Hey Lisa..

The reason (I believe) that you haven't received any tips here is because of the following:

There are basic rules of audio (ie. gain structure) but everyone has their preferred methods of working.

When it comes to EQ this is impossible to answer your question due to a number of variables. The source, the microphone, the room, the pre-amp, any outboard, the program material with which this track resides, the creative vision of engineer, artist, and/or producer, etc.

There are a couple of things I can suggest based upon my personal views and those of engineers I trust and respect.

Any process you put the audio through can be considered distortion. It is up to the user to decide if this is neccessary or if the mic could be placed differently. Or a different mic used. Or a different pre-amp... room... different piano... etc. This will ultimately lead to better results if this is within the scope of the project. The reason is less levels of distortion (distortion defined as "effecting" or "changing" as opposed to "destroying" or "fuzz/Saturation").

In the real world this isn't always possible, or it's desirable to purposely distort the audio to fit the vision. Many engineers cut the extreme low end on almost all instruments. Most will tell you that it is almost always better to cut frequencies where possible as opposed to boosting frequencies. Sometimes a combination is what is required for the desired "distortion" of the audio.

In general less is more.

another thing is signal chain. What do you have coming before or after the eq. I would like to hear more thoughts on how people use their compressors in conjunction with eq as that opens up a whole other world. If you are boosting freqencies on the eq before it hits the compressor then you are possibly altering the gain reduction of the compressor as well.

Compressors are eq's too...

as always experimentation and your ear would be the best ways to gain the knowledge you seek.

Cheers,
Brock

Hi lisasmith
Brock is right about there being no "basic rules" of audio.
Use your ears. Sit down and have a good listen to a comercial cd that you like, and focus your ears in on the vocals. Then pull up your eq and have a play, experiment, see if you can match the sound that you heard on the comercial cd.
EQ'ing is all about your ears. Commpressors are very important to, they are not "EQ's" but they do alter the tonal balance of the signal.
Dont worry about whether or not you should boost or cut freq, this is an old school view. Todays engineers paint a picture, creativly, musicly, you can cut and or boost anything you want, as long as it sounds great.