The vocal EQ map in one pass: cut everything below 80–100 Hz (rumble), cut 2–4 dB around 200–500 Hz if muddy, cut 400–800 Hz if boxy, tame 800 Hz–1.5 kHz honk with a narrow cut, boost 3–5 kHz gently for presence, control 5–9 kHz with a de-esser rather than EQ, and add a 1–3 dB shelf above 10 kHz for air.
- Every tonal complaint about a vocal — muddy, boxy, honky, harsh, dull — maps to a specific frequency range with a known fix.
- Cut narrow to remove problems, boost wide to shape character; big narrow boosts almost always sound wrong.
- The 200–500 Hz mud zone is where most home-recorded vocals need their first cut.
- Don't EQ away sibilance (5–9 kHz) statically — that dulls the whole vocal; use a de-esser instead.
- A cheat sheet gives starting ranges, not answers: sweep to find the exact frequency in your recording.
How to use a cheat sheet without mixing by numbers
Frequency charts get a bad reputation because people apply them blindly — cutting 300 Hz because a chart said so, whether or not the recording has a problem there. Used correctly, a cheat sheet does something narrower and more useful: when you hear a problem you can name ('boxy', 'harsh', 'thin'), it tells you where to start looking.
The workflow: hear the problem, look up its range below, then sweep to confirm. In EQ Eight, enable a band, set a narrow Q around 4–6, boost it +6 dB temporarily, and drag it across the suspect range while the vocal plays. The problem frequency will jump out — it gets dramatically uglier under the boost. Park the band there, flip the gain to a cut, and widen the Q until it sounds natural.
The vocal frequency map
Below 80 Hz — rumble (cut it)
No useful vocal content lives here, only mic-stand thumps, room rumble, and plosive energy. High-pass at 80–100 Hz on nearly every vocal; up to 120 Hz if the mix is dense. This is the one chart entry you can apply without listening first.
100–250 Hz — body and boom
The fundamental of most voices. Too little and the vocal sounds thin and small; too much (common with close-miked recordings, thanks to proximity effect) and it booms. Adjust in 1–2 dB moves — this range changes the perceived size of the singer.
200–500 Hz — mud
The most commonly cut range on home recordings. Untreated rooms pile reflections up here, and the result reads as 'woolly' or 'congested'. A wide 2–4 dB cut around 250–400 Hz cleans up most bedroom vocals. Cut too much and you land in the next problem: a hollow, scooped sound.
400–800 Hz — boxiness
The 'singing into a cardboard box' zone. Small-room resonances and some mic colorations live here. Narrow cuts of 2–3 dB usually fix it; sweep to find the exact spot because box resonances are room-specific.
800 Hz–1.5 kHz — honk and nasality
When a vocal sounds nasal or honky, this is where. It's also where a lot of a voice's identity lives, so cut conservatively — 1–3 dB, medium Q — or you'll sand the character off the singer.
1.5–5 kHz — intelligibility and presence
Consonant energy and articulation. A wide, gentle 1–3 dB boost around 3–5 kHz brings a vocal forward without extra volume — this is the 'clarity' knob. But the ear is most sensitive here, so it's also where over-boosting turns into listening fatigue fastest.
5–9 kHz — sibilance
S, T, and CH energy. The trap: cutting here statically dulls the entire vocal to fix a problem that only exists during esses. Use a de-esser — dynamic reduction that acts only when sibilance happens — and leave the EQ alone.
10 kHz and up — air
Breath, sheen, and the expensive-studio quality of modern pop vocals. A 1–3 dB high shelf from 10–12 kHz adds it. If the shelf brings hiss or harshness up with it, the recording is the limit — more shelf won't create air that the mic didn't capture.
Cuts vs. boosts: the rules that keep you honest
- Cut before you boost. Removing 3 dB of mud makes the vocal brighter without touching the highs — and without the harshness a high boost can add.
- Cut narrow (Q 3–8), boost wide (Q 0.7–1.5). Surgical removal, gentle shaping.
- Keep total boosts modest. If you need more than 4–5 dB anywhere, the problem is usually the recording or a masking instrument, not the EQ.
- EQ in context. A vocal EQ'd solo always ends up too thick — judge every move against the full mix.
- Level-match when comparing. An EQ boost makes things louder, and louder wins every A/B unless you compensate.
Where these moves sit in the chain
Split the chart across two EQ instances: the cuts (rumble, mud, boxiness, honk) belong in a cleanup EQ before your compressor, and the boosts (presence, air) belong in a tone EQ after dynamics. The reasoning — compressors behave better on cleaned-up signals, and post-compression boosts stay stable — is covered in our vocal chain order guide.
This is also how PhantomRack structures its generated racks: an EQ Eight cleanup stage placed before compression — informed by your dry vocal's fingerprint when you upload one — and a separate tone-shaping EQ after dynamics that pushes brightness toward the reference's measured spectrum. The cheat sheet above is essentially what the analysis automates — sweep, identify, cut — computed instead of heard.
Frequently asked questions
What frequencies should I cut on vocals?
Almost always: below 80–100 Hz (high-pass). Frequently: 2–4 dB somewhere in 200–500 Hz for mud. As needed: 400–800 Hz for boxiness, 800 Hz–1.5 kHz for honk. Sweep with a narrow boost to find the exact frequency before cutting.
What frequencies make vocals sound professional?
It's less about magic frequencies and more about balance: controlled lows (high-passed), a clean low-mid range, gentle presence around 3–5 kHz, tamed sibilance, and a touch of air above 10 kHz. Professional vocals are defined as much by what's removed as what's boosted.
Should I EQ vocals before or after compression?
Both: subtractive cuts before the compressor, additive boosts after it. Cuts first keep the compressor from reacting to junk; boosts after stay stable instead of being flattened by gain reduction.
Why does boosting highs make my vocal harsh instead of airy?
Usually because sibilance (5–9 kHz) rides up with the boost, or because the boost is centered too low — harshness lives around 3–8 kHz, air above 10 kHz. De-ess first, then shelf higher and gentler than instinct suggests.
Hear it onyour voice.
PhantomRack turns everything in this guide into a finished rack: upload a reference, download a stock-Ableton .adg tuned to it. First rack is free — no card required.