How to Use the Audio Equaliser Presets in Apple Music on Mac

Whether you listen through built-in MacBook speakers, studio reference monitors, or high-fidelity headphones, different audio tracks and hardware configurations demand nuanced frequency adjustments. macOS includes a built-in 10-band audio equaliser directly within the Apple Music app. This feature enables you to fine-tune specific acoustic ranges, apply curated genre presets, build personalised frequency curves, and assign custom equalization profiles to individual songs in your music library.

Understanding the Apple Music 10-Band Equaliser

An equaliser (EQ) alters the amplitude of selected audio frequencies without affecting the overall master gain. The Apple Music equaliser splits the audible frequency spectrum from 32 Hz up to 16 kHz across ten discrete decibel (dB) faders:

• Low Frequencies (32 Hz, 64 Hz, 125 Hz): Controls deep sub-bass and bass instruments such as kick drums, bass guitars, and synthesiser fundamentals. Increasing these bands adds warmth and weight, whilst lowering them clears up muddiness.
• Midrange Frequencies (250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz): Shapes acoustic vocals, pianos, guitars, and speech intelligibility. This range carries most of the musical energy and emotional presence of a recording.
• High Frequencies (4 kHz, 8 kHz, 16 kHz): Adjusts treble presence, cymbal air, vocal sibilance, and high-frequency sparkle. Boosting this range enhances clarity, whereas cutting it reduces harshness and listener fatigue.
• Preamp Slider: Positioned on the far left, the Preamp slider applies a uniform gain boost or attenuation across all frequencies. When boosting multiple EQ bands, lowering the preamp slider prevents digital clipping and distortion.

How to Access and Enable the Equaliser on Mac

The equaliser interface is accessible through the macOS menu bar or via a global keyboard shortcut within the Music app.

1. Launch the Music app from the macOS Dock, Launchpad, or by pressing Command + Space and searching for “Music”.
2. Click the Window menu located in the top menu bar.
3. Select Equaliser, or press the keyboard shortcut Option + Command + E.
4. A dedicated floating palette titled Equaliser will appear on screen.
5. Tick the checkbox labelled On in the top-left corner of the window to activate equalization processing.

Selecting and Customising Presets

Apple Music provides dozens of professionally engineered factory presets calibrated for specific genres and listening environments, including Acoustic, Bass Booster, Bass Reducer, Classical, Electronic, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Rock, Spoken Word, and Vocal Booster.

1. Click the Presets drop-down menu situated at the top of the Equaliser window.
2. Choose a preset matching your current playback material or acoustic preference.
3. To adjust an active preset, click and drag any of the ten individual vertical sliders up (to boost decibels) or down (to cut decibels). Slider ranges span from -12 dB to +12 dB.
4. To prevent acoustic distortion during heavy bass or treble boosts, drag the Preamp fader downward by 2 dB to 4 dB.

Creating and Saving a Custom Equaliser Preset

If you establish an ideal frequency curve tailored to your specific room acoustics or headphone profile, you can preserve it as a permanent custom preset.

1. With your preferred frequency adjustments applied across the ten faders, click the Presets drop-down menu.
2. Select Make Preset… from the bottom of the list.
3. In the prompt that appears, type a descriptive name for your preset (for example, Desk Monitors Warm or Open-Back Headphones).
4. Click OK. Your custom curve is now permanently stored in the Presets list and can be recalled at any time.
5. To rename or delete custom presets, click the Presets menu and select Edit List….

Assigning Specific EQ Presets to Individual Songs

Rather than manually switching presets whenever your playlist transitions between classical recordings, podcasts, and modern electronic tracks, Apple Music allows you to tie an EQ preset directly to a track’s metadata.

1. In the Apple Music main library window, locate the song you wish to configure. (You can also organise your catalogue into targeted listening sessions by learning how to create and manage smart playlists in Apple Music on Mac or how to pin favourite playlists in Apple Music on iPhone and Mac).
2. Right-click (or Control-click) the track title and choose Get Info, or highlight the track and press Command + I.
3. Click the Options tab at the top of the track information window.
4. Click the equaliser drop-down menu and select your desired preset.
5. Click OK to save the changes. Whenever Apple Music plays this specific track, it will automatically engage the chosen EQ profile.

If you are digitising or transcoding older music files, you can also explore how to convert audio files in Apple Music on Mac to optimize bitrates and formats prior to applying EQ processing. For wearable audio management, see how to change Siri voice volume on Apple Watch.