Like kick EQ and live snare EQ, floor toms and rack toms can benefit from EQ in a live setting same as any piece in your kit. Follow this live tom EQ cheat sheet for tips on how to sculpt your toms to get them sounding their best live.
Live Tom EQ Cheat Sheet
Let’s break this down frequency by frequency for the recommended cuts or boosts for each section to bring out the best in your live toms, beginning with the low end. Note that I’ll be identifying different ranges for both the floor and kegs as the keg toms deal in somewhat higher frequencies and vice versa:
High Pass Around 50Hz (70Hz for Rack)
I preach the importance of high pass filtering every track in your mix for its numerous benefits, and the floor and rack toms are no exception.
The interesting thing about the floor tom is that it shares the same body frequency range as the kick drum, specifically in that 70Hz range.
As such, we’re not high passing to create room FOR the kick, but rather to simply remove inaudible noise that we don’t need in the live kick.
I like to high pass the floor tom at 50Hz simply for the purposes of cleaning it up, and likewise high pass the rack tom at 70-80Hz.
With the rack tom you’re removing bleed from the kick in particular with that 70-80Hz high pass filter, as well.
Use a 12dB/oct or up to a 24dB/oct slope for an average to tight filter and move on.
Boost/Cut at 70Hz for Floor Tom Body
As I just mentioned, the floor tom’s body exists around 70Hz.
With that in mind, you can add more richness to the body of the floor tom with a boost at 70Hz. Alternatively, you can cut here to mitigate the boom in an overly boomy floor tom.
Let’s move on to the rack toms which understandably have their body higher up.
Boost/Cut at 350Hz for Rack Tom Body
Note that the live rack toms have a little bit of range within and around the frequencies I’m mentioning specific to them which is commensurate with their size with small toms obviously being higher and thinner.
On average, you can boost at 350Hz to bring out more body in your live rack toms, or you can clean up some muddiness with a cut here.
You can actually cut here to favor the higher end and add clarity by way of subtractive EQ, as well.
It really comes down to what the drum(s) calls for in your particular room.
Cut at 400Hz to Attenuate Floor Tom Ring
You know that characteristic ringing you get from your floor tom when you hear it.
This tends to creep up around 400Hz, so a cut can mitigate the effect of this artifact.
I prefer a conservative cut with the aim being of mitigating the effect rather than snuffing it out altogether which undoubtedly eats into the character of the floor tom.
If you’re mixing a live recording after the performance, I favor a dynamic EQ cut, targeting the most offending instance of the ring to set my threshold so everything is cut accordingly and proportionately.
Cut at 600Hz to Remove Rack Tom Boxiness
I find the live rack toms get unflatteringly boxy in the 600Hz area, especially in a live setting.
A small cut here benefits the rest of the tom’s character in cleaning it up and letting its natural tone shine through.
Boost Around 5-6k (Depending on Tom) for Transient
Like the snare, the tom drums have that transient “crack” which comes from the stick on the surface of the drums.
This precedes the rest of the tone of the toms including the body and is the first thing the listener hears, so it’s what draws the listener’s ear to the tom as it asserts itself in the mix.
This is on the lower end of the 5-6k region or so for the floor and conversely so for the smaller toms.
Like with the snare, you can do a small boost in this range on your toms to help them sit better in the live mix rather than raising their volume.
Low Pass at 15-18k to Create Headroom and Space
This is certainly conservative, especially with the floor tom, but a 15-18k low pass filter creates a little headroom but more importantly space for the instruments in the live mix which need the space.
Live Tom EQ Reviewed
- EQing your live toms filters out bleed, sculpts the tone, and removes noise which adds nothing to the sound.
- Begin with a high pass filter at 50Hz and 75Hz on your floor and rack toms, respectively.
- Boost or cut at 70Hz on your floor tom to add body or mitigate boominess, respectively.
- Likewise, boost or cut at 350Hz on your rack tom to add body or clean up muddiness/add clarity via subtractive EQ, respectively.
- Cut at 400Hz to attenuate floor tom ring.
- Cut at 600Hz to remove rack tom boxiness to clean up the sound.
- Boost at 5-6k to add transient crack and help live toms assert themselves in the mix, focusing on the lower end of that range for the floor and higher end for the rack tom, respectively.
