# What each frequency sounds like > Hear what 63 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz and up to 16 kHz sound like, each band boosted or cut on pink noise and a full mix, with a name for every one. Page: https://mixchops.com/learn/what-frequencies-sound-like By [Dan Murtagh](https://danmurtagh.com/about) · Updated 4 October 2026 **Short answer:** the lows are weight and body, the low mids are where mud and boxiness build up, the middle honks, the upper mids bite and bring things forward, and the top is sizzle and air. Mix Chops splits the range into nine bands, one octave apart, from 63 Hz to 16 kHz. Play each one below, boosted or cut, on pink noise and on a full mix, and learn a name for it. > **Demo** (plays in the browser on this page): Pink noise or a full mix with a 9 dB boost on one of the nine bands, 63 Hz to 16 kHz (a bell, Q 1.4). Pick a band and flip **EQ off** and **EQ on**. Drag the **gain** below zero to hear the band cut; the next band you pick keeps that setting. Both sides play at the same loudness, so what changes is the tone, not the volume. Start on pink noise: it plays every frequency at once, so you hear the band itself. Then switch to the full mix, where a band only changes the instruments that have something there. On the full mix, 16 kHz changes very little: this track, like the others in Mix Chops, has little energy up there. A cut is harder to hear than a boost, because you’re listening for something that’s gone. Use headphones or decent speakers: laptop and phone speakers can’t play the low bands. ## The nine bands ### 63 Hz: sub weight You feel this more than you hear it. Kick weight, 808 pressure. Small speakers can’t play it, so you keep adding more. That’s how mixes end up bass-heavy. ### 125 Hz: body and warmth The note of the bass, the body of the kick, the chest of a vocal. Too little and it sounds thin. Too much and everything gets thick and slow. ### 250 Hz: the mud zone Almost every instrument piles energy in here. If your mix sounds woolly or congested, look here first. I cut this band more than any other. ### 500 Hz: boxiness The cardboard box band. Untreated rooms build up here, so drums tracked in them come out hollow and knocky. A narrow cut usually sorts it. ### 1 kHz: honk Nasal, like a voice down a phone line. Vocals, guitars and horns all honk here when it’s overcooked. ### 2 kHz: bite and attack Pick attack, snare crack, the part of a vocal that cuts through the band. Your ears are very sensitive from here up, so small moves sound big. ### 4 kHz: presence and edge Consonants, stick on skin, the hard front of every note. A little brings things forward. Too much is what people usually mean by harsh. ### 8 kHz: sizzle Cymbals, breath and S sounds. De-essers work around here for a reason. ### 16 kHz: air Openness above everything else. A gentle shelf up here opens a mix up. Go too far and you’re just turning up hiss. A problem that sits between two of these? The names still help: they tell you which way to listen. For mud in the low mids, [How to fix a muddy mix](https://mixchops.com/learn/fix-a-muddy-mix) walks through finding it and cutting it. Where each instrument sits across the bands is on the [EQ frequency chart](https://danmurtagh.com/eq-frequency-chart) on danmurtagh.com. ## Hz, kHz and octaves **Hz** (hertz) counts vibrations a second, so 63 Hz is 63 a second. **kHz** is a thousand of them: 1 kHz is 1,000 Hz, and 16 kHz is 16,000. Each band here is an **octave** above the last, twice the frequency. Ears hear octaves as even steps, which is why EQ graphs are spaced that way. Spaced in octaves, 1 kHz sits in the middle of the nine bands, with four below it and four above. Doubling the frequency is also what moves a note up an octave, so the nine bands sit close to the same note, a B. As pure tones, 250 Hz is close to the B below middle C, 500 Hz the B above it, and 1 kHz the B an octave higher. 8 kHz and 16 kHz are far above the top note of a piano, about 4.2 kHz. In a mix you don’t hear a band as a note, though. You hear it as a colour across everything playing there. ## Below 63 Hz, and above 16 kHz People hear from about 20 Hz to about 20 kHz. Below 63 Hz is the deepest sub: the open E string of a bass guitar is about 41 Hz, and under that is mostly rumble you feel. Plenty of speakers and headphones barely play it. Above 16 kHz is the last of the air, and hearing up there fades with age, so many adults hear little of it. ## Telling neighbours apart Much of the work is telling a band from the ones either side of it: 125 from 250 Hz, 2 from 4 kHz. Play two neighbours in the demo one after the other, then put the difference into words. [How to train your ears for EQ](https://mixchops.com/learn/train-your-ears-for-eq) has a way to tell apart every neighbouring pair. ## Questions ### What does 40 Hz sound like? A deep rumble you feel as much as hear. It’s about the lowest note of a four-string bass, whose open E is about 41 Hz. Many speakers and headphones barely play it, so it’s easy to have too much of it without knowing. ### What does 500 Hz sound like? As a pure tone, close to the B above middle C. In a mix, 500 Hz is boxiness: too much and things sound hollow and wooden, like they’re in a cardboard box. ### What does 1 kHz sound like? As a pure tone, a fairly high note, close to the B nearly two octaves above middle C. In a mix, 1 kHz is honk: too much and vocals, guitars and horns sound nasal. ### What frequency range can humans hear? About 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The top of that range fades with age. ### Why can’t I hear 63 Hz on my laptop? Laptop and phone speakers are too small to play the lowest bands, so 63 and 125 Hz turn into guesswork. Use headphones or decent speakers. ### What’s the difference between Hz and kHz? A kHz is a thousand Hz: 1 kHz is 1,000 Hz. Both count vibrations a second. Low notes are tens or hundreds of Hz; the top of the range is in kHz. ## Name the band *by ear.* Identify plays a boost or a cut on one of these nine bands, and you name it. It starts on pink noise with three bands to choose from, and ends on full mixes. Sweep hides a boost and has you find it, against the clock. [Train it in Identify](https://mixchops.com/eq/identify) Then: [Sweep](https://mixchops.com/eq/sweep) · 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 - [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 - [Mix problems you can hear](https://mixchops.com/learn/mix-problems): Muddy, boxy, harsh, sibilant, dull - [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 - [All of Learn](https://mixchops.com/learn): Every explainer and guide, and what it trains