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Drums EQ in Reaper

Drumkits

Creating a polished drum mix in REAPER can transform a good track into a great one. Whether you’re producing jazz, rock, electronic, or anything in between, shaping each drum element individually gives you far more control and clarity. In this guide, I’ll walk through how I prepare and process the x42 Blonde Bop stereo drumkit—starting from a simple MIDI import and ending with a flexible, mix-ready drum bus setup.

I've chosen the x42 Blonde Bop stereo drumkit, and the first thing to do is import a drum track MIDI file.

Drums Midi

Once you're happy with the overall drum track—humanized, edited, cleaned up—copy and paste it until you have split the Kick, Snare, Hi-Hats, Toms, and Crash cymbals into their own tracks.

Drum Split

Now you can configure any EQ, compression, and effects per drum-kit section, as well as shape the overall kit on the bus track. This is a ballpark guide—always tailor settings to your environment, and, as always, trust your ears!

Drum Bus Drum Split

So now you can configure any EQ, compression and effects per drumkit section, and the overall drum kit on the bus track. This is a ball park gauide and will need tailering as per environemnt, use your ears!

Kick Drum

Frequency Recommendation
20Hz High Pass
50-100Hz Boost
125-175Hz Cut
300-500Hz Cut
3000-4000Hz Boost
15000Hz Low Pass

Kick Drum EQ

Toms

Frequency Recommendation
50Hz High Pass
400-600Hz Cut
4500-5500Hz Boost
18000Hz Low Pass

Tom EQ

Snare Drum

Frequency Recommendation
70Hz High Pass
150-200Hz Boost
300-500Hz Boost
800Hz Boost or Cut
3000-5000Hz Boost
5000Hz Boost
15000Hz Low Pass

Snare Drum EQ

Hi Hats

Frequency Recommendation
150Hz High Pass
400Hz Boost or Cut
3500-4500Hz Cut
6500-8500Hz Boost
20000Hz Low Pass

Hi Hats EQ

Crash Symbols

Frequency Recommendation
200Hz High Pass
300-400Hz Boost
400-600Hz Cut
4000Hz Cut
10000Hz Boost
22000Hz Low Pass

Crash EQ