Acoustic guitar and vocals make for a very intimate and classic combination, and when they account for the entirety of the “mix”, you don’t need to worry about frequency conflicts like you would when you have dozens of other elements fighting for the same space. That said, there are some things to keep in mind, so let’s talk how to EQ acoustic guitar and vocals.
How to EQ Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
Here is the cheat sheet for EQing acoustic guitar and vocals before I talk about each move individually.
You can drop this right on the master bus as the first effect in the chain to ensure we’re only leaving the good stuff for any subsequent processing:
High Pass at 70Hz to Remove Unwanted Noise
Let me preface every move I recommend here by saying that we can get away with some things that we normally wouldn’t be able to.
You can make bigger boosts than you normally would, leave in some frequencies you normally wouldn’t, and aren’t passing as aggressively as you normally would, either.
This is again because when we’re just EQing acoustic guitar and vocals, the mix is so empty that we don’t have to worry about fighting with a dozen or more other tracks.
One example comes early on in our first move of high passing at 70Hz. This is honestly lower than I would normally high pass on either my acoustic guitar OR vocals.
Still, I don’t want to eat into the entirety of the low end of our mix which is coming out from the lowest strings because without the presence of a bass, this IS the bass of our mix. There’s also no kick drum to account for and worry about stepping on here, either.
All that said, there’s nothing musical below 70Hz, so a 24dB/oct high pass filter will still help to clean up the low end rumble, room noise, and plain unwanted noise we may have picked up in the recording.
Boost at 150Hz to Add Fundamental Body to Vocal AND Guitar
150Hz is where that body of the vocal AND the guitar reside.
You get the richness of the vocal, but you’re also right there in the actual fundamental frequencies of the strings themselves, as is exemplified in this acoustic guitar frequency range chart:
As I just mentioned, this is basically the entire bass of our mix, so a little boost here can help to ground the acoustic guitar and establish that root note of the chords.
Don’t go overboard here; we don’t want to introduce boominess, particularly from the voice here.
Ideally the guitar was recorded effectively so that we don’t have sound hole boominess being picked up, either.
Incidentally, check out my tips for recording acoustic guitar and vocals.
Cut at 400Hz to Remove Muddiness and Add Clarity
I like a SMALL and preferably dynamic EQ cut at 400Hz to clean up muddiness and add clarity.
Again, with this being the entirety of our mix, I’m not too worried about mud, and I definitely don’t want to cut here to the point of thinning the acoustic guitar or vocal.
Aim for a 1-2dB dynamic cut to add a little clarity on that top end by way of subtractive EQ, saving you from having to do too much higher up.
Boost or Cut at 1.5k for Clarity and Character or Cleaning Up High-Mid Boxiness
Depending on the recording, gear, etc. you can get a little high-mid frequency boxiness around 1.5k which can be cleaned up with another very small (1-2dB) cut.
Conversely a little boost here can add character to the tone, particularly on the guitar.
Remember that this area is also very impactful on vocals. Boosting a bit too much in that 1.5k range can make a vocal sound nasally (conversely a cut can attenuate a nasally voice).
If the performance sounds hollow, a small boost in the 1.5k range can help that patch that up, as well.
This range may sound perfectly fine on its own, as well. Don’t tinker just to tinker, especially when you don’t have dozens of other track’s frequencies to worry about.
High Shelf at 3k to Boost String Percussiveness and Presence
You can bring out more of that percussive transient sound of the strings themselves with a little boost in the higher frequencies.
Another move I wouldn’t do in a busier mix, I like a high shelf at 3k to prop up those higher frequencies by 1-2dB to add clarity across the mix.
Again, transient punch isn’t something you need to worry about in such a simple mix where instruments aren’t going missing behind other tracks.
As such, favoring a brighter or warmer sound overall is mostly to taste here if you want to boost or leave this relatively flat.
After you have your acoustic guitar and vocal EQ’d properly, check out my complete guide on how to mix acoustic guitar and vocals for tips on compression, reverb stereo imaging, and more to get that acoustic guitar and vocal mix ready for release!
