Equalizing

[ccfan213]

autophage... you have an eq on the stereo in your room! thats sooo cool... i just use the eq controls in my media player software, but i usually dont even do that... dont really need it for pre-mixed songs

[RelativeMischief]

For EQ'ing a room, a good way to go about it is to take a cd that you've listened to ALOT. You should know the sound of the disc inside out. Put that in and stand in the middle of your room, with the volume at about concert level (maybe quieter to save your ears). Play around with the frequencies till it sounds right to you.

But only cut the frequencies you don't want, don't boost.

For theatre gigs try and find a cd that is very vocal oriented (I'll even reccomend some rap for this). For other types of gigs (rock, punk, symphony etc..) pick a cd wtih the corresponding genre.

[TassieBogan]

FOR GOD'S SAKE, USE YOUR EARS!!!!!

You need to
1) Adjust for the speakers and room. If you hear any peaks in frequencies, take them out so they match the rest, thereby removing any frequency's that drown out others.
2) EQ to the mics. This usually involves feedback removal, the rest can usually be done from the desk. Bring up the level on the mic you want to eq untill you hear feedback. Take the level back down so that it's close to getting feedback but not quite. Bring up bands on the EQ untill you get one that feeds back without applying much gain, and take it out about 4-6dB.

[Andy_Leviss]

In other words, if you haven't gotten this from the earlier posts,

THERE IS NO "RULE OF THUMB"

I tour into a different venue every week, and sometimes two in one week. Each venue has a very different EQ curve to get the show sounding the same (or as close to the same as possible given the limitations of each venue) from day to day and room to room.

What is the same, however, is the general curve that the system puts out, as measured with somethign like Smaart (or, arguably, an RTA, but these aren't nearly as good since they don't take time into account).

But, to get that same response curve from room to room requires a drastically different EQ setting each time, depending on what frequencies are lacking in the room and what are overly resonant.

TassieBogan pretty much hit the nail on the head, though. It's not easy, and takes lots of practice to develop your ears to do it really well. Heck, I'm still developing my ears, and I've been doing this professionally part time for the last 6 years and full time for the last two! And I will be for decades to come :o)

As you get into doing it professionally, there are tools like Smaart (or SpectraFoo if you're a Mac guy) that can help make it quicker and more accurate by giving you a graphical readout of what's happening, but even then, your ears are the final arbiter. If the computer shows you something that should sound good, but you think it sounds bad, trust your ears, not the computer.

In my current situation, I actually have it really nice in this aspect. I am able to use parametric EQ in the console to tune my system to flat with the help of Smaart, and then a graphic EQ to tweak from flat to the actual tone curve I want (a parametric would work great for that, too, perhaps even better, but I use what I've got to work with).

Now, you could of course do it all in the one EQ (and there's an argument to be made that the less processing on your signal, the better), but in a situation where I need a consistent curve in many different rooms and have limited time in which to do it, I've found it wonderful to be able to set my tone EQ exactly how I want it to be, since I don't want the system to be quite flat, and then use the computer to help me quickly flatten it out. Of course though, it still comes down to listening to my sound check tracks and seeing how it really sounds with music playing through it that determines whether it's good or not.

I'm getting sidetracked though, and probably way beyond your needs and means, so I'll go back to saying that TB pretty much hit it right on the head :o)

[scarlco]

Andy is right... there is no rule of thumb. Equalization has long been an argument amoung sound engineers since EQ's were developed. What is the proper method? In reality, it depends on you and your ears.

For example, you stated that you don't use the EQ settings in Media Player because you don't need it on premixed tracks. Well, lets say I take that premixed track and try to play it on a super cheap laptop with tiny speakers. In that case, you might tweak the EQ to bring out parts of the music that you couldn't hear before.

Or, let's say you take a mix tape (or cd) into your friends car, and the bass is so loud you can't hear the rest of the music. You turn the bass down, right? Well, you've adjusted the EQ.

Setting the EQ for theatre is similair - you want to adjust the sound so that it sounds as natural as possible while trying to cut as much feedback from open mics as possible. It's an art that takes a long time to perfect - and no matter what, someone will always tell you they weren't happy with the sound. Why? Because you can't please everyone. You just have to try to please as many people as possible, including yourself!

[Mayhem]

All very good posts and I am just going to offer you this suggestion.

If you have the time, set the EQ flat (in the middle, no cut, no boost) and then in turn cut and boost each frequency 1 by 1. This will allow you to hear what each frequency contributes to the mix. I found this helpful when first starting out.

Now this may sound silly but also close your eyes as well. Our eyes can often confuse what we are hearing and shutting out this stimulus can help you to hear.

600Hz and 1.2kHz are common frequencies for feedback so they might be the two to reach for in a panic to try to pull out of the mix.


So, as TassieBogan and Andy_Leviss have already pointed out, there is no "one setting suits most applications" setting that you can apply to an EQ and that your ears should be the guide.

My advice is to take all of the techniques discussed here and take the time to experiment. This can be a time consuming process and one that you should give adequate time to.