Toms are often one of the instruments people struggle with mixing the most. It might have to do with the fact that their rhythmic nature is so incredibly versatile. Whether heavily stereo-panned, Phil Collins-style arena rock drums or dry, pillowy 70-style drums you'd find on a Fleetwood Mac record, toms can truly make or break a drum groove.

When mixed properly, they're exciting to listen to and can have a huge impact on a song. However, if you don't know how to EQ them, it's easy for them to sound boomy or thin, lifeless or weak, and all of the other adjectives that no one would want their toms described as.

And while there's no golden answer or quick EQ chart for tom EQ, there are tried-and-true techniques that can help you get there faster.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to EQ toms from the ground up, including how to prep your raw tracks and how to dial in body, clarity, and punch.

Think About the Roles That Toms Play in a Mix

From a frequency perspective, toms sit in the space between the low-end frequencies of the kick drum and the snappy mid and high-end of snare drums and overhead tracks. The body and boom can be anywhere between 100–800 Hz, and attack and clarity often live between 1.5–5 kHz. Rack toms usually skew higher, while floor toms live deeper in the spectrum.

Getting your toms to sit right in your mix and in the context of your drum kit means balancing tone and presence without having them mask your kick drum, bass, or lead instruments. This is where you'll want to use tom EQ to carve space and highlight the most important parts.

Pro Tip: Make sure your toms are tuned well before you touch an EQ. A great-sounding tom at the source will always be easier to mix than one that’s flabby, choked, or out of tune.

Pre-EQ Checklist: Recording & Prep Tips

Before you ever touch an EQ plugin, getting your toms in shape at the source will save you a ton of time later. The way you record and prep them has a huge impact on how effective your EQ decisions will be.

Start with Mic Placement

If the mic is too close to the center of the drumhead, you’ll end up with a boxy, choked sound. Too far off-center, and you might lose punch or pick up too much cymbal bleed. Aim for a sweet spot just off-center, angled toward the drummer’s striking point.

Getting Your Phase Right

As with other drums, toms don’t live in isolation. They interact with the kick drum, snare drum, and overheads. Always flip the polarity of your tom mics and compare them to other drums. If something suddenly sounds fuller or thinner, phase could be the culprit. Get this right before EQing with proper stereo imaging and alignment.

Get Rid of Silence

Once you're happy with the raw sound, edit out silence or apply a gate to reduce bleed from cymbals or snare drum hits. The less junk in the track, the more precise your EQ moves can be.

Check Your Gain Staging

Finally, check your gain staging. Make sure tom levels are strong but not peaking before you reach for EQ. Balanced levels = cleaner tone shaping.

Pro Tip: Solo your toms with overheads and kick drum to make sure they sound musical together, not isolated and unnatural.

Frequency Ranges to Know for Toms

Knowing where key frequencies live when you EQ toms is half the battle. Toms span a wide frequency range, from the chest-thumping low end of a floor tom to the snappy upper mids of a rack tom. Here's a breakdown of zones to keep in mind when trying to dial in your specific sound:

• Sub-bass (20–60 Hz): Most of this low frequency range is unnecessary for toms. It adds low-end rumble that eats up headroom without providing useful tone. Roll it off with a high-pass filter.
• Low end (60–120 Hz): This is where the body lives, especially for floor toms. Boost here if your toms feel thin or lack impact. Just don’t overdo it, or it’ll muddy up your kick drum.
• Low-mids (120–250 Hz): This range is where you'll often find warmth, but too much can make a tom sound bloated. A gentle cut around 150–200 Hz can clean things up, especially in very dense mixes.
• Mids (250–800 Hz): The “cardboard” or “boxy” sound tends to live between 400–600 Hz. This is a common cut zone for cleaning up rack toms or taming overly dry floor toms.
• Upper mids (1–4 kHz): Want punch and presence? This is your go-to range. Boost here to bring out the attack or stick sound and help them cut through.
• Highs (5–10 kHz): Adds drum stick definition and clarity. This range is helpful for making individual drum hits feel snappy, especially if close-mic’d.
• Above 12 kHz: Usually unnecessary. You can use a low-pass filter in this range to reduce cymbal bleed or hiss without hurting your tom tone.

Step-by-Step: How to EQ Toms

Getting your tom tracks to sound punchy and musical without overpowering the rest of the kit takes some finesse. Here’s a simple workflow to guide your EQ decisions, no matter what genre you're working on.

1. High-Pass Filter

Start with a gentle high-pass filter, rolling off everything below 40–60 Hz . This range is usually just rumble that clouds your mix and competes with the kick drum. Keep enough low-end to feel the impact, but don’t let it bloat.

2. Cut the Muddiness

Sweep between 200–500 Hz to find any boxy, “cardboard” tones. This is where toms can feel overly thick or dull. A narrow cut of 2–4 dB here can clean things up significantly.

3. Boost the Body

For rack toms, try a subtle 1–3 dB boost around 100–120 Hz . Floor toms might benefit from a similar lift in the 80–100 Hz range. This floor tom EQ move adds that satisfying low-end “thump” that gives toms weight.

4. Add Attack

Toms need to punch through dense mixes. Add some presence by boosting between 2–5 kHz, depending on the mic, drummer, and genre. This can help emphasize the stick hit and initial transient.

5. Tame Harshness

Some mics or drum heads might introduce harsh overtones. Sweep through 5–7 kHz and apply a soft cut if you hear any brittle or piercing frequencies. A narrow Q works well here.

6. Add Air (Optional)

If your toms feel too dull, especially in a roomier mix, you can try a slight boost at 8–10 kHz . This can help add realism and depth. I often like to pair this with a low-pass filter to get rid of unnecessary top end.

Finally, always A/B your EQ moves with overheads and the full kit . Toms shouldn’t sound amazing in solo if they clash in context with the entire mix.

Pro Tip: Use narrow Q cuts to fix problems and wide Q boosts to add musicality.

EQ Settings for Different Types of Toms

Different toms call for slightly different EQ strategies. Here’s a quick breakdown by type:

Rack Toms

Rack toms usually sit higher in pitch and are used more frequently in fills and transitions.

• High-Pass Filter: Roll off below 50–60 Hz to clear sub-rumble from your rack tom.
• Body: Gently boost around 100 Hz to give your rack tom some weight.
• Boxiness: Sweep and cut around 400 Hz , especially if you have more resonant rack toms.
• Attack: Add clarity and punch with a boost at 3–4 kHz .

Floor Toms

When it comes to floor tom EQ, the goal should be to get plenty of low-end to give them as much thump as possible without having them step on top of other instruments with the same frequencies. Even electric guitar has tons of energy in the low-mid-range frequencies that can get covered up by poorly recorded or EQ'd floor toms.

• High-Pass Filter: Set around 40 Hz to remove low-end mud from your floor tom EQ while keeping the boom.
• Weight: Boost in the 80–100 Hz range to emphasize the thump.
• Muddiness: Cut between 300–500 Hz if it feels too woofy.
• Presence: Bring out the attack of your higher rack toms by boosting 2–3 kHz subtly.

Electronic Toms

Most electronic drum sounds are pre-processed, but that doesn’t mean they always sit perfectly in a mix.

• Start by removing any excess high-end (above 8 kHz) that might clash with instruments that need more focus.
• Cut any honky mids or frequency buildups around 500 Hz to help them gel with acoustic elements.
• Use EQ surgically . Your job here is often just to blend.

Whatever you do, always EQ toms in context with the full kit. Solo EQ can lie to you.

Complementary Processing After EQ

While EQ can certainly get your toms more in shape, the rest of your processing chain is where they come to life.

Compression

A good compressor can smooth out the volume differences between soft and hard hits, making fills more cohesive. While your desired tom sound will depend on the song and genre, there are certain settings that I seem to gravitate toward more than others:

• Attack: Medium (20–30ms) to preserve initial transients
• Release: Medium-fast (50–100ms) to stay responsive
• Gain Reduction: Aim for 3–6 dB on the loudest hits. This should be enough to control dynamics without squashing the sound so much that it sounds lifeless.

If these settings alone don't work for your toms, you can also use bus compression or parallel compression to get a bit more control.

Gating or Dynamic EQ

If your tom mics pick up too much bleed from your snare drum or overhead mics, try a gate with a fast attack and short release.

A dynamic EQ can also reduce bleed only when it becomes problematic, keeping the natural ring of the tom intact.

Check out our guide on dynamic EQ to see what makes it such a helpful tool compared to traditional EQ.

Saturation

A touch of harmonic saturation, especially tape or analog-style plugins , can add warmth and perceived depth. Just a little goes a long way, unless you want your toms to sound distorted.

Reverb

Tom reverb should often feel real, not washed out. Stick with plate or small room-style verbs and keep the decay under one second to avoid muddying up the mix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku0kRoNXP5o

If you want an old-school twist, try gated reverb . This is a staple of '80s drum production. It gives toms that explosive, punchy presence without lingering tails, making each fill hit hard and vanish fast. Think Phil Collins or classic hair metal.

Toms in Different Genres

Rock/Pop

In rock and pop mixes, toms add energy and momentum, especially in transitions and breakdowns. Focus on the low end around 80–100 Hz and boost attack in the 3–4 kHz range to help them cut through guitars and synths.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBG7P-K-r1Y

Listen to “Everlong” by Foo Fighters . The toms in this track are tight, present, and carry tons of weight without getting in the way of low-end instruments.

Jazz

In jazz, I like to think of toms as part of the conversation, rather than punctuation. Minimal EQ is key here. You want to preserve transients and room tone , and avoid heavy processing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv9NSR-2DwM&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD

“Moanin’” by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers is a great example where the toms sit naturally, responding to the room and the performance.

Metal

Metal drum EQ usually calls for a more surgical approach and controlled aggression. Scoop the mids slightly and boost presence and low end for tight, punchy impact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ozmU9cJDg

"Master of Puppets” by Metallica is a great example of toms that are fast, defined, and cut through heavy walls of guitars.

Hip-Hop/Funk:

Finally, in hip-hop and funk, toms are usually used as melodic or rhythmic accents. Think tone over power . You can boost pitch clarity and use EQ to make each hit feel intentional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBWH3OWfT2Y

“Give Up the Funk” by Parliament has one of the best examples of funky toms with plenty of attack.

Dialing In Your Tom EQ

Tom EQ is just one of the many processes of mixing drums .

While there's no one-size-fits-all cheat sheet that you can use to get the perfect toms for your drum kit, the drum EQ tips and mix recipes above can give you a good jumping-off point for your tom tracks.