A good trick for dialing in a high-frequency shelving EQ

You know how sometimes a sound has a bit too much high end generally? But it can be hard to figure out exactly how much and exactly where? Here’s a little technique for focusing in on that.

I like to use a high shelving EQ for this; typically the one in the SSL 9000 J channel strip that’s on every track in every song I work on. The high shelf has two knobs: frequency and gain. Both knobs default to straight up — 7500-ish Hz and 0 dB, respectively. Like so:

What I like to do is to take a quick guess at where the shelf’s frequency should be. Hi-hat? Maybe 7500 Hz is a fine starting point. Distorted guitar? Maybe more like 5000 Hz. You get an idea after a while where these frequencies roughly live.

Then I start to turn the gain knob down slowly, until it feels like I have generally the right amount of reduction. The frequency might not be exactly right, but you can hear the effect on the frequencies above, and you can kind of hear whether it’s too much or too little.

And then once I have an amount of gain reduction that seems roughly right, I gently sweep the frequency until the sound clicks into place. You can hear when it does; all of a sudden it just sounds right.

Turning the frequency knob counterclockwise darkens the sound; turning it to the right opens the top end up. All you have to do is find a balance between the two that makes you happy!

Methodically — jamie