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Equalisation
Whilst compression effects dynamic range, equalisation (EQ) controls frequency range. The frequency range of sound is shown in the chart below and is divided up
into four bands.

The scale along the bottom of the chart shows the frequencies from 16Hz to above
16kHz. When engineers talk about the high mids they are referring to the frequency range
from 1kHz to 8Khz, roughly.

The following drawing shows a typical EQ Peak Curve based around a Centre
Frequency.

The centre
frequency
is around
750Hz and
the Gain
Increase
(boost or
cut) is
around
18db. The
Q Factor is
the width
of the

frequencies effected by the boost and is measured in octaves. A high Q is narrow and a low Q is wide.

The following is is a drawing of a Shelf Curve where the frequencies above or below the centre frequency are all boosted or cut.

There are two kinds of equalisers, Parametric and Graphic and each can control a
number of bands.

The Graphic Equaliser

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Recording Stringed Instruments 6/13/17, 10:21 AM

Here is a drawing of a typical 10 band graphic equaliser.

You will note that there are slider controls for each frequency and the scale along the base shows which
frequency. The scale along the top states how many db change has been made at each frequency and it
can be positive or negative (boost or cut). A typical graphic equaliser does not have any controls over the
Q factor of each boost, it is normally pre-set.

The Parametric Equaliser

For an equaliser to be called a parametric equaliser it must have a variable Q factor and a variable centre frequency. Below is an example of a parametric equaliser:

The left unit is a typical high end

console analogue equaliser
whereas the right one is a new
generation computer program
digital ones. The left one has a
switchable peak/shelf High
frequency control. It has two
sweepable mid bands with
variable Q and a peak/shelf low
frequency control. The computer
version has 4 Bands each with
it's own centre frequency, Q
width and gain. The resultant EQ
curve is displayed as well. (It's a
digital EQ) The mid bands of the
analogue version are usually
divided into two sweepable bands the the low - mid covering 100Hz - 4Khz with the other covering 600Hz -
15Khz (typically - it varies from console to console) You will note that the digital unit is sweepable from 20Hz
to 20KHz in all bands.

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