EQ plugin (FabFilter Pro-Q 3, TDR Nova free, or your DAW's built-in EQ)
A vocal recording on a separate track
Headphones or studio monitors for accurate listening

Steps

High-pass filter: remove everything below 80Hz

No vocal fundamental lives below 80Hz: it's all rumble, air conditioning, mic handling noise, and floor vibration. Apply a 12dB/octave high-pass filter at 80Hz (some engineers go to 100Hz for a cleaner result). This frees up headroom and reduces muddiness before you've done anything else. Do this on every vocal, every time.

Cut muddiness at 200 to 400Hz

This is the "boxy" region. Room resonances, proximity effect, and certain condenser mics all pile up energy here. Boost a narrow bell, sweep it around 200 to 450Hz until you hear it get unpleasantly boxy, then cut 3 to 6dB at that frequency. The result is a voice that sounds cleaner and sits better in a mix. This cut is almost always needed on home recordings.

Add warmth at 150 to 200Hz carefully

If the voice sounds thin after the mud cut, a gentle +2dB wide shelf at 150 to 200Hz restores body without reintroducing boxiness. Use a wide Q (0.5 to 0.7) for this. You're adding a colour, not a correction. Don't do this if the voice already sounds full.

Cut harshness at 1 to 3kHz

The 1 to 3kHz range is where ear fatigue lives. Over-compressed voices, certain condenser mics, and sibilance often have a peak here that makes them tiring to listen to. Sweep a narrow bell until you find the harsh peak, then cut 2 to 4dB. A narrow dynamic EQ (one that only cuts when the signal gets loud) works better here than a static cut.

Boost presence at 3 to 5kHz

The 3 to 5kHz range is the presence zone: it adds intelligibility, forward energy, and the sense that the voice is "in the room." A gentle +2 to 3dB wide boost here makes a voice cut through a mix without needing to raise the fader. Don't overdo it, above 4dB it starts sounding harsh again.

Add air at 10 to 16kHz

A gentle high-shelf boost above 10kHz adds air. The sense of space and openness that makes a recording sound professional rather than demo-quality. Use a wide shelf, +2 to 4dB. This works best on condenser microphones that have natural high-frequency response. On dynamic mics, this range may be absent anyway.

Tuning These Settings for Spoken Voice (Podcasts, YouTube, Voiceover)

The six moves above apply to any voice, but spoken-word content has different priorities than sung vocals. It's usually mono, recorded close on a dynamic broadcast mic, and consumed on phone speakers and earbuds, so intelligibility matters more than lushness. Adjust the cheat sheet like this:

Lean on presence (3 to 5kHz), not air. Most listeners hear you on phone speakers or cheap earbuds that barely reproduce 10kHz and up. A +2 to 3dB presence nudge does far more for clarity than a high-shelf air boost, which on a dynamic mic like an SM7B or PodMic is largely empty anyway.
Expect more low-mid mud from close-miking. Podcast and voiceover setups sit close to the mic, so proximity effect piles up energy at 100 to 300Hz. High-pass a touch higher (100Hz for spoken voice) and be more aggressive with the 200 to 400Hz mud cut than you would on a sung take.
Favour dynamic EQ over static cuts. A talk track runs for an hour and your tone drifts as you lean in and out. A dynamic cut at 1 to 3kHz for harshness and a de-esser at 5 to 8kHz ride those changes far better than fixed bands.
Get it consistent before it's pretty. For dialogue, even and fatigue-free beats characterful. Keep boosts gentle and wide, and save the aggressive tone-shaping for music.
EQ is step one. Loudness is step two. After EQ, set your levels to the platform target, see the Podcast Loudness (LUFS) Cheat Sheet. For one-click cleanup of noisy or uneven voice, Adobe Podcast Enhance is worth a pass first.

Pro Tips

EQ in context, always make your adjustments with the full mix playing, not soloed. What sounds thin in solo sounds right in a mix.
Use our EQ Frequency Reference to hear what different frequency bands sound like and diagnose common problems.
A de-esser is not a substitute for a well-placed sibilance cut. Use it after EQ, not instead of it.

Knowledge Base

What You'll Learn

EQ vocals to sit perfectly in your mix. Learn which frequencies to cut, which to boost, and how to make vocals clear without sounding harsh. Applicable to singing, speaking, and voiceover.

Vocal Frequency Map

80-200 Hz: Rumble and low-end warmth. Slight boost for fullness. Too much sounds boomy.
200-500 Hz: Boxy midrange. Cut slightly (1-3 dB around 300 Hz) to reduce muddiness.
500 Hz-2 kHz: Body and presence. Slight boost (1-2 dB around 1 kHz) for fullness.
2-5 kHz: Presence range. Subtle boost (2-4 dB around 3 kHz) for clarity and "pop."
5-20 kHz: Brightness and air. Slight boost (1-2 dB above 10 kHz) adds sparkle. Too much sounds harsh.

EQ Workflow

1) Start with high-pass filter at 80-100 Hz (removes rumble). 2) Identify problem frequencies by boosting 10 dB and sweeping frequency until you find the offending frequency. 3) Cut that frequency 2-4 dB with slightly wide Q. 4) Add presence boost (2-4 kHz) for clarity. 5) Add brightness if needed (10+ kHz).

Common Vocal EQ Moves

Sibilance (harsh S/Z sounds): Reduce 5-10 kHz with narrow Q.
Nasal tone: Reduce 800 Hz-2 kHz with narrow Q.
Thin voice: Boost 200-500 Hz slightly (1-2 dB).
Dark, muffled: Boost 5-8 kHz for clarity.

Where This Fits

This guide covers one specific part of mixing and colour. The wider picture. The full mix workflow from gain staging and balance through bus processing and knowing when to stop, is in Mixing a Full Song: From Rough Levels to Final Bounce, which frames the discipline as a whole and links out to the detailed guides underneath it, including this one. If you are starting from scratch rather than solving a specific problem, read that first and come back here.

FAQ

Q: Should I compress before or after EQ?
A: Personal preference. Compress first (control dynamics before shaping tone) or EQ first (shape tone on dynamic content). Experiment.

Q: What EQ settings work best for a podcast or YouTube voice?
A: Start with the six moves in this guide, then prioritize for spoken word: high-pass at 100 Hz, a firm mud cut around 200-400 Hz (close-miking exaggerates it), and a gentle +2-3 dB presence boost at 3-5 kHz so you stay intelligible on phone speakers and earbuds. Go easy on the 10 kHz+ air band. Most dynamic podcast mics roll off up there and most listeners can't hear it anyway.

Q: Do I need different EQ for a dynamic broadcast mic vs a condenser?
A: Yes. Dynamic mics (Shure SM7B, RODE PodMic) roll off the highs, so the air boost above 10 kHz does little, spend that energy on presence at 3-5 kHz instead, and expect strong proximity-effect buildup to tame at 100-300 Hz. Condensers capture more top end, so the air boost pays off, but they also pick up more room and sibilance, so a de-esser and the 1-3 kHz harshness cut matter more.