Create an Abstract Equalizer

This tutorial we will learn to make an abstract/glassy equalizer in Photoshop. Begin with a canvas size 700×360 and black background.
I assume you know the interface to Photoshop in this tutorial and most of the basic functions.

We will start off with the easy stuff, Begin with using the rectangular tool and selecting the whole canvas. Now select the Elliptical Marquee tool, and While holding Alt draw an ellipse on the bottom half so you should have something like below:

Now create a new layer, name it “shine”, fill it with white and set the opacity to 10%.
Onto the next step, this may take a few minutes. Grab the Rectangular Marquee tool and set it to Fixed Size. Make the Width 30px. And make the height any height you wish. Just don’t go more than half the canvas if possible, and keep fluctuating the size each time you set marquee tool. Hold shift while placing the rectangles such that the previous do not disappear. I suggest placing them no more than 2px apart. I set mine 1px apart, you should get something like below.

Once you are complete, create a new layer called Equalizer and Fill it with a gradient. The colors I used were #194255 and #70c5cf respectively. Make sure when you fill the darker color is on the bottom. You should now have something similar to below:

Now without deselecting, Grab the Rectangular Marquee tool. Set the feather to around 10px, and while holding Alt Draw on the bottom half of the equalizer. This will keep the top half only. Now create a new layer, Call it EqualizerGrad, and fill it with white. Because of the feather you should get a gradient, on your layer, if you do not try setting the feather higher. Once complete set the layer style to Overlay.
Moving on…Deselect everything by pressing Cntrl+D, and reselect the layer again, this time with the rectangular tool set the feather to 0 and do the same as above, remove the bottom half of the selection. Now go to Select > Modify > Contract and contract by 2px. Create a new Layer, name it barShine and fill it with white. Set the layer opacity to 13%.
You should now have something like Below:

Just to make sure you are up to speed on everything, you should have 5 layers, Background, Equalizer, EqualizerGrad, barShine, and shine. If you have all these and your image looks something similar to above(except your equalizer looking different, continue).
Now Copy layers Equalizer, EqualizerGrad, and barShine, Merge the copies and flip them vertically. Move them to be approx 1px below the original and set the opacity to 28%.

Now grabbing the Elliptical tool, draw a thin ellipse underneath the original equalizer across the whole canvas, create a layer called ‘surface’, fill it with white and set the opacity to 16%.

Alright onto the fun stuff, Download this brush set, and brush!

Do not brush like crazy, use the softer brushes, Like Brush 2, 8 and 9. A couple times here and there on their own layer behind the equalizer.(this is really up to you how you wish to brush it, I suggest only using a couple brushes on each side of the canvas.

Once you are completed with that, grab the rectangular tool…again And draw a rectangle along the whole width of the bottom of the canvas going to the bottom edge of the equalizer. Having the brush layer selected press delete, and deselect (Cntrl+D). This is so the brushing you did does not get into the reflection area of the canvas. Now Cntrl + Click the Equalizer layer to get the selection. Going back to your brush layer press delete again. This will make it so whether your brush layer is above or below the equalizer layer it does not overlap.

Wait what? My brushes overlap in the final image you saw? =) We are going to do that now, use the more defined brushes (that aren’t as soft) such as 3 and 7. And brush on the same brushing layer you just did until satisfied. Repeat the step to remove the brushing from the reflection area of the canvas. DO NOT delete the equalizer area of this new brushing. Bring this layer above the equalizer, Cntrl+ Click, Grab the rainbow gradient, set the brush settings to overlay and draw it across the diagonal of the canvas, if needed do so again for brighter colors. Now your image should look something like below!Now do with the brushed layer copy it, flip it vertical, and put it below the equalizer so it also has a reflection. Set the opacity to 11%.

Now grab the Elliptical Marquee Tool, set the feather to 30px and draw an ellipse on the bottom of the canvas. Now select the brush reflection layer and press delete a few times until you are happy with the fade. The feather helps make it more ‘faded’ away rather than sharp edges. Once you are done with the brush reflections do the same with the equalizer reflection.

Now before we continue, I forgot a step with the equalizer. Cntrl+Click the equalizer layer, grab a nice feathered brush quite large, I’d say around 60px in size. Choose the color #366d86, set the brush mode to Color dodge and draw across the bottom of the equalizer about 3 times across. Once complete, set the layer style to Luminosity.

Now go to the equalizer layer again, make a stroke, with these settings.

**This part on is optional. Create a new layer, and using the gradient tool with the rainbow gradient selected draw across the whole canvas, put this layer above everything else and set the layer style to Soft Light with Opacity 50%.

Lastly using the text tool write a song name, the artist, and the song length, put it below the equalizer in pretty big font size, Add an outer glow that is white, and you are done! Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, if you have any questions about any of the steps please ask!

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Photoshop