7string
Well-known member
I got this in my email today and remembered somebody was asking about it so I thought it might do some good. Not trying to spark a debate, but comments welcome. Not spamming either but props at the end...
WHAT IS AN EQUALIZATION CURVE?
This is a really basic explanation, but one that worked for me when I was first learning the craft of audio engineering. An equalization curve, or eq curve is an imaginary horizontal line that shows how much or how little of certain frequencies are heard in a given audio signal.
Imagine a horizontal line that represents low or bass frequencies on the left, and high or treble frequencies on the right. If you started with the line being flat, then boosted the high end, you would see a bump on the right end of the line. If you boosted the middle frequencies, you'd see a bump in the middle.
When looking at a microphone's eq curve, you would typically see a range of frequencies from about 30Hz on the low end, up to 20Khz on the high end. The curve would start out below the "zero" line until it hits 60 to 100Hz, then be flat until the upper frequencies (around 10Khz), where you would see a slight bump above the line showing that the mic has a brightened top end to compensate for the natural roll off of the human ear. You would also see a rapid roll off after 10Khz, because most humans can't hear above that frequency, so it's essentially useless for a microphone to pick it up - unless of course, you're making records for dogs!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The information above came from "Studio Buddy -- The Home Recording Helper." It's a self-contained, easy to use database of recording tips designed specifically for people with home studios. If you find this article helpful, you should download the FREE program at:
http://www.studiobuddy.com
WHAT IS AN EQUALIZATION CURVE?
This is a really basic explanation, but one that worked for me when I was first learning the craft of audio engineering. An equalization curve, or eq curve is an imaginary horizontal line that shows how much or how little of certain frequencies are heard in a given audio signal.
Imagine a horizontal line that represents low or bass frequencies on the left, and high or treble frequencies on the right. If you started with the line being flat, then boosted the high end, you would see a bump on the right end of the line. If you boosted the middle frequencies, you'd see a bump in the middle.
When looking at a microphone's eq curve, you would typically see a range of frequencies from about 30Hz on the low end, up to 20Khz on the high end. The curve would start out below the "zero" line until it hits 60 to 100Hz, then be flat until the upper frequencies (around 10Khz), where you would see a slight bump above the line showing that the mic has a brightened top end to compensate for the natural roll off of the human ear. You would also see a rapid roll off after 10Khz, because most humans can't hear above that frequency, so it's essentially useless for a microphone to pick it up - unless of course, you're making records for dogs!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The information above came from "Studio Buddy -- The Home Recording Helper." It's a self-contained, easy to use database of recording tips designed specifically for people with home studios. If you find this article helpful, you should download the FREE program at:
http://www.studiobuddy.com
I think the whole studio buddy thing would answer a lot of questions for newbies and then they could get even more detail here.
