[Rwp] How does eq works - cutting frequencies off guitar amp tracks.
Chris Belle
cb1963 at sbcglobal.net
Sat Mar 5 07:24:10 EST 2016
Much simpler than that.
A graphical eq
just means fixed frequencies, you can't change the cue or the frequency
of each band.
how wide or narrow it cuts or boosts.
or which frequency range.
Say you have a 10 band eq.
You might have
30 hz, 60 hz, 125 hz, 250 hz, 500 hz,
1k, 2k, 4k, 8k, and 16k
This is just an imaginary example, but typical of what you might find.
You can have only 3 band eq, with
a bass, mid, and treble, all set at particular center frequencies and a
set range of boost and cut.
You can even have crazy things like 31 band graphical eqs with each band
only working on a set range, but,
the point is is that it's a fixed frequency.
I have seen these in many types, 2 band, 3 band, 4 band, 5 band, 7 band,
9 band, 15 band, you name it.
These can be nice tools, but the reason I like a parametric eq, even
though it's harder to learn at first, is that it's more flexible, you
can set the exact frequencies and ranges you want to work on.
You also have more filter types usually, the
graphic eq is usually only just a bell curve.
But of course this isn't a hard fast rule either,
I have seen graphical eqs with high pass filters,
or graphical eqs with some bands being parametric,
if you look in the JS plugs, you'll see examples of mixing and matching,
there are lots of groovy eq plugs in there ranging from very simple to
more complex.
And filters out the hind end 'grin'.
On 3/5/2016 6:11 AM, Hadi wrote:
> God damn, @TheOreoMonster that was one of the most helpful guides I've
> ever received; It was simple enough to follow while it contained lots
> of things that I always was wondering about. Now I know what engineers
> are actually talking about when saying "cut it narrow" or "boost it
> wide" or shape that like that or apply a whatever filter/pass. I am
> really thankful for this post, I think you've saved me hours and hours
> of googling and listening to Youtube videos.
> P.S what are graphical eqs? I suppose they just turn all this info to
> a graphical thing so engineers can see and shape it as they desire.
> I'll be on hunt for the values that mesa boogie amps apply for their
> 5-band eq, specially since they sound awesome in progressive metal
> tracks. I'm pretty sure people show their graphical-shaped eqs around,
> but I gotta find the value. now that I know about this, I can do it
> very easily than before!
> thanks a lot!
> Cheers
> Hadi
>
>
> On 3/5/2016 4:35 AM, theoreomonster at reaperaccess.com wrote:
>> The audible hearing range generally speaking goes from 20 hertz
>> (20hz) to 20 kilohertz (20khz) which is also 20,000 hertz. 20hz is
>> the extreme low end and 20khz is the extreme high end . Unless you
>> have bionic hearing you probably won’t be able to hear much that low
>> or high but atlas on the low side you will feel it if you have
>> speakers that can output that much low end. And Eq in its basic of
>> terms is a volume control for any given frequency. An Eq like ReaEQ
>> which ships with Reaper is a Parametric EQ. This means that it allows
>> you to set the exact frequency value, (anywhere from 20hz to 20khz )
>> set the Gain (how much you want to boost or cut that frequency -
>> positive values boost the frequency and negative values cut it) and
>> the Q which sets how wide the boost or cut is. Wide as in how the
>> frequencies around are affected. So lets say you set the frequency
>> to 100 hz, and pull down the gain to -3db you will be cutting that
>> frequency by 3db. Now where you set the q will dictate if you are
>> only affecting 100hz (which will be a narrow q with an extremely low
>> value) or if you start to affect the frequencies around it to some
>> extent like say 98hz or 102 hz . The wider the q The more
>> frequencies on either side of the preset gain value that gets
>> affected to some extend. However this affect isn’t linear. Say you
>> cut 100hz by 3db you may only be cutting other frequencies by 1 or
>> 2db the further out they are the less they are affected. To
>> generalize this further, 20hz to 200hz give or take is considered the
>> low end. 200hz to about 2khz (or 2000hz) is considered the mid range
>> area and 2khz (2000hz) to 20khz (20,000hz) is considered the high
>> end. Things like guitar amps that have EQ on them usually have a
>> low, mid and high controls. In this case the amp designer preset the
>> frequency , and q for the eq and the knob you as a user is provided
>> with is just the gain knob to cut or boost those frequencies. Consult
>> your favorite amps manual to learn where they set the frequency and
>> q as this will vary from amp to amp. The other interesting thing
>> about guitars is your typical guitar speaker doesn’t reproduce much
>> above 5khz (5000hz) so this is why amp modeler can sound unnatural at
>> times since they don’t always have the same steep drop off after 5khz
>> like a guitar speaker. So This is where using a full parametric EQ
>> like ReaEQ after the amp plug in can help shape the tone. A high cut
>> and low cut filter is also useful in the case of shaping a guitar
>> amp modelers tone ’s well. a Low cut or high pass as they are also
>> known (and different EQ’s use one or the other title for them) do
>> just that cut the lows or allow only the highs to pass through. So
>> unlike a regular parametric eq band, if you set a low cut or high
>> pass filter to 100hz and cut it by 3db this pulls down 100 hz and
>> everything below 100hz as well. This means only the frequencies
>> above 100hz is allowed to pass through for the most part. This is
>> useful for say a guitar amp since not a lot of info resides in the
>> low end for a guitar and turning down some of that stuff below 100hz
>> allows for the frequencies above 100hz to be heard better but allows
>> for more space for the bass and kick drums to be heard. The opposite
>> of these filters are the high cut or low pass which cuts the highs or
>> only allows the lows to pass through. Given what we understand of how
>> guitar amps work in the real world you can set a high cut or low
>> pass somewhere above 5khz and cut it to help your amp modeler sound
>> more natural. In both the case of the low cut/high pass and high
>> cut/low pass you will want to pull the gain down and then sweep
>> around the frequencies to find where they sound best to set them.
>> Another thing the term scooped usually means that you scoop out or
>> cut the mids out of a signal. While this may work for rhythm tones,
>> you may actually want to boost the Mids on a solo or lead part to
>> make it more audible in the mix. Hope this wasn’t too long and
>> confusing and helps a bit. Also if i goofed anywhere and need to make
>> any corrections let me know.
>>> On Mar 4, 2016, at 1:34 PM, Hadi <hadirezaei at gmx.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi there
>>> Thank you guys for explaining EQ and how it works. I've read the
>>> awesome post of Chris bell, I'm actually going to reread it several
>>> times to grasp the idea
>>> P.S, Regarding hardware EQ that scot mentioned, I really have to get
>>> a guitar amp that has some EQ settings on it, because I am
>>> extremely unfamiliar with it. I know what tone i'm aiming for
>>> though, so that's always good. I want my solo guitar tracks to be
>>> chreemy and a bit of scooped, while having a huge wall of smooth
>>> sound for my rhythm guitar.
>>> II've been told lots of times that guitar amp vsts have lots of
>>> high frequencies in them, compared to real amps. Does that mean that
>>> I should go after 7 to 10k hz frequencies?
>>>
>>> On 3/3/2016 11:45 PM, Scott Chesworth wrote:
>>>> I started out EQ-ing on hardware mixers, and as a consequence never
>>>> had a clue about numbers. When I switched over to DAWs, I thought I'd
>>>> learn the numbers on the go by finding presets I liked, then examining
>>>> the parameters of those presets to see what was happening under the
>>>> hood. In actuallity, all I was doing was building up a collection of
>>>> presets I liked spread across a bunch of different EQ plugins, so
>>>> unless you have more resolve than me, don't try learning that way lol.
>>>> I think Chris is spot on with the suggestion to take a sound you're
>>>> very familiar with, insert an EQ plugin on that, boost the gain and
>>>> then sweep up and down the frequency spectrum to figure out what stuff
>>>> sounds like. Start with broad strokes, for example, if you can tell
>>>> the difference between a 3K and 5K boost, give yourself a pat on the
>>>> back. Soon enough you'll narrow it down to being able to tell the
>>>> difference between 3K and 4K, and so on and so forth. ReaEQ is a
>>>> decent plugin IMO, and is very usable via the parameters dialog you'll
>>>> get by hitting Shift+P.
>>>>
>>>> Also, if you've got anything that runs iOS, once you become vaguely
>>>> familiar with what the frequency spectrum sounds like, there's an app
>>>> called QuizTones that's a fun way to practice identifying cuts and
>>>> boosts applied to songs taken from your music library.
>>>>
>>>> And that's about it. Practice practice practice.
>>>>
>>>> Hth a bit
>>>>
>>>> Scott
>>>>
>>>> On 3/3/16, Chris Smart <csmart8 at cogeco.ca> wrote:
>>>>>> How did the rest of you learn to use an equalizer, and eventually,
>>>>>> learn to recognize various parts of the audible spectrum? Am I way
>>>>>> off with my suggestions? I realize we all learn this stuff
>>>>>> differently.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ---
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