How EQ works on your voice - EQ Tutorial Series - Part 2

(This post is part of the EQ tutorial series)

To get the best EQ settings for your voice, it’s important to understand what EQ actually does to audio.

Many beginners think EQ can instantly make any audio sound perfect. This is a misconception. 

People assume this because of the powerful effect EQ can have and how experts talk about it. But EQ isn’t a magic tool; it requires a lot of skill. 

In fact, audio engineers charge between $300 and $500 just to create a custom EQ for someone’s voice. And that price isn’t for presets—it’s for crafting a unique EQ from scratch. 

The more famous the engineer, the higher the price.

Why is custom EQ that expensive? There are two main reasons:

1. EQ can make a voice sound clear, rich, and vibrant.

2. Finding the right EQ is a complex process, and no two voices need the same settings.

In this post, we’ll focus on the second reason: the complexity of finding the right EQ for a specific voice. If these EQ tutorials seem confusing at first, don’t worry. 

As you gain more experience in audio editing, you’ll start to understand it better. It’s a learning process.

To understand EQ, you first need to know about sound frequency. Sound frequency measures the vibrations of sound particles. 

Think of it as the number of vibrations coming from a sound source. These vibrations travel through the air and reach our ears. For example, a guitar produces sound when its strings vibrate. 

When people talk, their vocal cords vibrate.

Frequency is the rate of these vibrations. If something vibrates once per second, its frequency is 1 Hz. 

If it vibrates 100 times per second, it’s 100 Hz. 

If it vibrates 1,000 times per second, it’s 1 kHz. 

When we listen to sound, we don’t hear just one frequency. We hear a mix of different frequencies at varying volumes.

Here’s the key idea: sound is a combination of frequencies with different energy levels. In other words, each frequency in a sound has a different amount of energy. 

You can even see this energy distribution. In Audacity, go to the “Plot Spectrum” option in the Analyze menu. In Adobe Audition, you can view it with the Parametric Equalizer effect when playing audio.

EQ is a tool that lets us adjust these frequencies by changing their volume levels. Boosting a frequency increases its volume, while cutting a frequency lowers it. 

But how do you know which frequencies to boost or cut? This is where EQ gets tricky. There’s no single answer; you have to experiment. 

This process, known as an “EQ Sweep,” involves testing different frequencies by boosting or cutting them and then listening to see if it improves the sound. 

It’s a bit trial-and-error and takes ear training and knowledge of the frequency spectrum.

A good place to start is with an EQ chart, like the one from Producer Hive. 

You’ll find many charts like this, each showing how different frequencies affect sound. 

These charts give you general guidance but aren’t exact instructions. They’re based on how engineers think about frequencies and can help you get familiar with how frequencies work.

If you already understand the value of EQ and are interested in a custom EQ for your voice, I offer a service for $127. 

You can send me an audio file, and I’ll provide a demo before you commit to purchasing. This way, you can hear the potential results of a custom EQ on your own voice.