Here is another drum EQ setting to improve the sound of a sampled drum kit. This will make the drums breath

High Pass 15-20hz
Low Shelf 200hz 0gain
bell curve at 1.8k gain 0 Q=1
bell curve at 16k gain +9.5 Q=.2
Hi Shelf at 8k 0 gain


Mix your song first get drums set to the volume you desire in the mix without EQ, then add EQ and listen to the eq with the entire mix playing to make sure it is giving you the sound you want. Adjust to your taste. Also make sure if the EQ is boosting the volume to turn down the output of the EQ until it matches the volume without EQ. You are not trying to boost the volume, only improve the sound.

I will put some EQ settings for other instruments as the days go by.

Here is a biab drum sample, the first part is without any eq or reverb at all no compressor or any other plugins were used,

the second part is using only a EQ plugin with the above EQ settings, no other plugins were used.

Drum EQ sample

I hope this helps

The need to EQ samples is fairly evident since they are most likely recorded flat as well they should be.

The numbers you provide are probably good, IDK since I don't really set EQ's by using the numbers, and I have not had the time to input those numbers to my system EQ. Sure, I understand the numbers and what they mean, but I don't set behind the "mixing desk" thinking about numbers. I'm listening to the mix and trying to objectively decide what it needs to make it sound better.

I like to use a preset in most cases as a starting point.

The interesting thing that I have noticed through the years of doing this home recording thing is that I can take the time to tweek to perfection a given EQ for a given instrument. And it sounds really good. Then, remembering how good it sounded, I grab that same exact plug in preset, which I saved with a new name, and insert it on the same instrument on the new song I'm working on and....... it doesn't work or sound the same. Bummer.

Sure, it's exactly the same in all it's attributes, but the mix it is setting in is not. There are different instruments, different plug ins, and all sorts of things combine to make the plug that worked so well in one song, totally not work in the second one.


That is why, I believe it is much more important to understand the basic fundamentals of what is actually needed in a mix, and why you need to add a given FX and then what you are doing and what is happening "inside the box" when you turn that knob or move that fader.

guitarhacker, these eq settings I am sharing were not meant to be carved in stone; as i wrote to adjust to taste. These settings will however in most cases bring the flat recorded sample to the sonic sound that makes up the instruments true sound, which is the goal most times with eq to make the instrument sound as natural as possible and to carve space for the other instruments around it. EQ is also used to change the instruments tone and sound entirely, or to only highlight a certain frequency; but you know that. Like anything EQ is not one size fits all, but these settings can be turned into great sounding samples and are especially helpful as a true starting point. This is why all pro eq's you buy have presets, because engineers with a lot of experience have tested them and find them good to bring out an instruments true sonic sound. Of course if you record an acoustic guitar part for example and it is bass heavy, you do not want to boost the bass even more and so you may need to move the High pass even higher or cut at a frequency, just as an example, this is where the adjust to taste comes in.

I was agreeing with you. I was expressing it slightly differently.