Q's

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djclueveli

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say for an example i wanted to raise a very small region like 100hz-150hz +10db (jus an example) without affecting the others. what kinda Q would i use. would i use q's like 30 or is that not really common in mixing. i'm still confused on how to calculate the what frequencies the q will mostly affect. can someone break this down for me
 
Think of "Q" as being how tight or sharp the band you use will be. The higher the "Q" the tighter, more selective the filter. Lower "Q" will be a wider band.
 
Are you using hardware? The software plugs generally have a pretty good graphic representation of bandwidth.
 
This is a little thick but it might help http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_factor

If you simply look at the formula without going into it too deep, notice how as "Q" goes up, the bandwidth of the filter goes down (more narrow). The wave form represents the bandwidth of the frequencies being passed in this case, if the wave form were a notch (used to remove frequencies), it would be upside down.
 
It's really quite simple-
 

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i'm real dumb when it comes to reading stuff like that LOL. can someone give me a couple of examples dealing with numbers (q and frequencies)
 
It doesn't work like that...it depends on the materials and the circuit used.

What are you using...harware/sofware? You should be able to hear the response. Turn the "Q" up and sweep the freq. back and forth. If it needs to be a little wider, then turn the Q down...a finess is required. This is an artistic touch and isn't an absolute.

Again, the reason I tossed up the wiki response was to show that frequency response isn't linear...don't get hung up with the math but unless you tell us EXACTLY what the offending frequency is and what equipment you're using, it's not possible to answer the question. Even then, it's going to be a "ball-park" call.

No harm intended.
 
i use waves paragraphic eq and its software. i was jus curious how to know what frequencies are targeted when a certain q value is set.
 
Not real hard to figure out just by looking at the EQ...

Most EQ plug-ins will have a better/more accurate view of what frequencies are being effected than this one.

For this plug-in, the amount of gain (in dB) is shown to the right. The frequencies being effected (Q or bandwidth) is shown at the bottom.

The width of the slope is the Q.
 

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danny.guitar said:
The width of the slope is the Q.
Click to expand...
Actually, Q bandwidth is commonly determined as the width of that central part of the slope between the points of the slope that are 3dB down from the slope's highest (or lowest, if it's a cut and not a boost) point.

Check out this thread for another in-depth discussion on Q, including a graph on post #9 that illustrates how "Q width" and "slope width" can differ greatly.

G.
 
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