Rough Guide to EQ

The best thing to do is always to choose your sounds well in the first place i.e. if you pick a very clicky kick drum with a very stringy sounding bass guitar then your going to have a clash and not obtain that desirable separation, where as if you have a clicky kick drum and choose an analogue bass patch with a soft attack and without that 2kHz beater thing then the sounds will marry up a treat and EQ won't be needed I'd apply this to all of your sounds choices - do they muddy everything up? do they clash? - check out he way DR DRE chooses his sounds quite amazing in my opinion.

However, the deliberate use of EQ to add or takeaway when done properly sounds fantastic - the easiest way to locate an offending frequency or a frequency you want to boost is to put your EQ boost on full for the relevant band and the sweep the frequencies till you find it will jump out of the speaker I promise, you . I'd advise you to keep your monitors at a fairly low level when doing this though! Not nice on the old ears!

Another great trick I sourced form Tony Visconti is that it sometimes cool to EQ the octave above where the sounds really is i.e. if you vocal is really strong at 250Hz then try Eqing the octave above which would be double the frequency in this case 500hz Also you can look up the key that the song is in and it will tell you the dominant frequency of that key, then muck about with the octaves.

BASS DRUM

The punch component lies between about 80 and 100Hz - below this range you will tend to feel rather than hear. Warmer kick sounds tend to go if in the 200-300Hz region, then you have the click or the mallet up around 2.5 to 6kHz.

Roll off muddiness around 300Hz

Boost highs around 5-6kHz

Boosting around 10-12kHz tends to bring out hiss which can be cool if used as an effect.

SNARE DRUM

The fatness of the snare tends to be around 120 and 400Hz. Boxy sounds are full of high energy in the 800Hz-1.2kHz

HI HATS

High hats tend to live in and around the 12kHz

You can try boosting around 3-6db for extra sizzle.

BASS

Bass gets most of it's energy from the 80-100Hz area, for a warmer sound the 100-300Hz region can be boosted. Moe attack can often be obtained by tweaking the 50-1500Hx area. String and fret noise can be found around 2-5kHz.

Try boosting 40-60Hz for real big bottom end

Try cutting around 300Hz if it's a little stodgy

Boost around 5Khz for presence

VOCALS

Plosives and handling noise can be can be reduced by cutting below 100Hz, though this may need to be balanced against side effects. Nasal sounds can be addressed around 1-3kHz while the 4-5kHz range ca be boosted for more presence.

Also

Try a cut or boost around 300Hz

Cut irritating mid range and sibilance around 6/8kHz

Boost around 6kHzf or clarity!

PIANO

The piano bless it is far less of a pain when it comes to eq and string noise hiss etc don't apply!

Try cutting stodge around 300Hz

Cut any honkiness around 1kHz

Boost around 6kHz for presence and clarity

ACOUSTIC GUITAR

Boosting around the 80-120kHz range gives low end weight whereas you achieve a little more boom around 200-300Hz boost around the 2.5khz is good for clarity in rhythm parts as it brings out the strumming. 5-10kHz emphasises sparkle.

Also

Cut 100-300Hz where muddiness and boominess is

Cut 1-3kHz to make image higher and more transparent

Boost around 6kHz for presence and clarity