Equalization On Kick and Snare Drums

Equalization – or EQ for short – on drums is pretty important. Arguably the two most important drums to focus on in a standard drum kit are the kick and the snare. In the video below, you’ll see some excellent tips on EQ settings for both of those drums.

Basically, you want to add some energy at 70 and 100 Hz for the kick, for that boomy bassy sound. This also leaves you room to boost your bass guitar at around 80 hz to help it not conflict with the kick. There are a few other settings he shows you as well.

For the snare, it starts out with boosting the highs from 5 KHz and up using a shelving EQ (lifts all the frequencies at the target frequency and above (or below for a low-end shelf) for added sizzle, crack and air. Then for some punch and presence, there is a boost at about 250 Hz.

They use Apple’s Logic Express (the baby brother of Logic Pro) for their demo, but the same tips are true for any mixing session or software you use, including Reaper.

Check out the video below: