Making the vocal sit in the mix.

Equalizing a vocal track can be very tricky since sometimes it seems to sound like it was stuck on later, and doesn’t flow with the rest of the track.

Below are the five frequency ranges you can start with when you are in trouble and need to figure out how to equalize it so it sits with the song.

1. The much unneeded low range

Usually vocals can be filtered quite severely in the lowest range. When recording it’s good practice to turn the microphone’s low-cut filter on if it has one. Usually this cuts at 75 Hz, to avoid rumble while recording but during mixing you can filter it out even more.

Obviously this depends on the singer’s voice but I usually go for a little over 100 Hz. Listening is critical here because you don’t want to cut out the singer’s character, especially if he has a good presence there in the lower register. For female singers you can go even higher, just be sure what you want. But be careful of Barry White and Leonard Cohen type singers, they may need that extra rumble in their voice.

2. The thick 150 Hz

For rounding out a vocal and making it more thick and full I would search around the 150 Hz area. Some singers sound thin and nasally and can do with a little meat on their vocal chords. Boosting here can give the vocal more punch.

3. Honky-boxy 4-500 Hz

If your vocal track lacks definition and sounds boxy you can sweep around this area, even going so far as up to 800 Hz. Remember that when cutting you should have your Q pretty narrow because you are trying to repair your recording, and cutting too broadly from the EQ spectrum will severely compromise the natural sound of the vocal.

4. In your face presence of the 5 Khz

If your singer doesn’t seem to be cutting through the mix, he might need to be presented to 5Khz. It will push the track a little more to the front and give the singer a much needed presence.

5. Sibilance around the 7 Khz.

Some people pronounce plosives more extremely than others. The s’ and p’ sounds that have much more energy than other consonants. If your singer has an excess of s’s you can try cutting around 7 Khz. It will make the s’s less pronounced and won’t make them jump out too much. Better yet, inserting a de-esser or a compressor that only compresses the s area can work even better.

Obviously, treating vocals is an art and every case is different. These are only basic suggestions and one should search for the right frequencies on a case to case basis. But having an idea what you need and where to find it makes it all the more easier, and fun.

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