# Muddy, boxy, harsh: mix problems you can hear > What a muddy, boxy, honky, harsh, sibilant or dull mix sounds like, where each usually lives, and a level-matched demo of each on a full mix. Page: https://mixchops.com/learn/mix-problems By [Dan Murtagh](https://danmurtagh.com/about) · Updated 27 September 2026 **Short answer:** most mix problems are too much of one range of frequencies. **Muddy** is too much in the low mids, roughly 200 to 400 Hz. **Boxy** sits around 300 to 600 Hz, **honky** around 1 kHz, **harsh** around 2 to 4 kHz, and **sibilance**, hard S sounds, around 5 to 9 kHz. **Dull** is too little up top, where the air is. The exact spot moves with the instrument and the song, so learn what each one sounds like, then find it by ear. > **Demo** (plays in the browser on this page): The same full mix with one problem added at a time: a 7 dB bump where each problem usually lives, or the top shelved down 8 dB for dull. Flip **Clean** and the problem. Both play at the same loudness, so you hear the colour of the problem, not a change in volume. The ranges below are where each problem usually lives. Engineers draw the lines in slightly different places, and the spot moves with the instrument, so treat them as where to start looking. For where each instrument sits, see the [EQ frequency chart](https://danmurtagh.com/eq-frequency-chart) on danmurtagh.com. ## Muddy: the low mids **Roughly 200 to 400 Hz.** A muddy mix sounds thick and woolly. Notes blur into each other, words lose their edges, and the mix gets bigger without getting clearer. It happens because almost every instrument has energy here, so it piles up: guitars, keys, the upper part of the bass, the body of the kick, the chest of a voice, and reverb on all of them. The fix is rarely one big cut on the mix. Find the part adding the most, cut it there, and high-pass the parts that don’t need low end. Cut where it’s piling up, not on every track, or the mix goes thin. ## Boomy: the low end **Below about 200 Hz.** Boomy is one bass note jumping out, a kick that swells, a low end that feels heavy and slow. Rooms and headphones both play tricks down here, so check boom on more than one system before you cut it. [Mixing on headphones](https://mixchops.com/learn/mixing-on-headphones) has a check for it. ## Boxy **Around 300 to 600 Hz.** Boxy sounds hollow, like the sound is coming out of a cardboard box. Drums recorded in small rooms and instruments miked close often have it. It usually sits in a narrower band than mud, so a narrower cut often sorts it. ## Honky **Around 700 Hz to 1.5 kHz.** Nasal, like a voice down a phone line. Vocals, guitars, horns and piano all honk when there’s too much here. ## Harsh **Around 2 to 4 kHz.** Hard and tiring to listen to: the mix pokes at you, and you want to turn it down. Ears are very sensitive in this range, so a few dB too much is enough. Guitars, vocals and cymbals are the usual suspects. Judge harshness at a moderate level: turned up loud, everything sounds harsher. ## Sibilance: the S sounds **Around 5 to 9 kHz.** Sibilance is S, T and SH sounds that spit or hiss louder than the rest of the voice. Where it sits depends on the singer, the mic and the words, so find it with a narrow boost and a sweep. A bright EQ move on a vocal makes it worse. The usual fix is a de-esser, which turns that range down only when an S hits, rather than a static EQ cut that dulls every word. > **Demo** (plays in the browser on this page): The vocal from the mix above with an 8 dB bump at 7 kHz, the kind of bright move that makes sibilance worse. Flip **Clean** and **Sibilant**, with the band or on its own. Listen to the S and T sounds, and the breaths. ## Dull, and the air band **Air is roughly 10 kHz and up.** It’s less a note than a sense of openness: breath, the shimmer of cymbals, the room. A dull mix has too little up there, and sounds like it’s under a blanket. A gentle high shelf opens it up; too much and you’re turning up hiss and S sounds. [Shelving EQ](https://mixchops.com/learn/shelving-eq) has a demo. ## How to find a problem by ear 1. **Name it first.** Muddy, boxy, honky, harsh, sibilant, dull. The name tells you where to look. 2. **Find the instrument.** Listen for which part the problem is in, with the mix playing. Solo only to confirm. 3. **Boost and sweep.** On that part, set a fairly narrow boost and sweep it slowly through the range. The problem jumps out when you’re on it. 4. **Turn the boost into a cut,** of the smallest amount that fixes it. Then flip it off and on, at the same level, with the mix playing. ## Questions ### What frequency range are the low mids? Roughly 200 to 500 Hz. Engineers draw the line in slightly different places. It’s the range where most instruments overlap, which is why it’s where mud builds up, usually in the lower part. ### Why does my mix sound muddy? Usually too many parts with too much in the low mids at once: guitars, keys, bass, kick, vocals and their reverb all adding up around 200 to 400 Hz. Find the parts adding the most and cut there, high-pass what doesn’t need low end, and check on more than one system. ### What frequency is sibilance? Usually somewhere between about 5 and 9 kHz. It varies with the singer, the mic and the words, so find it by ear: sweep a narrow boost until the S sounds jump out. A de-esser is the usual fix. ### What frequency is boxy? Usually around 300 to 600 Hz. It’s often narrower than mud, so a narrower cut usually does it. ### What frequency is air? The top of the range, roughly 10 kHz and up. A small high shelf boost there opens a mix up. ### What’s the difference between muddy and boomy? Boomy is lower, below about 200 Hz: the bass and kick swelling. Muddy is the low mids above it, where everything piles up and loses definition. ## Find the instrument *that’s wrong.* Fix the Mix plays a full mix as separate instruments. One of them has a problem, muddy, boomy, boxy, honky, ringy, harsh or brittle: name it, find the instrument, and cut it there. Hunt hides a ringing resonance for you to find with a sweep and cut out. [Train it in Fix the Mix](https://mixchops.com/eq/fixmix) Then: [Hunt](https://mixchops.com/eq/hunt) · Free, in your browser, no account ## More in Learn - [What is EQ?](https://mixchops.com/learn/what-is-eq): What an equaliser does, heard on a mix - [What each frequency sounds like](https://mixchops.com/learn/what-frequencies-sound-like): Nine bands, 63 Hz to 16 kHz - [Parametric EQ](https://mixchops.com/learn/parametric-eq): Frequency, gain and Q - [High-pass and low-pass filters](https://mixchops.com/learn/high-pass-low-pass-filters): Including the high-pass on a vocal - [Shelving EQ](https://mixchops.com/learn/shelving-eq): High shelf, low shelf, and a bell - [What does a compressor do?](https://mixchops.com/learn/what-does-a-compressor-do): Threshold, ratio and attack, on drums - [Mixing on headphones](https://mixchops.com/learn/mixing-on-headphones): What they hide, and how to check - [How to train your ears for EQ](https://mixchops.com/learn/train-your-ears-for-eq): A routine, and the bands people mix up - [Critical listening](https://mixchops.com/learn/critical-listening): What it is, and how to train it - [How to find resonant frequencies](https://mixchops.com/learn/find-resonant-frequencies): Boost, sweep, cut - [Subtractive EQ](https://mixchops.com/learn/subtractive-eq): Cut first, and how to practise it - [How to fix a muddy mix](https://mixchops.com/learn/fix-a-muddy-mix): Find the part, then cut - [How to build a static mix](https://mixchops.com/learn/build-a-static-mix): Drums first, vocal last - [All of Learn](https://mixchops.com/learn): Every explainer and guide, and what it trains