Sure! EQ and effects like that was an entire class for me in college haha!
EQ is definitely something that comes with time, and there's no exact science or way to explain it very easily but after enough practice you'll be able to say "oof that vocal line has a hiss to it and the high frequencies are too high yikes" and have some of your favorite compositions ruined by the mixing : D
no but jokes aside
here's a quick if this do this thing that i do for general purpose (but it always depends from mix to mix!!):
- if you can't hear the consonants very well or the vocals are "muddy," boost the high frequencies more and lower the bass a little bit
- if you can hear too much noise, lower the mid-high frequencies around 1K-2K range
- if you can't hear much of the vocal tone, boost the mid frequencies around 500-2K but beware of noise in the 1K/2K range!
and to run down the diff types of EQ plugins because there's different types out there too...
this kind of EQ plugin is my highest recommendation, though i mean like any plugin with the curve visualizer, frequency choosing, the type of EQ (low shelf or high pass? notch or peak?),and Q.
im gonna make a super brief tutorial here but ok so like:
- frq is the frequency you're cutting or boosting. the reason you should find a plugin that you can choose your frequency is because you need to be able to find the "problem" frequencies. for example in the screenshot above it looks like a problem frq is around 200 where they lowered the gain. some plugins, like the default ones with mixcraft 6 (idk about newer versions), have fixed ranges and that doesn't really work if you have a problem frq of like 700 but you can't reach there:
- gain is how much you're boosting or lowering the volume on that frequency; you want to boost parts that you like or need such as consonants or a lower frequencies for a warmer sound, but you want to lower the problem frequencies that bring out a more eh sound to ur thingy
- Q is your friend. Q never will betray you. Q loves you. Q is how wide you want the EQ curve to be depending on the type of EQ you selected for the frequency. the reason Q is your friend is if you put Q really high and use a high gain to "sweep the frequencies, the problem frequencies come out really easily and you'll be able to see where you need to cut. generally, if you're boosting your gain, i usually use a lower Q and a higher Q when i'm cutting frequencies.
- type of EQ: there are many types and i mentioned some of them but: low pass will cut all of the high frequencies past the threshold and high pass will do the opposite; it lets the lows pass or the highs pass. low SHELF will boost the low frequencies up to a certain threshold though and opposite for high shelf. peaks will work as a basic gain in a "mountain" (hence peak) or valley shape, but notch will completely take away a certain frequency so you should only use it if it's a GLARING issue with a very high (skinny) Q because it can be problematic if it's a frequency the melody uses.
and that's my crash course on EQ ur now graduated here's your hat and diploma
sorry if you werent looking for a super long post lol this was literally 12 full weeks of my life just learning EQ in school