Yesterday, I sent an email about EQ and how much difference it can make to a voice.
Today, I want to explain how EQ actually works.
Understanding this will make it much easier to find the right EQ settings for your voice.
First, a common misunderstanding about EQ
Many beginners think EQ can instantly fix any audio.
That’s not really how it works.
EQ is powerful, but it isn’t magic. It takes practice and a bit of listening skill.
In fact, some audio engineers charge $300–$500 just to create a custom EQ for a voice.
Why?
Because every voice is different.
A setting that works beautifully for one person might sound terrible on someone else.
That’s why finding the right EQ takes time and experience.
To understand EQ, we need to talk about frequency
All sound is made of vibrations.
For example:
A guitar makes a sound when the strings vibrate.
Your voice makes sound when your vocal cords vibrate.
These vibrations travel through the air and reach your ears.
The speed of these vibrations is called frequency.
Frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz).
For example:
1 vibration per second = 1 Hz
100 vibrations per second = 100 Hz
1,000 vibrations per second = 1 kHz
But when you hear a voice, you’re not hearing just one frequency.
You’re hearing many frequencies at the same time.
Some are strong.
Some are weak.
All together they form the sound of the voice.
The key idea behind EQ
A voice recording is basically a collection of many frequencies, each with different levels of energy.
EQ allows you to adjust those levels.
Instead of changing the volume of the entire audio (like Normalize or Amplify), EQ lets you adjust specific frequencies only.
You can:
Boost a frequency → make it louder
Cut a frequency → reduce it
By doing this, you can make a voice sound:
clearer
smoother
warmer
less harsh
The tricky part of EQ
The difficult part is knowing which frequencies to adjust.
There isn’t a single correct answer.
This is why EQ often feels confusing at first.
Most engineers find good EQ settings by doing something called an EQ sweep.
They adjust the frequency, listen carefully, and decide whether the sound improves.
It’s a mix of:
experimentation
ear training
understanding how frequencies behave
Over time, this becomes much easier.
A helpful tool: EQ charts
One thing that helps beginners a lot is an EQ chart.
These charts show the typical areas where certain voice characteristics live.
For example:
where muddiness often appears
where clarity lives
where harshness usually sits
They aren’t exact rules, but they give you a starting point.
A good one to look at is the Producer Hive EQ chart.
What we’ll talk about next
In the next email, I’ll explain something very practical:
How to use EQ to remove problematic frequencies from your voice.
Before that email arrives, take a look at an EQ chart if you can. It will help you understand the next explanation much more easily.
If you want a custom EQ for your voice
If you already see the value of EQ and want a custom EQ designed specifically for your voice, I offer that as a service.
You can send me a raw recording, and I’ll create a demo EQ so you can hear the difference before deciding.
Learn more here:
https://www.patreon.com/master_editor/shop/customized-eq-macro-or-preset-of-your-512300
- Akhtar
Master Editor
P.S. You can take Premium Consulting to learn every detail and practical skill on EQ and beyond
