EQ Frequency Ranges
| Range | What you hear | Mixing tip |
|---|---|---|
| 20–60 Hz | Sub-bass, rumble | High-pass most tracks except kick and bass. |
| 60–250 Hz | Low end, warmth, mud | Cut mud around 200–250 Hz on guitars and vocals. |
| 250–500 Hz | Boxiness, body | Small cuts here add clarity to dense mixes. |
| 500 Hz–2 kHz | Presence, intelligibility | Boost vocals gently around 1–3 kHz for articulation. |
| 2–6 kHz | Definition, harshness | De-ess sibilance around 4–7 kHz; add snap to snare. |
| 6–12 kHz | Air, brightness | High-shelf boost for sheen on vocals and cymbals. |
| 12–20 kHz | Sparkle, hiss | Roll off extreme highs to reduce noise if needed. |
Compression Quick Tips
- Ratio: 2:1–4:1 for gentle leveling; 6:1+ for control; 10:1+ is essentially limiting.
- Attack: Fast attack tames transients; slow attack lets punch through.
- Release: Auto-release works on most sources; faster releases add energy, slower ones sound smoother.
- Threshold: Lower threshold = more compression. Aim for 3–6 dB of gain reduction on most tracks.
- Make-up gain: Always match the compressed level to the uncompressed level to judge fairly.
- Parallel compression: Blend a heavily compressed copy with the dry signal for power without squash.
Reverb Pre-Delay
| Source | Pre-delay range | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Vocals | 20–60 ms | Keeps lyrics upfront while adding depth. |
| Snare | 15–40 ms | Adds slap and size without washing out the hit. |
| Pads / synths | 0–20 ms | Blends into a cohesive ambience. |
| Room reverb | 0–10 ms | Natural small-room glue. |
Gain Staging Guidelines
- Keep individual tracks peaking around -12 to -6 dBFS before plugins.
- Leave 3–6 dB of headroom on the master bus before mastering.
- Use input trims on plugins so you aren't overloading emulations.
- Mix with a loudness reference at similar perceived level to avoid level bias.
- When in doubt, turn the track down — a quieter source almost always takes processing better.