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Is It Bad to Do Giant EQ Cuts?

There is a common myth that you should only make subtle EQ moves. Learn when and why aggressive EQ cuts can be necessary and beneficial for your mix.

February 1, 2023|2 min read

You'll often hear mixing advice that says, "Never boost or cut more than 3dB." While this is a good guideline for mastering or subtle tonal shaping, it is absolutely false for mixing.

Is it bad to do giant EQ cuts? No. In fact, sometimes it's the only way to save a track.

Corrective vs. Creative EQ

To understand why, we need to distinguish between two types of EQing:

  1. Tonal/Creative EQ: This is where you want to gently shape the sound. "Make the guitar a bit brighter." "Add some warmth to the vocal." Here, subtle moves (+/- 2-3dB) are usually best because you want to preserve the natural character of the sound.
  2. Corrective/Surgical EQ: This is where you are fixing a problem. "There is a terrible ringing resonance in this snare." "The room noise on this vocal is overwhelming."

When to Slash and Burn

If you have a problematic resonance—say, a nasty whistle in a guitar amp recording at 4kHz—a 3dB cut won't fix it. You might need to notch it out by -10dB or even -15dB with a very narrow Q (bandwidth).

If you don't make that giant cut, that frequency will build up and hurt the listener's ears, no matter how "natural" you try to keep the EQ curve.

High-Pass Filtering

The most common "giant cut" is the High-Pass Filter (HPF). When you engage an HPF at 100Hz on a vocal, you are effectively cutting the low end by an infinite amount (depending on the slope). This is an extreme move, but it's standard practice to clean up low-end rumble that doesn't belong in the track.

Trust Your Ears, Not the Graph

The fear of big EQ moves usually comes from looking at the plugin interface. A -12dB cut looks wrong. It looks like you're breaking the audio.

But if you close your eyes and bypass the plugin, does it sound better? If the answer is yes, then the move was correct.

Context is King

A soloed guitar might sound thin and weird with a massive low-mid cut. But put it in the mix with a thick bass and heavy drums, and suddenly that "thin" guitar sits perfectly without muddying up the low end.

Conclusion: Don't mix with your eyes. If a sound needs surgery, grab the scalpel and cut as deep as you need to.