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https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 1/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
To EQ a piano, adjust 20Hz to 80Hz for power and boominess, 80Hz to 180Hz for
boominess and bass, 180Hz to 300Hz for fullness or muddiness, 4000kHz to
1000kHz for depth or boxiness, 1000kHz to 5000kHz for definition, clarity,
presence, and air, and 5000kHz to 20,000kHz for sparkle and brilliance.
In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to go about using the Channel EQ piano
presets to make your own, and then we’ll explore each frequency range and how it
pertains to the piano.
However, in the case that you’re not using either of these programs, I’ll include some
screenshots of the Channel EQ presets for the piano here. You can use these as
guidelines for the EQ plug-in in whatever DAW you’re using.
Grand Piano
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For this pre-set, I altered it slightly by bringing down that boost between 1000kHz
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and 5000kHz by 2-3 dB.
Piano Bright
This preset is also quite extreme in the high-end. I dropped this one down between
the range of 5000kHz and 20,000kHZ by around 2-3 dB.
Piano High
For this one, there is a boost right around 220Hz that I attenuated by just a bit, just
because I find that range doesn’t need to be boosted much on the piano.
Piano Low
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For this one, I slightly changed the location of the attenuation around 200Hz.
Piano
This one is kind of strange, in the sense that it’s almost like a volume boost. There are
some variations in the frequency spectrum, but it’s mostly a boost right across the
board with the exception between 200Hz and 500Hz. I changed this one a little bit
by making it a little less extreme and more varied.
It’s important to remember that these are presets, and they’re meant more to be a
guideline than anything else. How you EQ your piano will depend a lot on the notes
you’ve played, the type of piano, and how it was recorded. I explain more about this
later.
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 4/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 5/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
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There are about 19 pre-sets to choose from and what preset you choose depends a
lot on the type of keys you’re using. For instance, there is a big difference between an
organ, a ragtime piano, and a grand piano, and how you set up the EQ will change
accordingly.
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 6/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
Quick Tip:
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There are three primary types of pianos, including the grand piano, the upright piano,
and the electronic piano. To be completely honest, whether you use the “Piano”
preset- which I assume is meant for the upright piano -or the “Grand Piano” preset,
it’s not going to matter a whole lot. But it’s definitely something to consider.
The primary difference between the grand piano and the upright piano is that the
grand piano’s strings are hit by the hammer using a horizontal mechanism, with the
weight of the hammer returning back to resting position, compared to an upright
piano which is done more vertically.
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 7/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
The result of this is that the grand piano tends to have a much smoother vibe with a
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more relaxed attack. Grand pianos are often known for having much better sustain,
which is a term describing the way that notes can ring out for longer and more
naturally.
Additionally, there are electric pianos, organs, clavinets, and other keyboard
instruments. Garageband and Logic feature presets that accommodate a number of
types. With all that said, you really shouldn’t overthink this. Just choose a preset that
you think makes sense.
If you’re anything like me, you like things to sound bright, airy, and clear, so I would
choose the “Piano Bright” as my favorite piano preset. However, there is a massive
boost at the end of this preset that is a little much, so I’ll bring that down by just a bit.
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This is how I go about setting up the EQ on the piano, however, there are many cases
where I’ll set up an EQ entirely on my own without any presets in mind. For this, I find
it’s useful to have a guideline of what certain frequencies sound like on the piano.
Using the brief guideline that I’ve shown you below, you can really see where certain
parts of the piano sound on the frequency spectrum. EQing a piano is not unlike
EQing a guitar; depending on you’ve set up the boosts and cuts, and at which point
those adjustments take place, the sound of the instrument can be changed
dramatically.
Frequency
Range of the Term Quality
Piano
Upper Sub
50Hz to 80Hz Boominess
Frequencies
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1000kHz to
Lower Mids Definition and Clarity
2500kHz
2500kHz to
Upper Mids Presence and Air
5000kHz
5000kHz to
Highs Crystal and Sparkle
10,000 kHz
10,000kHz –
Highest Brilliance
20,000 kHz
20 Hz – 50 Hz – Sub Frequencies
At this point in the piano’s frequency range, there isn’t much going on, even if you’re
playing the bottom register of the piano. You could probably go ahead and cut out
this area by just a bit, but don’t cut them out completely because there are probably
at least some lower-end frequencies cutting through this part of the mix.
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 10/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
50 – 80Hz We
– use
Upper Sub Frequencies
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There are very minimal frequencies in this range, as well, even when playing the
lowest notes of the piano. However, if you were to jack up the area between 70Hz
and 80Hz, you may notice that some of the lower notes may boom for just a
moment. EQing this range will play with the sound by just a little bit, but we still
haven’t reached the point of the piano where the vast majority of changes could be
made.
Now we’re getting to the good stuff. The range between 80Hz to 120Hz is where all
of those boomy bass notes lie. If you want to bass-boost the piano and really get
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those lower notes to shine through and add a lot of warmth and “oomph” to your
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sound, this is where you want to be.
At 80Hz, there are some frequencies in there that, if boosted, will really rumble.
However, it isn’t until you reach between 100Hz and 120Hz that the boosts really add
extra rumble and bass.
We’ve entered the lower-mids at this point. I describe this area as a point where the
bass combines with the mid-range frequencies. Frankly, this is an area where it can
sound a bit messy if you’ve boosted it, so tread lightly in this particular region.
Personally, I would opt more for attenuation of around -2dB at 146Hz or so to get the
piano to sound good.
Obviously, this depends on the piano and how it sounds on the mix, as well as how it’s
been recorded, what type of model, the room it’s in, etc. Regardless, it’s a good thing
to try just to see what happens.
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 12/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
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This area, like the range before, is another transition area. It’s a combination of some
bass frequencies with a bit of the mid-range. It’s also where the muddy frequencies
can be, however, not completely. I think a good guideline for this area would be to just
cut it out a tiny bit.
This is going to have the effect of really cleaning things up a bit. I would go so far as
to say that this area shouldn’t be boosted at all, because it’s going to sound the best
if you’ve attenuated the frequencies a bit, rather than boost it. Give it a shot and see
what you hear.
This is the area where the boxy frequencies come into play, or the depth, depending
on you much you’ve boosted/cut. This part of the frequency spectrum is important
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 13/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
for the piano. It’s a general rule to be sparing with EQ boosts and cuts, but I would say
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this area is particularly sensitive. Err on the side of boosting by just a tiny bit and not
cutting it.
If you boost the frequencies in this area, you’re going to get that hollowed out, boxy
sound, but if you cut them too much, on the other hand, the piano will sound dull and
lifeless.
I would argue that this area is where the majority of the higher notes on the piano lie.
This is another important point of the piano’s frequency range, and any boosts in this
area are really going to affect parts of the piano where there are any higher notes.
For instance, if you’re using a piano riff that is a few octaves up, this area is going to
affect how the piano sounds a lot. I would almost never cut this area.
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 14/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
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This is the point in the frequency range where you can get the piano notes to stand
out in the mix in a big way. It’s also where you add some of those “airy”-type
frequencies. To my personal preference, this is another point where I wouldn’t be
doing too much cutting, simply because you’ll pull all of the air and presence out of
the mix.
This is a range where you get the crystalized, sparkly, sound, as well as the hammer
attack. To my ear, the hammer attack frequencies are between 8000kHz and 8500
kHz. That’s the point where the hammer is smacking against the strings and making
the sound that’s characteristic of the piano.
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 15/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
Boost this area and you’ll get a lot more sparkle or a lot more of the crystalized
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sound.
Similar to the lowest part of the frequency range, there isn’t much going on here. I
wouldn’t go so far as to say you could cut it out or anything like that, but boosts and
cuts in this area aren’t going to do much for you. I would say just to keep it the way
that it is and let some of those higher frequencies, some of that sparkliness, to shine
through.
2) Solo Piano
If the piano is a solo instrument in the recording, it’s best to go easy on the EQ,
because there won’t need to be much added to it. If there some type of tonal
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 16/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
problems with the instrument, it’s best to fix it in the recording stage rather than in
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the mixing stage. However, assuming you’re using a piano VST or some other type of
MIDI instrument, this won’t be an issue, or at least it shouldn’t be anyway.
Another factor when recording a piano is where it’s actually sitting in the room. For
instance, a piano set in the center of the room will sound much different from a piano
recorded in the corner of the room. According to Audio Recording, pianos recorded
in the corner tend to have a lot more bass.
https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 17/19
1/10/2021 How To EQ A Piano (A Step-By-Step Guide) – Producer Society
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Conclusion
EQing a piano, like other instruments, really doesn’t take much work. You just have to
pay attention to how it sounds and determine what changes need to be made if any.
There’s a good chance you may not even need to use an EQ on piano, especially if
you’ve used a VST piano, a sample, or even an Apple Loop, which tends to sound
pretty good out of the box.
Andrew Siemon
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https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/ 19/19