Stop Using EQ Wrong​​ by Rob Mayzes 

CONTENTS 
 
How to Use an EQ 
How to Use an Equalizer by Learning the Frequency Spectrum 
Sub-Bass (20-60Hz) 
Low Mids (200-600Hz) 
Mids (600Hz-3kHz) 
Upper Mids (3-8kHz) 
Highs (8kHz+) 
Frequency Range 
Description 
How to Use an EQ Chart 
Description 
Frequency Range 
Make EQ Simple by Using These Four Key Approaches 
Approach 1 – Remove Nasty Elements 
Approach 2 – Enhance the Pleasing Elements 
Approach 3 – Make Things Sound Different 
Approach 4 – Create Space in the Mix 
10 Essential EQ Tips To Try Today 
Tip 1 – Have an intention 
Tip 2 – Don’t rely on EQ alone, especially to shape the tone 
Tip 4 – Avoid applying EQ in solo 
Tip 5 – Small changes soon add up 
Tip 6 – Be more subtle with stock parametric EQs 
Tip 7 – Don’t obsess over plugin order 
Tip 8 – You can’t polish a turd (but you can roll it in glitter) 
Tip 9 – Create instant clarity by removing muddiness 
Tip 10 – Mix in mono 

Range Allocation 

EQ Before or After Compression? 

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Backwards Mixing 
Step 1 - Balancing 
Step 2 - Compare to Your Reference Track 
Step 3 - Mix Buss EQ 
Step 4 - Group Buss EQ 

How to Achieve Separation and Clarity In Your Mixes 

Separation (Or Making Every Part Audible) 
Arrangement 
Balancing 
Panning 
Achieving Separation with EQ 
Range Allocation 
Mix in Mono 
Focus on the Mid Range 
High-Pass Filtering 

Clarity (Air, Brightness and Shimmer) 

High Cuts and Low-Pass Filters 
High Shelf Boosts 
Beware of Harshness and Brittleness 

How to Fix Muddy Mixes 

#1: Avoid Boosting this Range 
#2: Address 200-400Hz on Individual Channels 
#3: Mix Buss EQ 

How to Fix Thin Mixes 

Ear Training Exercises 

Better Listening in 3 Easy Steps 
Step 1 – Learn the Frequency Spectrum 
Step 2 – Ear Training Exercises and Software 
Free Training Exercises 
Premium Frequency Ear Training Software 
Step 3 – Pay Attention to Frequencies When Mixing 

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How to Use an EQ 

 
So, what is an EQ? An equalizer is simply a tool that lets you adjust the volume of the 
individual frequencies within an audio source. 

Rather than a volume fader, which would allow us to adjust the overall volume, an 
equalizer allows us to just turn up or turn down individual frequencies and individual 
elements of that sound. 

Every instrument has a fundamental note. As well as that fundamental note, it has 
overtones. 

That’s what gives an instrument its tone or its character, its timbre, and that’s why a 
bass guitar, for example, sounds different to an organ. 

By adjusting these frequencies, by cutting certain frequencies or boosting others, we 

can adjust that tone and change the timbre of the instrument. 

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Now, it’s important to bear in mind that you can’t completely change the sound of 
an instrument with EQ alone. All you can do is work with what’s already there. 

In the recording phase, you decide what tone you want, and then you use EQ to 
scope that and make small changes to take it further towards your end goal. 

  

How to Use an Equalizer by Learning 

the Frequency Spectrum 
Before you can truly learn how to use EQ, you need to understand the frequency 
spectrum. 

We go from left to right, and we start with 20 hertz. 

Then on the right we’ve got 20,000 hertz, or 20 kilohertz. 

This is the range of human hearing. 

Now, none of us will actually be able to hear 20 kilohertz. When you’re first born you 
can, but as you get older, your hearing lowly degrades. 

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But you will still hear the i​ mpact​ of 20 kilohertz – so don’t ignore it. 

Bass is on the low end (left). You can feel 20 hertz if you’re on a really large sound 
system – but not necessarily hear it. 

In between these two extremes, we’ve got the human range of hearing. 

For me, this breaks down into five very distinct sections. 

  

Sub-Bass (20-60Hz) 

The first area we’re going to focus on is sub-bass. 

Everything below 60Hz is sub-bass, so generally you need a subwoofer or a good pair 
of headphones (open-back headphones, for example) to hear that. 

You should be able to hear it a little bit if you’re on monitors or headphones. But if 
you’re listening on a laptop or a phone, there’s no way you will hear that. 

​ Bass (60-200Hz) 

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After that, we get into what I would call bass. For me, this is everything between 60 
and 200 hertz. 

In this area, we’ve got lots of bass guitar. Lots of the low-end vocals as well, because 
male vocals are going to have the fundamental below 200Hz in most cases. 

  

Low Mids (200-600Hz) 

Next up, if you go from 200 up to 600 hertz, this is what I would call low mids, and 
this is a really important area for mixing. 

Now, this area is crucial for home recording, because this is where you get a lot of 
buildup with guitars, vocals, even the top end of the bass guitar especially. 

This is an area that’s really guilty for adding mud to a mix. 

  

Mids (600Hz-3kHz) 

The human hearing focuses mostly on this frequency range… 

So it’s crucial to get this range right. You want the main focus of the track (e.g. 
vocals) to have lots of room in this range. 

Be aware that this is also where you can start to get into harshness and aggressive 
tones. 

  

Upper Mids (3-8kHz) 

Then we’ve got upper mids between 3 and 8 kilohertz, and this is where things really 
start to get harsh. This is where we have brittleness a lot of the time. 

It’s also an important range for clarity and aggression, especially in vocals. 

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Highs (8kHz+) 

After that we get to treble, or the highs. This is everything above 8 kilohertz. This is 
where we have air. 

You could split this even further into 8-12kHz, and that’s what I would call treble, and 
then 12kHz+ is what I would call air. 

But for now, we’re just going to leave this as the highs, and this is everything above 
8kHz. 

  

Frequency Range  Description 

20Hz-60Hz  Sub-bass 

60Hz-200Hz  Bass 

200Hz-600Hz  Lower mids 

600Hz-3kHz  Mids 

3kHz-8kHz  Upper mids 

8kHz-20kHz  Highs 

  

So there you go. That’s a breakdown of the entire frequency spectrum. 

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I recommend you learn this EQ mixing chart by heart. 

It’s included in the free cheat sheet, which you can download and print: 

FREE BONUS:​ Mixes sounding messy? Improve your music FAST with this free EQ 
cheat sheet.  
 
Now, you can listen to these frequency ranges on a track using an filter on a 
parametric equalizer. 

A fully parametric equalizer looks like this, and it’s the type of EQ you will use the 
most when starting out. 

This type of audio EQ allows you to cut or boost any frequency, by any amount or 
width (Q) you desire. 

This is different to a graphic equalizer, which has set frequency bands. 

On the other hand, you could use analogue modelling equalizers like this… 

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But when you start learning how to use an equalizer, stick to parametric EQ. 

Now, a quick activity for you… 

Set a high-pass filter at 8kHz to listen to everything above that frequency. This type 
of filter lets the highs pass through – it’s cutting out the lows. 

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Then we also have a low-pass filter, which you can set at 60Hz to hear the sub-bass. 
This is doing the same thing; it’s cutting out everything above the frequency that we 
set, so it’s letting the lows pass. 

In addition to filters like that, we also have band, or bell boosts, some people call 
them. 

This is where we’re just boosting individual frequencies. 

You choose a frequency, like 450Hz, and then you’re boosting that frequency and 
everything around it. 

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You can also control how narrow boost/cut this is. When you make it really wide, 
you’re still boosting 450Hz, but you’re also boosting loads of other stuff. 

Generally you want to use narrow for cuts and wide for boosts – but that’s a big 
generalization. 

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When you’re starting off, that’s a good thing to remember. As you get more 
confident, you’ll start to use smaller boosts sometimes, and wide cuts too. But 
generally, narrow for cuts, wide for boosts. 

And then we have shelves as well. This is where you boost/cut everything above or 
below a certain frequency. 

For example, you could boost all the highs above 12kHz – or cut them – and this 
works in a different way to the filter. 

With the shelf, you’re just cutting everything by the amount, so 6dB. Whereas with 
the filter, you’re just removing it completely. 

Generally, I use high shelves for a top end boost, especially on vocals, acoustic 
guitars, and generally on the whole mix as well, maybe everything above 12 kilohertz. 
We can also use them for low cuts if we just want to reduce the bass in a vocal, for 
example. 

  

 
 

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How to Use an EQ Chart 

A lot of people when they’re starting out – and even as they get into more 
intermediate phases – they start to use EQ charts. 

That’s okay at the beginning. 

If you’re going to look at an EQ chart, there’s one below that breaks down the entire 
frequency spectrum, and it uses descriptive words to explain each frequency range 
and how it sounds. 

If you can study a frequency chart like that and learn it, that’s great. If you know 
something sounds brittle, that’s going to be the upper mids; if you know something 
sounds muddy, it’s going to be the lower mids, for example. 

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Description  Frequency Range 

Rumble  25Hz – 40Hz 

Bottom  60Hz – 90Hz 

Boom/Punch  100Hz – 170Hz 

Warmth  130Hz – 220Hz 

Fullness/Mud  250Hz – 450Hz 

Honk  450Hz – 1kHz 

Tinny  1kHz – 2kHz 

Crunch  2kHz – 4kHz 

Edginess/Brittleness  3.5kHz – 6kHz 

Sibilance (in voice)  4kHz – 10kHz 

Definition  6kHz – 10kHz 

Piercing  8kHz – 12.5kHz 

Air  15kHz – 20kHz 

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But don’t use these charts when you’re mixing, or try to avoid it. 

Every now and then it’s okay, but don’t become reliant on them. 

Definitely DO NOT use instrument-specific charts when you’re mixing, because 

that’s going to take you down a rabbit hole that you don’t want to go down. You’re 
going to become so reliant on charts. 

When you’re using EQ, you want to have an intention first. 

You want to think, “This part sounds muddy, or it doesn’t sound exciting enough, it 
doesn’t sound aggressive enough.” 

Then what you’re going to do is you’re going to try different frequencies. 

THAT is the correct way to work. 

You can’t generalize, as no two sources are the same – so charts don’t really work. 

My advice: study EQ charts if you want to get to grips with the frequency spectrum 
and learn it more. But try not to rely on them. Try not to use them when you’re 
mixing. 

Okay, we’re ready to dive into those 4 key approaches. 

  

Make EQ Simple by Using These Four 

Key Approaches 
Okay, we’re getting somewhere. Time to talk about strategy. 

Forget everything you know about EQ. 

Let’s keep it simple… 

There are only four ways to approach EQ. Think of your equalizer as four completely 
different tools depending on how you use it. 

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Approach 1 – Remove Nasty Elements 

Let’s go into the first approach, which is how most people start off. 

This is using EQ to remove nasty elements. 

Using narrow bands to remove nasty elements, what I call s​ urgical EQ​, can really 
clean up any sound source, BEFORE you’ve even done any tonal shaping. 

By simply removing nasty elements, you make more room for the pleasantness and 
the niceness and the good stuff to come through. 

What you’re doing is surgically removing certain frequencies. It’s surgical because 
you’re using a really narrow cut. 

If you can remember earlier in this guide, I said about using narrow bands for cuts 
and broader bands for boosts, and that’s exactly what you’re doing here. 

All you do is boost a narrow band and sweep around until I found a nasty element. 
What you’re listening for is a sudden increase in volume, because that suggests that 
there’s lots of that frequency – which probably means it’s a room resonance, because 
every room will have certain frequencies that resonate. 

Once you find the frequency range, just cut it out by 2-10dB. I normally find one or 
two problematic ranges on important parts like vocals, guitars, snares etc. 

Here is a video demonstrating this technique: 

Generally, you want to avoid the solo button when mixing. 

But when using this approach of removing nasty elements, it’s okay to solo the 
channel. You can even do these surgical cuts BEFORE you start mixing, in the 
preparation phase. 

This first approach also includes using high-pass filters to remove low end noise 
when necessary. 

But don’t go crazy with this – only use high-pass filters when you notice low end 
noise that needs removing, or you have another specific intention (like tightening up 
the bottom on a bass guitar). 

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Don’t just use high-pass filters on everything, otherwise your mix could end up 
sounding thin and weak… 

  

Approach 2 – Enhance the Pleasing Elements 

Once we’ve removed the nasty stuff, you can move on to approach #2, which is 
enhance pleasing elements. 

For this, I prefer to use an analogue modelling EQ, but it’s by no means necessary. 

Here are my recommended plugins: 

● Stock EQ – A lot of DAWs now have a stock EQ that models an analogue unit, 
don’t upgrade for the sake of it! 
● Slick EQ – A great free option. 
● Slate VMR – You get two awesome equalizers with this versatile plugin. 
● Waves SSL E-Channel – A classic plugin that always sounds great. 

Okay, back to this approach… 

Lets use the example of applying EQ to a vocal with a 2dB boost at 6 kilohertz. 

That’s probably because I thought the aggression in the vocal was nice. I sat down 
and I thought, “What about this vocal do I want to enhance?” It already sounded 
clear, but I wanted to enhance the upper mids and give it a bit more aggression and 
treble, which is why I’ve got a boost here. 

So there you go – enhance the pleasing elements that are already there. 

You can’t introduce new elements. That’s not how EQ works. You can only enhance 
what’s there, so that’s why you need to make sure it’s a good recording and you like 
the tone in the recording phase. 

One more thing… 

This is also the phase where you are most likely to use shelves. 

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If something sounds too bright, you could cut a couple of dB’s at 10kHz with a high 
shelf. Or if something sounds too bassy (but you don’t want to completely remove 
the frequencies with a filter) use a low shelf to reduce everything below 300Hz. 

But be more careful when using shelves to boost frequencies. I wouldn’t 

recommend using a low shelf to boost bass. 

But you can certainly use a high shelf to add a bit more air to an acoustic guitar or 
vocal, for example. I do this all the time. 

 
  
Approach 3 – Make Things Sound Different 

This approach is just to make things sound different. 

For example, you could filter out all of the top end and low end on a vocal to give it 
that ‘telephone’ sound. 

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Making things sound weird and different with EQ is a great way to add interest and 
variation to your mix – especially if you only do this in specific sections or phrases. 

  

Approach 4 – Create Space in the Mix 

And then finally, we’ve got approach #4, which is to create space in the mix using 
range allocation. 

This is a really good way to create separation and space in your mixes. Here’s how: 

Essentially, this is the act of never boosting two parts at the same frequency. 

Instead, once a frequency range has been ‘allocated’ to a particular part, you 
probably want to cut that frequency in other instruments. 

THIS is how to use EQ to create separation and clarity in your mixes. 

By cutting frequencies in some instruments and boosting them in others, you can 
create space in the mix and give each part its own place to sit, its own pocket in the 
frequency spectrum. 

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10 Essential EQ Tips To Try Today 

Now that you have the strategy down, I want to share some more tips that I have 
picked up over the years. 

You’ve got the basics down now, but if you want to use EQ like a true professional, 
keep reading. 

  

Tip 1 – Have an intention 

I can’t stress this enough. 

Don’t just randomly start boosting and cutting different frequencies to see what 
works and what sounds good. Instead, decide what you want to achieve first, and 
then figure out how you can achieve it. 

Let me give you an example. I’m mixing a vocal, and it sounds a bit muddy. It’s not 
cutting through the mix enough, and it’s kind of clogging up the mix. 

Once I know that, I can think “Okay, the low mids are probably where the problem is; 
that’s going to be making it muddy.” So I can try to cut at around 400 hertz, and 
then I can move it around, try 300, try 500, decide on where the best frequency is, 
where the sweet spot is, and then suddenly the vocal sounds less muddy and the 
mix opens up. So decide what you want to do first. 

  

Tip 2 – Don’t rely on EQ alone, especially to shape 

the tone 

You need to shape the tone in the recording phase, because the tone that you 
capture there is going to be what you’re stuck with. You can use EQ to make it even 
better, you can use EQ to shape it slightly more, but really the tone is decided in the 
recording phase. 

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​ Tip 3 – Prioritize cuts, but still use boosts 

I can remember the first time I learned about subtractive EQ (a long, long time ago). 

I understood the principles, but I found the concept extremely daunting. 

Whenever you boost with an equalizer, it messes with the phase of your recording 
and affects additional frequencies. Not just the frequencies that you are boosting. 

The idea was that aggressive boosts can quickly ruin your audio, making it unnatural 
and difficult to mix. Add to this the fact that boosting the volume of a track reduces 
your headroom, and it’s easy to see why boosting should be avoided where possible. 

So in principle we should try to stick to subtractive EQ. Never boost (unless we 
absolutely have to) and try to only cut. 

 
  
But in practice, this isn’t so easy to stick to… 

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And with modern plugins, the downsides are minimal. 

I remember thinking “how am I going to get my vocals to sound more aggressive 

without boosting on an EQ?” 

Listen… 

This idea of ONLY using subtractive EQ is ridiculous. 

I could never finish a mix in that way. 

Any time somebody tries to give you a hard and fast rule about mixing, it’s probably 
bullshit. 

OF COURSE you can use boosts when you are mixing. 

If you have an intention, and you need a boost to get there… 

DO IT. 

My advice is to prioritize cuts, but use boosts when you need them. 

  

Tip 4 – Avoid applying EQ in solo 

Instead, try just bringing up the channel a bit. 

If you’re struggling to hear the changes that you’re making, if you’re only doing a 1dB 
or 2dB cut or boost and you’re struggling to hear it in the context of the mix, bring 
that channel up a bit so you can hear it a bit better, because then you’ll be able to 
hear your EQ change, but you’re also going to still have the context of the mix. 

Whereas if you apply EQ in solo, you can quickly forget about the rest of the mix and 
how that instrument sits. Plus, it helps to learn how to EQ with the whole mix going. 

No one’s ever going to hear your mix in solo. They’re never going to hear the guitar in 
solo, so it doesn’t matter if it sounds good in solo. It needs to sound good in the mix. 

A lot of the time, things sound really bad in solo, especially with electric guitars. So 
try to apply EQ in the context of the mix – or you could trick yourself. 

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Tip 5 – Small changes soon add up 

This one is more for beginners. 

When you’re starting out, try to stick to cutting or boosting by no more than 5dB. 

Lots of small changes across your mix soon add up. 

As you get more confident, you can get more aggressive. 

  

Tip 6 – Be more subtle with stock parametric EQs 

Boosting by 10dB or more sounds great when you are using an old analog desk and 
the EQ section is amazing. It’s adding a lovely color to the sound. 

A lot of the time with your stock parametric EQ in your DAW, it’s going to be 
different. It’s probably going to have some nasty side effects if you start boosting by 
too much. It’s going to start messing with the phase. 

So try to be more subtle with stock parametric EQs. If you’re using an analog 
modelling EQ, for example, you can be more aggressive. 

  

Tip 7 – Don’t obsess over plugin order 

A lot of people ask “Where should I place EQ in my plugin chain? Before or after 
compression?” 

Honestly? It doesn’t matter. 

You are worrying about the wrong things. 

Sometimes it sounds better before, sometimes after. Just play around with it – but 
only for a few seconds. 

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My go-to is to put surgical EQ before compression, and tonal compression after. 

It doesn’t necessarily sound best – it just suits my workflow. 

  

Tip 8 – You can’t polish a turd (but you can roll it 

in glitter) 

Only use EQ to remove nasty frequencies (by cutting) or to change the character of a 
sound and add interest (by boosting). 

You CAN’T use EQ to make a poor recording sound good. 

You can’t add stuff that isn’t there – only emphasize stuff that is. 

  

Tip 9 – Create instant clarity by removing 

muddiness 

The most problematic frequency range in most home recordings is 250-500Hz (most 
instruments are heavy in these frequencies). 

Your mix will start to sound ‘muddy’ if there are too many of these frequencies 
evident. 

A gentle, wide cut of 3dB between 250-350Hz on the muddy tracks is a great place 
to start. 

  

Tip 10 – Mix in mono 

When applying EQ to your mix, do it in mono. 

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This helps with range allocation and preventing phase issues. It forces you to create 
space and separation with EQ, instead of relying on panning. 

It will make a huge difference, trust me. 

Start mixing in mono, and when you do eventually start panning tracks towards the 
end, the space in your mix will be immense. 

 
  
 
 
 
 
 

   

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Range Allocation 
  
This is a technique that a lot of people use. Some people know of it as frequency 
slotting. It’s essentially the act of giving each instrument or vocal, or at least the most 
important parts, their own space within the frequency spectrum, their own corner of 
the mix, as to say. This really helps with separation, it really helps to clear up your mix, 
and it helps you to think about mixing in the right way, about where your EQ cuts 
and boosts are as well. 
  
By the end of this chapter, you’re going to feel really confident with this technique, 
and hopefully it’s going to improve your mixes. So let’s dive in. What is range 
allocation? I call it range allocation (instead of ‘frequency slotting’) because you’re 
not just ‘slotting’ frequencies. That term makes it sound like you’re aggressively 
slotting instruments into a certain frequency range. 
  
But it’s not. It’s a much subtler act. You’re allocating a range of the frequency 
spectrum to an instrument or a vocal. Once you’ve allocated that range to a part, you 
just want to be wary that you don’t boost anything else in that range, and also that 
you cut other things in that range to give the part a bit more space. 
  
Again, you only want to do this with the most important parts. If you went and did 
this with every single element of your mix, it would take forever. You only want to do 
it either on the vocals, the lead guitar, and maybe the bass and kick, the snare – 
things like that, the most important parts. But also, you can do it on group buses.  
  
Before I go into the finesse of this technique, just remember you’re not doing it with 
every single individual channel. That will take you too long. You’re only doing it with 
the most important parts, and maybe on the group buses as well, so all the guitars at 
once or all the keys at once, for example. 
  
First example I’m going to give is vocals. Let’s go back to an earlier example of 
boosting vocals by 2dB at 6 kilohertz. In this example, the vocal had some aggression 
to it, but I wanted to dial in more aggression. I wanted to help it cut through the mix 
a bit more. So I already knew I was going to be boosting somewhere in the upper 
mids. 
  
First of all, to find the pleasing element and to find the range that you’re going to 
allocate to this part, I just dial in a boost, maybe 3 or 4 dB – a bit more exaggerated 
than you end with just so you can hear it clearer. I know I want to be in the upper 

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mids, so it’s going to be somewhere between 4 and 7 kilohertz. I would head to that 
frequency range and move the band around until I find an area that sounds nice. 
  
At 7 kilohertz I feel like it’s a bit too high; we’re getting more into the top end, and 
that’s not really what I want to boost. I want to boost the high mid aggression. Down 
at 4 kilohertz, it sounded nice, but I didn’t feel like it cut through enough. It wasn’t 
enough bite. It was a different kind of element of sound. 
  
So 6 kilohertz was the area that I liked the most. After that, of course, you dial back 
the boost probably somewhere around 2 dB or 1 dB, which is what I would set it on. 
Play with the width as well. Generally with boosts you want to be a bit wider, but just 
have a listen to how that affects it. It sounds a bit more musical, a bit more natural 
when it’s wide. But we still want to have that bite and that aggression, so 
somewhere between the two works well. 
  
Here’s the important bit. Now I know that a 6 kilohertz boost on the vocal sounds 
nice, ​I can write that down.​ Grab a pen and write it down. “Vocal, kHz.” Now when 
I’m going through and processing my other channels or on the group buses, I know 
not to boost 6 kilohertz on anything. If anything, I want to do the opposite: I want to 
cut 6 kilohertz. 
  
You could even try cutting 6 kilohertz on ALL the instruments. So send all of the 
instrument parts – drums, kicks, all bass, verse guitars, chorus guitars, keys – to a 
stereo aux buss called ‘All Instruments’. Then apply a subtle 1dB cut around 6kHz on 
this new stereo aux. 
  
Another good example is kick and bass. If you find that the kick has got a nice 
sub-bass to it and you want a track to have a bit more of a groovy, dance-y feel to it, 
you could write down “Kick, 60 hertz.” 
  
If the kick is at 60 hertz, you don’t want the bass to be prominent in that frequency 
range, so maybe the bass sounds nicer, and the notes that it’s playing and the tone 
of the bass sounds really nice around 120 hertz, so you write that down. 
  
Now you’re probably going to cut 60 in the bass, because that’s where the kick is 
allocated, and you’re going to cut 120 in the kick, because that’s where the bass is 
allocated. 
  
Now let’s use the guitars as an example. Let’s say I’m boosting them at 1.5 kilohertz, 
so that’s their allocation. I can write that down, “Guitars, 1.5kHz.” Again, same 
technique to find that frequency - I found that this frequency range was a nice, 
pleasant element of the guitar that I could enhance that wasn’t already being used 
up by something else. Then you might want to cut 1.5 kilohertz in any competing 
instruments, like the keys or bass guitar.  

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Just constantly bear this in mind. Write it down, and then when you come to EQ-ing 
your individual parts or the group buses, just think about what’s already been 
allocated, where there’s space in the frequency spectrum for something to sit. 
  
Again, don’t go over the top with it; 2-3 dBs boost or cut here and there is all you 
need. You don’t need to start filtering and being really aggressive. It just creates a bit 
more space, it gives you some structure to work to with your EQ moves rather than 
just randomly boosting. 
  
If you start boosting the same frequencies in two different parts, you’re going to get 
frequency masking. It’s going to start to interfere with each other. So writing those 
allocations down really helps you to prevent that from happening. 
  
One last tip for this technique: try to do it with your ears as well. When you are 
boosting and finding frequencies to boost and to allocate, some people will use a 
frequency analyzer. I don’t actually have one; I never use spectrum analyzers. But 
Logic Pro, for example, the EQ there comes with one. FabFilter, their EQ has a 
spectrum analyzer. 
  
It’s tempting to have a look at that spectrum analyzer and see where the main notes 
are. For example, you put it in your kick drum, you have a look and maybe the 
biggest peak is at 60 hertz, so then you think “Okay, I need to cut 60 hertz on 
everything else.” 
  
But this is dangerous, because all that means is the fundamental is at 60 hertz. If you 
start boosting the fundamental, first of all that’s going to sound weird. It’s probably 
not going to help the tone. 
  
Cutting the fundamental in other stuff does help, but then when you get to the 
common instruments that are in the low mid range, which we spoke all about in the 
video on muddy mixes, like guitars, acoustic guitars, the upper range of a bass 
guitar, male vocals, even female vocals, they’re all sitting around the same space. 
They’re all going to have very similar fundamentals. 
  
You quickly run out of space in the low mids, so instead you have to look to the high 
mids and the mids, around 6 to 1 kilohertz and everything around that area, for your 
allocations. You can’t just allocate fundamentals because everything is going to be in 
the low mids, and then all your allocations are going to be really close to each other, 
in that low mid range between 100 and 300 hertz. 
  
So try to do it with your ears. Find a boost that sounds nice in the mids and then cut 
it in other things. 
  

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Please do implement this technique in your mixes. I think it will really help you. 
Especially writing them down like that is a great way to get started. After a while 
you’ll just remember, and when it comes to boosting you’ll think “I’ve already 
boosted that somewhere else. I’m not going to do it.” But it really does help to write 
it down. 
  
 
 

   

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EQ Before or After 
Compression? 
  
I’m going to finally answer the age old question of, EQ before or after compression? I 
actually suggest something completely different: neither of those, I say. All will be 
revealed in a second. 
  
First of all, before I answer that question, I just want to point out that it’s really not 
that important in the grand scheme of things. If you’re worrying too much about 
where you place EQ in your plugin chain, then you’re getting caught up on the 
wrong things because it really doesn’t matter. It makes a very, very small difference, 
and you’re much better focusing your energy on other areas like the fundamentals 
of EQ, those 4 key approaches that I covered in chapter 1. So don’t worry about it too 
much. 
  
Having said that, I do have my own opinion of where it works best, and this is going 
to be very different to other engineers. It’s a purely subjective thing. 
  
Generally with mixing, people agree on the outcome, but they disagree on methods. 
People can agree on what a good mix sounds like and what they want to achieve in 
their mix, but they go about achieving that in completely different ways. 
  
So I’m going to give you my opinion, I’m going to give you the way that I do it; you 
can decide whether you agree with my thought process or if you want to try a 
different way, and that’s fine. I’m going to demonstrate the various ways at the end 
of this video so that you can actually hear how small of a difference there is between 
each way. There is a difference. You will be able to hear it, but it’s very small. 
  
First of all, what’s my opinion? Well, I think that you should use EQ before and after 
compression. Not before, not after – both. And there’s a reason for that. 
  
In chapter 1, I spoke about the different approaches to EQ. Just to recap, Approach #1 
was to remove unpleasant elements, remove nasty stuff. Approach #2 was to 
exaggerate the good stuff. And then of course, we had Approach #3, which was 
create space, and #4, which was make things sound different. 
  

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But those first two approaches (remove the nasty elements and then enhance the 
pleasing element) can be split into two different EQ plugins. What I like to do is 
actually remove the nasty elements, then compress, and then enhance the pleasing 
elements. And I’ll still do a bit more cutting as well. I like to call it surgical EQ and 
tonal EQ: ​surgical EQ before compression, tonal EQ after compression. 
  
In our first EQ, which I call surgical EQ, we’re usually removing those room 
resonances. So it’s narrow cuts, surgically removing the nasty stuff. Once we’ve done 
that, we’ve removed the low end noise, we’ve tightened it up a bit on the low end, 
and we’ve removed those room resonances, the vocal sounds a lot cleaner. Now 
we’ve got what I would call a ​clean​ vocal that we can compress.  
  
After applying some compression what we’ve got is a cleaner vocal, because we’ve 
removed the resonances and the really ugly stuff, and we’ve got a vocal that’s a bit 
more dynamically consistent. This is where I feel it’s time to start working with the 
tone. 
  
So after this I’ve got my tonal EQ, which is generally enhancing the pleasing 
elements. I’m doing that by boosting the high mids and the upper treble area, and 
I’m also doing that by removing some of the lows just to clear up the top end a bit. 
So that’s my tonal EQ where I’m enhancing those pleasing elements. 
  
Now, if I put this before the compressor, my reasoning is that I’m boosting this 
frequency quite a lot, so the compressor is going to be enhancing that boost, really. I 
am using another compressor afterwards, so I’m kind of going EQ, compressor, EQ, 
compressor, and that’s just the way that I like to work. I like to use a faster 
compressor, then tonal EQ, and then I use a slightly slower compressor. 
  
But the important distinction here is that my opinion is that you remove all the nasty 
stuff, then you use compression – one compressor is fine; you don’t have to use more 
than one – and then you do your tonal adjustments. Because you’ve got a nice clean 
vocal, you compress it, and then it’s time to start adjusting it to taste. You’re not 
fixing anything at this point. You’ve already fixed the ugly stuff. At this point, you’re 
just shaping it to perfection. 
  
Having said that, changing the order of the plugins results in very, very small 
difference. So there’s no right answer. In my opinion, apply EQ before and after 
compression. Whether you agree with that or not, it’s up to you, but that’s how I like 
to work.  
 
Give that a try. I think it really helps you to stick to those 4 approaches, because 
you’re splitting EQ into two different plugins: you’re removing the nasty stuff and 
then you’re enhancing the good stuff. In terms of workflow, I think it really helps you 
stick to those approaches. In terms of sound and tone, there’s not much difference.  

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Backwards Mixing 
 
In this chapter I want to talk to you all about a technique that I’ve been using for a 
while now called backwards mixing. 
  
This is a really great way to mix with more efficiency and more speed, but also to get 
better mixes in less time with less plugins. Finally, it’s also a really great way to have a 
system about your mixing, because it’s really important to have some kind of system. 
You don’t want to just move around the mix randomly, adjusting things here and 
there. You need to have a system. 
  
This is my system. It works for me. If you’re used to this kind of standard system of 
starting with the kick drum and then bringing in the bass and working from the 
foundation up, I think this is going to be a really interesting new way of thinking for 
you. 
  
You might even mix like this already, so I’m going to give you some techniques for 
sticking to this ideology after I explain it, and then you can try it in your mixes. 
  
I call it backwards mixing because in your mixer, generally people have it set up in a 
way that you have all your individual channels on your left, and then after that you 
have your group channels, which are simply the act of sending all of the instruments 
of a certain group to a group aux channel, a stereo aux. 
  
For example, I generally send the drums going to their own stereo aux channel, all 
bass parts, guitars, keys, backing vocals, lead vocals etc. So everything is going to a 
stereo group channel. This is really important. We’re going to talk more about that in 
a second. But an important distinction here is that you want to change the outputs 
of the individual channels, not just create an effect send. So the output on the bass 
guitar, for example, should be the ‘All Bass’ stereo aux channel - NOT the mix buss or 
master fader. 
  
Backwards mixing is the act of working backwards through your mixer, so from right 
to left instead of left to right. Instead of starting with your kick drum or your vocal 
and working slowly, bringing in instruments one by one, and then doing group 
processing and then maybe some processing on your mix bus...  
 

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I suggest doing the opposite: starting with your mix bus, then moving to your 
group channels, and then adding processing to your individual channels at the 
very end. 

This relates to my overall philosophy of mixing, which is start with the bigger picture 
and then slowly start to focus on the finer details. You start with big things like 
balancing, and then backwards mixing, and you end with things like automation, 
effects, and spot effects – really small details within the mix. 
  
Because if you start with the small details, you’re going to change your mind later in 
the mix. You need to make those decisions within the context of the mix, and you 
need to really start to get the mix together at an early stage, with balancing and EQ 
and bus compression, because that will help with your confidence, it helps you to 
mix fast, it helps you to stay excited. 
  
I call those overall process of starting with the bigger picture and then focusing on 
the finer details at the end “slow focus mixing,” because you’re slowly focusing on 
the details as you progress through your mix. 
  
Now let’s actually talk about backwards mixing and how you implement that, and 
the actual steps involved as it comes to EQ. 
  
I tend to have quite a lot of processing on my mix bus. There’s a few reasons why I 
think applying EQ on your mix bus first is beneficial. First of all, it helps with 
confidence. You can get a good sound straightaway. After you’ve balanced the mix 

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and you’ve got a good static mix, you can compare your mix to your reference, and 
straightaway you’ll hear if it needs more brightness, if it needs more low end, if it’s 
sounding muddy in the lower mids, if it needs more aggression. You can make those 
EQ changes on the master bus, and straightaway your mix is going to sound better. 
You’re taking a big step towards your end goal, and that’s going to really increase 
your confidence and keep you excited. 
  
But there’s other benefits. Benefit #2 is that by starting with EQ on your mix bus, 
you’re mixing into it. You’re considering that with every move. If you dial in more top 
end on the mix bus, that means you don’t need to dial in as much top end on a vocal 
or an acoustic guitar, for example, or a piano. Whereas if you did it the other way 
round and you mixed in individual channels first, and then at the end you added a 
top end boost on your mix bus, it’s going to completely throw off your entire mix. 
  
So it’s best to start with those moves and then mix into them, because then you’re 
going to be considering that at every stage and working with that EQ. 
  
Benefit #3 is that it helps you to mix faster and with less plugins. And time is always 
of the essence when it comes to mixing. The longer you spend on the mix, the less 
objective you become. Ear fatigue sets in, and you’re going to start doubting your 
decision. Now let’s look at the steps to implement backwards mixing in your mixes. 
 

Step 1 - Balancing 
Before you start applying EQ on your mix buss, you need to have a good static mix 
going. Spend a lot of time adjusting the volume faders until you feel like you can’t 
get any further with the faders alone. 
 

Step 2 - Compare to Your Reference 

Track 
The next step is to compare your mix to your reference once you have a good static 
mix. You can even use several reference tracks (one for the low end, one for the 
vocals etc). Flick between your mix and your reference tracks a few times and listen 
out for any obvious differences. 
  
You might hear that your mix needs more top end. Maybe your mix sounds muddy. 
Maybe there’s too much low end. Or maybe there’s a lack of aggression in the upper 
mids. 
 

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Step 3 - Mix Buss EQ 

Now you can reach for an EQ with an intention in mind. If I hear too much low end in 
my mix, I know that I probably need to reduce the low end below 100 hertz or control 
it with multiband compression. Then I might need to remove mud by cutting in that 
200 to 400 hertz frequency range. Then I might need to boost the upper mids a bit 
to give the mix a bit more aggression. And perhaps I want to enhance the top end 
and add some more air by boosting 12 kilohertz and above. It’s important to use a 
reference and have an intention before you start applying EQ. 
 

Step 4 - Group Buss EQ 

Then once you’ve done your mix bus processing, you can move on to your group 
buses. Again, this saves a lot of time and energy. Rather than going through and 
processing each keyboard part individually, apply EQ (and compression) on the 
group busses. If all the guitars sound a bit harsh, try cutting the upper mids on the 
group buss instead of individual channels. I do the majority of EQ on the group 
busses. 
  
There’s some channels, though, that you will have to do individual processing, 
specific processing on the channel. Bass guitar, for example. Of course I’ve got a lot 
of processing on that because I wanted to shape the tone there, and we’ve only got 
one bass channel. It’s direct. If I was mixing a direct bass with an amp recording, I’d 
probably do the processing on a group bus. But because it’s only a DI, I’m doing it 
there. 
  
Vocals as well, another example of a channel where a lot of the processing is going 
to be on the channel itself. Snare and kick drums, too. And of course, effect channels 
– I don’t have an effect bus; I just have individual processing on the effects, because it 
depends what you’re trying to do with that effect.  
  
So move from right to left. Start with your mix bus. That’s where a lot of the magic 
happens. Then do your processing on your group buses; that will save you lots of 
time, and it helps to keep things simple. It’s just much easier, much more efficient. 
And then finally, any individual processing that can’t be done on a group channel. 

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How to Achieve Separation 

and Clarity In Your Mixes 
 
There are many factors to a “good” mix. 
 
To me, a good mix is one that best conveys the message and emotion of the song. 
There are numerous ways to do this, and this important end goal must be 
considered with every move. You can spend as long as you want on automation, 
balancing, compression and other tools… 
 
But if your mix doesn’t have SEPARATION, and your mix isn’t CLEAR – none of that 
matters. 
 
A lot of my students ask me how to achieve separation and clarity in their mixes. 
Generally, they are referring specifically to EQ techniques that they can implement. 
As with most things in the world of mix engineering, it isn’t that simple. Sure, your 
use of equalization will have a huge impact. But there are some other issues that you 
must address first. 
 
But first, there are two factors that are important whenever applying EQ: listening 
environment and referencing. 
 
To accurately apply EQ to any sound source, you need a good listening environment. 
This DOESN’T mean you need a professionally treated room and expensive monitors. 
It DOES mean learning your room and equipment. Acoustic treatment and proper 
monitors will help you immensely. As will a decent pair of mixing headphones. But if 
you don’t have those things, just make sure you learn your equipment. How? 
Through referencing… 
  

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Every time you mix, compare your work to a professionally recorded and released 
track. 
Think of the tone you want to achieve (modern/warm/aggressive etc.) and find a 
track in a similar genre that has those qualities. Now drop it into your ​DAW​ and 
compare it to your mix. Where is your mix lacking? Does it sound muffled? Or does it 
sound too bright? Is the low end too loud? Or too quiet? Whenever applying EQ, 
referencing can help you to make the right decisions. 
 
Consider your listening environment, use a reference – and applying EQ will become 
far easier. 
 
 

Separation (Or Making Every Part 

Audible) 
To me, separation means one thing: a mix where every important element is clearly 
defined AND doesn’t interfere too much with other elements of the mix. The 
opposite of separation would be a cluttered, busy or messy mix. Imagine a mix 
where all of the instruments battle each other for attention. The vocal gets lost in a 
sea of guitars and percussion. The lead guitar is indistinguishable from the rhythm 
part. It’s difficult to hear each part LET ALONE hear the intricacies and emotion of 
the performance. 
 
Now imagine a mix where everything has it’s own space and corner within the 
frequency spectrum. Every lyric is audible, and the melody of the lead guitar part sits 
perfectly in the mix – yet they aren’t fighting each other or battling for attention. As 
you move your focus around the mix, you can easily distinguish each part. The bass, 
the kick drum, the snare, the electric piano… There’s a lot going on, yet you can easily 
focus on each part. In case you hadn’t figured out, you want to aim for the second 
example. But how? 
  

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Arrangement 
Before I address EQ, let’s go over the other techniques for adding separation to your 
mix. You see, separation starts before you even touch a microphone or DAW. 
 
 
Arrangement in this context refers to two simple things: 
 
1. The instrumentation of the piece 
2. The choice of octave (or register) for the various parts 
 
Consider a band that has 4 different guitarists (and nothing else). Separation isn’t 
going to be so easy to achieve. Now consider a chorus where three different 
instruments play the lead melody, but all in the same octave. They might sound 
good as a whole, but there will be little separation between the parts. Think about 
the instrumentation of the song and how it could help or hinder separation within 
the mix. 
 
Also make sure the most important parts are spread across multiple registers. It’s 
fine for three instruments to play the same melody if they all play it in a different 
octave. And bear in mind that sometimes separation ISN’T desirable. Think about an 
orchestra – the entire cello section is meant to blend together to create one 
coherent sound. That’s part of the music. Just don’t waste your time trying to give 
those parts separation later in the mix. 
  

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Balancing 

 
 
Volume balancing is your main tool as a mixer. Did you know that mix engineers 
used to be called ‘balance engineers‘? Before you even THINK about panning, EQ, 
compression​ or anything else – remember that the majority of your mix comes from 
the balance between the channels. So, how does balancing relate to separation? 
Well… if everything is loud – nothing is loud. 
Your mix needs to have focus. Decide which elements are the most important 
(usually the lead vocal, any melodic parts, and occasionally the rhythm section). Now 
make everything else quieter. It might seem simple, but spending longer on 
balancing is the first step towards separation. 
 
This is also where automation comes into it. Generally, a static mix isn’t enough. At 
different points in the song, you will want different parts to have the focus. Use 
volume automation to counteract this problem. For example, the guitar part might 
provide a supportive role in the chorus, but a more prominent role in the verse. 
Automate the volume accordingly. 
  

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Panning 

 
 
Another easy way to get separation in your mix is by making use of the entire stereo 
field. But, at the same time, don’t rely on panning too heavily – a lot of people will 
hear your mix in mono. Start by panning only hard left, dead center or hard right. 
Keep most your pan pots at one of these positions. Now fill the gaps between with 
one or two parts on each side (but no more). 
  

Achieving Separation with EQ 

Before you learn about specific techniques for creating separation with EQ, you 
should have an understanding of what frequency masking is. It sounds complicated, 
but it’s not. Essentially, it is this: 
 
When two parts battle for the same space in the frequency spectrum, they mask 
each other. They might sound great in solo, but when you put them together 
they sound mushy and undefined.  
Before you address frequency masking with EQ, you should address it with 
arrangement and balancing. But after doing those two things, you can further 
enhance the separation within the mix using EQ… 

Range Allocation 
There’s a simple way to create separation between the most important parts in the 
mix. I like to call this Range Allocation. 
 

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NOTE: You only want to create separation between the most important parts, not 
everything. Parts that play a supportive role don’t need separation (remember the 
example of an orchestra). 
 
Range Allocation is the act of giving each part it’s own range within the frequency 
spectrum. Some people call this frequency slotting. The best way to describe this 
technique is through the use of an example… 
 
In a typical rock track, you will want separation between the kick and the bass.  
Allocate one of the parts to the sub bass range (let’s say 30-80Hz) and the other part 
to the bass range (let’s say 80-200Hz). Which way round you chose to do it depends 
on the vibe of the track… 
 
For a groovy, more rhythmic track – allocate the kick to the sub bass range. For a 
heavy, constant low end – allocate the bass guitar to the sub bass range. Now that 
you have an idea in your head of where each part is sitting in the frequency 
spectrum, EQ accordingly. If you boost 30-80Hz on the kick, cut it on the bass. If you 
boost 80-150Hz on the bass, cut it in the kick. And by cut, I don’t mean remove 
completely (for example, with a filter). I mean a subtle 1-5dB wide cut. 
 

 
  
 

Mix in Mono 
I advise mixing in mono until the end of the mix. This forces you to create separation 
with arrangement, balancing and EQ rather than relying on panning. Once you have 
finished applying EQ and compression, and are nearing the end of the mix, start 
panning. The mix will open up and you won’t believe the amount of space and 
separation. 

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Focus on the Mid Range 

Most problems with separation and frequency masking occur in the mid range. 
Sure, getting the relationship between the kick and bass right is important – but far 
more people will notice when the guitars and vocals clash.  
 
I spend around 30-50% of the mix on a single ​Behritone speaker​. Don’t get me 
wrong – this speaker sounds pretty awful. It’s tiny. It pretty much sounds like a 
crappy PC speaker. But here’s why it’s important: the small size means the speaker 
only produces mid frequencies. It can reveal problems in the mids that you might 
not notice on larger monitor speakers. Check your mix on multiple speaker systems 
and focus on the mid range. Where are the problems? What parts are fighting with 
each other? 

High-Pass Filtering 
There’s an easy way to get separation between the low end parts (kick and bass) and 
the rest of the mix… 
 
Use high-pass filters on any parts that have low end BUT don’t need it. 
 
That’s an important distinction – don’t start using a high-pass filter on everything, 
otherwise your mix could start to sound thin and weak. Only use a high-pass filter on 
parts that don’t NEED any low end. For example, use a high-pass filter on electric 
guitars, acoustic guitars (if they play a supportive roll), vocals, keys (if they aren’t 
providing the bass) and toms. 
Start at 50Hz and bring the filter up until you notice a loss of bass or warmth – then 
back it off a touch.  

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Sometimes though, that loss of low end can make the part sound clearer and help it 
to stand out in the mix (with vocals for example). Use your judgement. Oh, and make 
sure you do this in the context of the mix, not in solo. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Clarity (Air, Brightness 

and Shimmer) 
Before we dig into adding clarity to your mixes, be aware that clarity is a relative 
term. As with loudness, if everything in your mix is clear, nothing is clear. Usually you 
want the vocals, cymbals (sometimes snares), acoustic guitars and piano/keys to 
have clarity. Electric guitars, bass guitars, kick drums and other supportive parts 
don’t need clarity. 
 
In order to give clarity to the parts that matter… you need to make the supportive 
parts less clear. There are a number of ways to do this. 
  

High Cuts and Low-Pass Filters 

 
  
Most people never consider using a low-pass filter when mixing. But by removing 
the top end from the parts that are more supportive – OR the parts that don’t 
need/have any top end – you can add depth and clarity to the mix.  

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If you want to make a part sit further back in the mix, cut the highs. Whether you use 
a high shelf or a low-pass filter will depend on how far back you want the part to sit. 
But you still want the part to be audible. Try not to cut the high mids or anything 
else below 6kHz. In this process, you are also making more room in the top end for 
the stuff that matters (like the vocals). 
  

High Shelf Boosts 

 
  
The next step is to boost the top end of the parts that matter. I boost the top end of 
the vocals in pretty much every mix. A high shelf boost as low as 6kHz can work, but 
more often it’s around 10kHz+. Now the vocals sound super-clear in the context of 
the mix. 
 
Try to use an analogue-modelling EQ for this rather than your stock parametric EQ. 
Free plugins like S
​ lick EQ​ still work well for this. You can also try adding a top end 
boost to the entire mix, on your stereo fader. Do this at the beginning of your mix, 
though, not at the end. 

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Beware of Harshness and Brittleness 

When boosting the top end, keep it subtle (unless you know what you are doing). If 
your mix starts to sound harsh or brittle, it’s because you have either a) been too 
aggressive with your boosts, or b) boosted the high mids as well as the top end.  
 
Check the frequencies of your boosts and try to stay above 10kHz. Try to find the 
source of the problem and fix it. But, if you are in a rush, try a wide 1/2dB cut around 
5-10kHz on your mix buss. 
 
Remember that mixing comes towards the end of the production process. Problems 
with separation in particular need to be addressed earlier in the songwriting and 
recording phases. Only then can you ENHANCE separation in the mix phase. As for 
clarity, it’s relative. Focus on creating depth within your mix, and then you can really 
add clarity to the parts that matter. 
 

   

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How to Fix Muddy Mixes 

  
In this chapter you’re going to learn all about how to prevent and fix a muddy mix. 
It’s a really common problem, especially with the typical rock band setup, but as 
soon as you’re aware of the ways that you can prevent and fix the problem of mud in 
your mix, it really clears up your mixes, gives them more definition, gives them more 
room for the good stuff to shine through and more clarity in there as well.  
  
First of all, to reap quickly, you need a good listening environment, or you at least 
need to know your listening environment. It helps if you have acoustic treatment 
and a pair of actual studio monitors or a good pair of open-back headphones, for 
example. But if you don’t have those, you can still get good mixes; you just need to 
really learn your equipment. 
  
Which brings me on to point two, which is make sure you use references when 
you’re EQ-ing. Compare your mix to a professionally mixed, mastered, and released 
track, and that will guide you towards making the right EQ decisions and give you 
something to compare your mix to, to decide if it’s too bright, too bass-y, etc. So two 
key things I wanted to reiterate there. 
  
Now let’s move on to muddy mixes and how you can prevent and fix them. I find 
that the guilty frequency range is generally between 200 and 400 hertz. Sometimes 
500, sometimes a bit lower than 200, but generally it’s between 200 and 400 hertz. 
  
If you load up an EQ on your mix buss, center a band at 300 hertz, make it quite 
wide, and boost it – instantly the mix going to sound more muddy. Everything is 
going to lose its definition; you’re not going to be able to pinpoint the different 
instruments as much, and it’s just going to sound a bit clogged up.  
  
So 200 to 400 hertz is the frequency range that you want to address with your EQ 
moves, but before we talk about that, I want to go back to the root of the problem. 
It’s generally an arrangement problem.  
  
When you’re arranging a piece, you want to think about both instrumentation and 
also the register and octave that the different parts play in. Because if you have lots 
of parts playing in that area, in that lower mid area, in the same octave – maybe you 
have three guitars all playing in the same octave, or even different instruments but 
playing in that same register – of course there’s going to be a buildup of frequencies 
in that area. 
  

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If you think about a string quartet, it’s a cello to provide the low end, viola to provide 
the middle, and two violins to provide the top end, but generally they’ll be doing 
different things. So you’ve got a really nice spread across the whole frequency 
spectrum with four different instruments. 
  
But now think about a typical rock band setup. You’ve got a drum kit, with the main 
parts being the kick and the snare; then you’ve got a bass guitar, a rhythm guitar, 
sometimes a lead guitar as well, an acoustic guitar, a piano maybe, male vocals or 
female vocals. You could even have keyboard parts. It quickly builds up, and a lot of 
those instruments are focused around that low mid area. The fundamentals of those 
instruments are around that area. 
  
You can think about this when you’re composing. You can think, rather than getting 
three guitars to play chords and a melody in the same octave, put them an octave 
apart. 
  
But there’s an inherent problem with that rock band setup that is hard to avoid, and 
generally it does cause muddy mixes – especially when you’re recording at home as 
well, the kind of microphones you’re going to be using, the microphone techniques 
you’re using might add to that muddiness. So it’s a common problem. 
  
You can fix it, first of all, by addressing the arrangement if you have that ability. But a 
lot of the time we also need to use EQ to further remove that mud and treat that 
problem. 
  
Now let’s go over the 3 ways that you can fix and remove or at least reduce 
muddiness in your mix. 
  

#1: Avoid Boosting this Range 

Technique 1 is pretty simple: don’t boost the frequency range. Now, that may seem 
obvious, but a lot of people will boost the low mids if they want to make something 
sound warmer. But instead of doing that, I’d say cut the highs, cut the upper mids. 
That’s going to make something sound warmer. Or even cut the highs. Experiment 
with that. 
  
Because as soon as you start boosting here, there’s a couple of problems if you boost 
the low mids. First of all you’re going to be adding to that mud, and secondly, 
especially if you get a bit lower, you could be boosting particular notes. 
  
A bass guitar, for example, a lot of the notes are between 60 and 100 if you’re playing 
in the lower octave. If you just boost it 100, you’re going to be boosting certain notes, 
and those notes are going to stick out a lot more. 

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So first of all, if you are going to boost low mids or lows, make sure it’s wide so you’re 
not boosting particular notes. But generally I recommend to avoid boosting 
between 200 and 400. Again, that seems obvious, but that’s going to go a long way 
to preventing mud in your mix. 
 

#2: Address 200-400Hz on Individual 

Channels 
Technique 2 is actually treating those problematic frequency areas on the individual 
channels themselves. For example, you might apply a wide 2dB cut centered at 
300hz on the lead vocal. 
  
This does two things: first of all, it clears some of the mud from the vocal. It helps the 
upper mids to shine through a bit more, it helps it to cut through the mix a bit more. 
But then secondly, it has that added benefit of also, because the vocal is going to be 
one of the loudest things, that’s going to remove some of the mud from the overall 
mix as well. 
 
Of course, you can do this on your group buses as well, and I’m going to talk more 
about processing on group buses and on the mix bus in a later chapter. So that’s 
technique #2, removing mud on the channels themselves and on the group buses. 
Just remember that frequency range, 200 to 400 hertz, that’s going to be 
problematic. 
 

#3: Mix Buss EQ 

Technique 3 is actually removing that mud on the mix bus itself. In most cases, I 
would actually apply this technique before cutting frequencies on individual 
channels.  
 
As mentioned in the chapter on Backwards Mixing, I mix backwards; I start with the 
mix bus, then the group buses, then individual channels. So this is the first mud cut 
that I would’ve added, and then I might remove even more on the individual 
channels. 
 
You need to be careful, because mix buss EQ can be pretty dramatic. It’s essentially 
the same as applying an EQ to every single channel. If it starts to sound too scooped, 
that’s because you’re being too aggressive.  
  

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Even the lower mids are really important because that’s what areas are most 
susceptible to it and that’s where most of the detail is. So if you remove them too 
much, it’s going to sound scooped and weird, and you’re going to lose a lot of that 
detail. 
  
So you want to keep it subtle, I reckon 2 dBs is probably about the most you’re going 
to want to cut by, unless you really know what you’re doing. Generally on your mix 
bus, you do want to be more subtle. 
  
So that’s approach #3. Just to summarize those 3 key approaches: first of all, try not 
to boost in that problematic frequency range of 200 to 400 hertz; secondly, treat that 
frequency range on individual channels; and then #3, treat that frequency range on 
the mix bus as well. 
  
Once you’ve done all of those things, it’s going to at least get rid of some of that 
mud. You can fix it with arrangement. Think about that first. But if it’s the typical rock 
band setup, you’re probably not going to be able to completely remove that 
problem without EQ as well. 
  
 
   

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How to Fix Thin Mixes 

 
This is a problem that’s not completely related to EQ; it’s a problem that a lot of the 
time is caused by the misuse of EQ. That’s a big cause, but actually it’s fixed by either 
avoiding those causes related to EQ, but mostly something that we’ve spoken about 
a lot in this series so far: arrangement. 
  
First of all let’s talk about what a thin mix is to me. When people ask me how they 
can fix a thin mix, I’ve found that generally what they’re referring to is one of two 
things. First of all it could be that the bottom end, the low end in their mix is lacking, 
so their mix sounds thin. If you play it on a larger speaker system, it doesn’t sound 
good because there’s no low end or the low end isn’t tight, the low end isn’t loud 
enough, or it’s just not there. 
  
Another thing that sometimes people call a thin mix is a really sparse mix. If there’s 
not much instrumentation, if there’s not a lot going on and there’s lots of space in 
the mix, it can start to sound a bit thin. Even if it had a massive bass part, if it was just 
a bass part and a single melody, that’s probably going to sound like quite a thin mix. 
  
I’m going to address those two things separately. First of all let’s talk about the first 
thing, which is a lack of low end. 
  
There’s two ways you can prevent this. First of all, I find the biggest reason people 
have a thin mix is because they get obsessed with high pass filtering. There’s a lot of 
people out there that give quite bad advice in the sense they tell people to high pass 
filter absolutely everything. 
  
High pass filter is just when you go in your EQ and you cut out all the low end like 
this. Now, there are situations where that is helpful, and when you don’t need the 
low end, get rid of it. That’s kind of how I like to summarize it. If you don’t need it, get 
rid of it. 
  
This applies to bass instruments too. If you’re working on a track and the kick is more 
responsible for the sub-bass, and the bass guitar is more responsible for the bass 
maybe between 50 and 200 hertz, then cut out everything below 50 on the bass. 
That’s going to tighten it up. Even with the sub, put a high pass filter at 30 or 20 
hertz, again just to clean it up. 
  
But you’re only cutting out the low end that you don’t need. If you start applying a 
high pass filter to absolutely everything and being really aggressive with it, you’re 

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going to lose all the warmth, and the low end of the mix is going to start to sound 
thin. 
  
So just be careful with high pass filters. Remove the low end if you don’t need it. On a 
vocal, again, I’ll remove everything below 60 hertz – usually higher, because it 
tightness up the bottom end. But then on an acoustic guitar, if it’s playing a lead 
part, then you probably want the low end. If it’s supportive, get rid of the low end. 
Just think about it. Don’t use a high pass filter on everything; only use it if you 
actually want to get rid of the low end or it’s causing a problem. So that’s one way 
you can prevent it. 
  
The second way is through arrangement. If you’re writing a piece, think about how 
the low end is going to sound. Think about the relationship between bass parts to 
melodic parts and rhythmic parts within the piece. Because if there’s no bass part, 
it’s probably going to sound thin again. 
  
Even the White Stripes, Jack White, a lot of the time of course it is just guitar and 
drums, but a lot of the time he does use a pitch shifter to add in a bass part. Because 
otherwise, a lot of the mixes sound thin. I’m not a huge fan, because I think most of 
their songs sound thin. I’m a bassist as well, so that’s probably why. But just to give 
you an example there. Think about the low end. 
  
If it’s a more electronic piece, you actually need to think about what’s providing the 
sub-bass, what’s going to provide the bass, whether that’s going to be the kick or a 
sine wave synth just really low. 
  
And if you’re producing rock music, of course, just put a bass guitar in there, but 
make sure they’re playing lower on the guitar. If they’re playing on the high octaves, 
it’s probably going to sound thin. Of course, it all depends, but think about the 
arrangement. 
  
Now, how do you fix a thin mix? If you’ve composed the piece, you’ve recorded a 
piece, and it comes out thin, how do you fix that? 
  
Well, again, you just need to address the arrangement. The way you go about that is 
going to depend mostly on the genre. 
  
If you’re working with rock music and you’ve got a bass guitar in there, but the tone 
isn’t right – maybe you cut the bass too much on the amp, or the bass just doesn’t 
sound good, maybe the tone of the bass itself you’re not happy with – so the mix 
comes out sounding a bit thin. 
  
With rock, you’ve got two options. If it’s modern, more alternative rock, you could use 
a sample that provides more low end to the kick bass, or you could just use a sine 

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wave and gate it to the kick bass so that every time the kick hits, the sine wave 
comes on at like 50 hertz. That’s a good trick just to add some low end. 
  
If you’ve got RBass or a plugin like that, RBass is a plugin from Waves that just 
creates new frequencies. Because it’s important to note that you can’t fix this by 
boosting the low end. Generally that’s not going to sound great. It depends how you 
go about it. If you use multiband compression or parallel compression, it can be a bit 
more convincing. But something like RBass, what it actually does, it creates new 
frequencies. You’re not just boosting what’s not there; you’re actually creating new 
frequencies, and this adds in more low end. So something like RBass works well for 
that. 
  
If you’re working with older styles of rock where maybe samples wouldn’t work – kick 
samples, that is – and you don’t want too much sub-bass, then you’re going to have 
to rely on a plugin like RBass and just tune it a bit so it’s a bit higher. 
  
Or with multiband compression, you can just really heavily compress the low end, 
maybe between 50 and 150 hertz, and leave everything else uncompressed. That 
should give you more of a constant, solid base to the track. 
  
Now, for electronic music, you need to think about just adding in parts. Add in, again, 
a sine on a kick or a good sub-kick sample, or you could add in a constant sine wave 
synth just as a sub, like a tune synth with just a sine wave, and that’s going to 
provide a really nice low end. 
  
This track I’ve got here is kind of electronic. It uses electronic drums. It has got 
guitars, but it’s mostly bass guitar and electronic piano, so it’s kind of an electronic 
track. Let’s have a listen with everything in first. 
  
Now let’s listen to that kick. You’ll see I’ve got two here. I’ve got kick and sub-kick. 
The kick on its own is just a sample, but it’s more of an acoustic kick sound. Just to 
bring it a bit more low end and give it a bit more thickness, I’ve also got a sub-kick, 
which is very electronic-sounding. Depending on what you listen on, you might not 
be able to hear it that well, if you’re listening on a phone or a laptop. Together, it 
sounds like this. That just provides more of the sub-bass, a bit more low end to the 
track. 
  
Equally, in the chorus, I’ve got a bass guitar. But then I’ve got a sub-bass part as well 
that’s on a synth. And together. That only comes in on the chorus; it gives the chorus 
some nice thickness, if you have a listen to that. 
  
So just think about arrangement. Think about new parts you could add in in that 
sub-bass or bass area that could make your mix sound less thin. 
  

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Two more genres worth mentioning. If it’s hip-hop, focus more on the kick and 
providing a really good kick sample with lots of sub-bass. If it’s pop, then it purely 
depends on the kind of pop it is. If it leans more toward the electronic side, think 
more about sub-kicks, sine synths, and really low constant synths or other ways you 
could provide bass. Or if it’s a rockier pop track, then think more about multiband 
compression, RBass, and maybe kick samples as well. 
  
If it’s a sparse mix, which is the other problem that sometimes people are referring to 
when they say their mix is thin, then you’ve got a different problem. You could have a 
sub-bass part, you could have a bass part, it could be a really thick, full mix – yet if it’s 
only two instruments or two parts, it’s going to sound quite thin. 
  
That’s where effects and automation really come into it. Because you’ve got so much 
space in the mix, you can afford to be more liberal with your use of reverb, your use 
of delays, your use of creative automation, and various other effects. 
  
Just to summarize now, thinness comes from normally an arrangement problem, as 
with most things regarding EQ. Try and fix it by introducing new parts, but also try to 
avoid using high pass filters, because that’s a big cause of thin mixes, when you start 
really high pass filtering everything too much or cutting too much low end out of 
absolutely everything. Your mix is going to start to sound thin. 
  
You can introduce new parts depending on the genre. For rock, try samples as well 
as multiband compression, plugins like RBass. Electronic, think about samples and 
low sine synths. For hip-hop, samples. Pop, it depends what kind of pop it is. And if 
it’s a sparse mix, try to use effects to fill it out a bit. 
  

   

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Ear Training Exercises 

 
Golden ears are a myth. As long as you have never damaged your hearing, your ears 
are just as good as the best mixers in the world. In fact, they probably have worse 
hearing than you after years of listening to music at high volume. 
 
So what’s holding you back? Why can’t you mix like them? The difference is that 
they are better at listening. Listening and hearing are two different things… 
 
You have the physical ability to hear the full extent of your mixes. What you’re really 
lacking are the listening skills that the professionals have developed. Over time, your 
listening abilities will naturally improve. EQ becomes easier, you gain the ability to 
instantly identify frequencies, and the finer details of compression reveal themselves. 
However, you can speed up that process with 3 easy steps.  

Better Listening in 3 Easy Steps 

There are 3 steps to better listening. 
 
1. Learn the frequency spectrum 
2. Train your ears with dedicated exercises and software 
3. Pay attention to frequencies when mixing 
 
Try not to do all of these at once. Focus on one step at a time, following them in 
order. 
Let’s break down each step…. 

Step 1 – Learn the Frequency Spectrum 

I can remember when the frequency spectrum seemed very daunting. I had no idea 
what 10kHz sounded like compared to 500Hz. I knew one was higher than the other 
– but that was about it. To be honest, it took me years to really grasp the entire 
frequency spectrum. Your goal is to be able to hear a frequency and identify it by ear 
(within a reasonable margin). 
Before we go over the important frequency ranges within the range of human 
hearing (and how they sound), we need to briefly cover some sciency stuff. Don’t 
worry. It won’t take long… 
 
You might already know that the frequency spectrum is logarithmic, not linear.  

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This means as the frequency increase, the gap between octaves grows. We don’t 
measure the range of human hearing in a linear way (​more info here​). Instead of 
counting up in a normal fashion (10Hz, 20Hz, 30Hz, 40Hz, 50Hz etc.), we count in a 
ratio of 1:2 (10Hz, 20Hz, 40Hz, 80Hz, 160Hz etc.). 
 
An octave above 100Hz is 200Hz. But an octave above 1kHz is 2kHz.  
In the first case one octave is 100Hz, but in the second case one octave is 1,000Hz. 
That’s ten times larger! A 100Hz difference in the low end is HUGE. But 100Hz in the 
top end is nothing. 100Hz and 200Hz sound very different. But 1kHz (1,000Hz) and 
1.1kHz (1,100Hz) sound very similar. 
 
Every frequency range can be described as having a certain tonal quality. Having the 
ability to pinpoint certain frequencies is great, but if you don’t know how that relates 
to tone, it isn’t much help. We covered this in the first chapter with frequency charts, 
so head back there if you need to recap. 
 
 
  
  

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Step 2 – Ear Training Exercises and Software 

Over time, you will learn how to identify different frequencies by ear through mixing. 
But you can significantly speed up that process through focused practice. It’s worth 
the small amount of time it takes. It’s a great skill to have, as it can significantly 
improve the quality and speed of your mixes. 
 
For example, if I notice a ringing on a drum, I can hear that it’s around 800Hz. It 
might not be exactly 800Hz, but that gives me an area to start in. If I couldn’t identify 
the frequency of the ringing, it would take me much longer to find it. 
 

 
  
Another example – on a vocal, I might hear that the aggression of a voice is pleasing, 
and I want to enhance it. Rather than using the ‘boost-and-sweep’ technique to find 
that element, I can instantly identify it (around 6kHz). 

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The quickest way to train your ears is with dedicated software. There are many 
options. Some free, some paid. Compared to the cost of a new piece of gear or a new 
plugin, it’s worth investing in some ear training software. It will get you MUCH 
further than a new plugin ever could. 
 
Here are some suggestions. I am not affiliated with any of these companies. These 
are just the best options I have found. 

Free Training Exercises 

● EQ Training 
● EQ Match 
● PureMix Quiz 

Premium Frequency Ear Training Software 

● QuizTones 
● Train Your Ears 

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Step 3 – Pay Attention to Frequencies When 

Mixing 

It’s easy to mix without paying real attention to the frequencies that you are 
boosting or cutting. This is one major downside of the ‘boost-and-sweep’ technique. 
It’s a great technique for beginners, but try to avoid it where possible. But, if you do 
use this technique, at least make a mental note of the frequency that you decide to 
cut/boost. 
 
Instead of just finding an ugly frequency range and instantly cutting it out, take a 
second to observe the frequency. Think about how it sounds when you boost or cut 
this range. How would you describe the tone? Here’s my preferred technique… 
 
When I notice a resonance or frequency range that needs addressing, I hum the 
frequency. Then I think about what frequency that might be. You don’t need to be 
exact – you just want to be in the rough area. With some practice, this is easier to do 
than it might seem. This is a much better way to work. It fits with the rule of having 
an intention before you reach for an EQ, rather than loading up a plugin and just 
playing around. Plus, you are training your ears at the same time. Even if you like to 
mix with templates and don’t like my approach, that’s fine!  

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Just take note of the frequencies that you are adjusting when you load a template. 
Listen to how those different frequencies ranges sound. 
 
Spending time on your listening skills is an important step in becoming a better 
mixer. Even if you only set aside an hour a week, it shouldn’t take too long to really 
develop your abilities.  
 
You will see a significant improvement in both your mixes and your enjoyment in 
mixing. 
 
Happy mixing! 
 
 

Rob Mayzes 
 
 

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