Best EQ Filter For Mixing A Guitar

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What are good EQ filter for Guitars? You know the second most used musical instrument is in the world? You guessed it, a harmonica.....just kidding! The guitar is actually the second most popular musical instrument....shocker right?

I feel like when I was growing up all the guys had either drums or guitars and were out to become the next band hit of the universe. Judging off of my mom friends today I would say that the trend has not ended in anyway.

Learning how to play is part of the process, but making it sound good with good EQ during performance can bring your game (especially the guitar game) to a whole new level.

When I invaded the music industry I came to realize the mass amounts of tiny bands that bust their asses to trek across the globe to non-stop shows. Let's just say it's hundreds of thousands and most of us have never heard one song of theirs. One medium-sized band (still most would never have heard of it) came to one of my friend's sound studio's events. When we asked the tired lot where they had been prior apparently we were number three show in the last 48hrs; btw this includes them flying overseas and back, and they were off to another show within 16 hrs. Sounds crazy but this is actually a norm for many bands. So if your kiddos really want to join a band they better be ready to play, play baby! Better love that guitar...and drums because learning to play is only half the battle.

One of the things we went over the last post was that having a good mixer and mic is only a very small part of the battle to get your sound mix to a smooth chef kiss! Using your mixer to create a good EQ filter for your guitar (or musical input) is really going to make the music ring!

Having a good EQ along with phasing is GOALS! EQ or equalizations is tech that works on getting the hertz that will muddy your mix out. So highly important. Mixers have built-in EQ controls that will do good cuts, but getting a good EQ mixer system to do drastic cuts to your mix will REALLY help. You can also do this in Pro-tools but if you are doing live then a good EQ filter on the mixer is goals.

Overall getting some EQ in your mix is really important. Otherwise, you're going to sound like that pre-k music class where every kiddo is just hitting an instrument because it makes sounds. You know like nails on a chalkboard fun!

What hertz do you want to cut (EQ filter) with a high or low pass filter to get the channel sweet for your guitar?

Bass Guitar: recommended to do lows at 60-120hz cut everything else, add in mids around 300hz to pick up the bass on the speakers and then maybe some 800hz. Highs you want to keep around 1500-2k top-end to make the mix pop and cut the rest.

Acoustic: General guidance from the pros is usually anything lower after 50 get filtered out. The hertz that make it pop are about 2-3k and anything over that it can depend on what makes that guitar really shine.

Electric Distorted: again general guidance - lows you want 50-60hz possible build ups to the mid 100s and cut the rest. Mids around 400-1k and highs 3-4k. Watch out for compression because these guys are already compressed.

Ultimately listen to your mix and adjust. What does the mix actually sound like? Sometimes you need to pull up or down the hertz depending on what your mix. Also adding phasing to your mixer will help keep your mix clear and crisp so that the sound waves are not canceling each other out.

Watch your mix for smack and bottom end...is there to much? Does your bottom end fight with the kick drum? Then pop-up the lows to the guitar while pulling the kick drum lower. Is there a lot of smack then watch the 1-1600ks. What needs to be boosted? It is all a lovely science that I am in no way a master of and always learning :) Have fun!