Learn EQ by ear
Explainers and practice guides, each with a demo you can play. Hear the idea on music split into separate instruments, flip it off and on, then train it in the exercise that goes with it.
Explainers
The ideas behind EQ and mixing, each with a demo.
- Trains: Identify
What is EQ?
What an equaliser does to a sound, on a real mix: a range of frequencies turned up or down.
Hear it - Trains: Identify, Sweep
What each frequency sounds like
Play each of the nine bands boosted or cut, on noise and a mix, and learn a name for every one.
Hear it - Trains: Sweep, Restore
Parametric EQ
Frequency, gain and Q, the three controls on every bell band. Hear what each one does.
Hear it - Trains: Cuts Only
High-pass and low-pass filters
Take out everything below or above a point. Where a high-pass goes on a vocal, and when it goes too far.
Hear it - Trains: Cuts Only
Shelving EQ
Lift or lower everything above or below a frequency, and how a shelf differs from a bell and a filter.
Hear it - Trains: Fix the Mix, Hunt
Mix problems you can hear
Muddy, boxy, honky, harsh, sibilant and dull: what each sounds like and where to look for it.
Hear it - Trains: Daily Session
Mixing on headphones
It works if you know what your headphones hide. Check the low end, then train on what you mix on.
Hear it
Practice guides
How to train a skill by ear: a routine, what to listen for, and the exercise that drills it.
- Trains: Identify, Daily Session
How to train your ears for EQ
A short daily routine: start on pink noise with a few bands, move to music, and learn the neighbours you confuse.
Practise it - Trains: Daily Session, Restore
Critical listening
Listening for what is actually there: what critical listening is, why loudness fools it, and how to practise.
Practise it - Trains: Hunt, Sweep
How to find resonant frequencies
Find a ringing frequency by ear with a narrow boost and a sweep, then cut it, and practise until it gets quick.
Practise it - Trains: Cuts Only, Fix the Mix
Subtractive EQ
Fix a sound by taking away what is in the way rather than adding more. When to cut, and how to practise it.
Practise it - Trains: Fix the Mix, Solo to Context
How to fix a muddy mix
Mud is the low mids piling up. Find the part adding the most with the band playing, then cut there.
Practise it
How the demos work
Every demo plays in your browser, most of them on music split into separate instruments, so a move can be made on the whole mix or on one part of it. Press play, then flip between the two sides. Where the point is the tone, the processed side plays at the same loudness as the clean side, so it can’t sound better just by being louder. Each demo says whether its levels are matched.
Use headphones or decent speakers. Laptop and phone speakers can’t play the lowest bands, so the low end turns into guesswork.
Looking for which frequencies each instrument lives in? That’s the EQ frequency chart on danmurtagh.com. Ready to train? See all the exercises.