Any sound techs or engineers here? - If so, I'd like to ask

[carlos seo]

If there are any sound engineers or techs here, I'd like to know if it's possible for you to post anything about EQs. I'd like to know the basics, like what cutting/boosting certain frequencies do.

Thanks!

[shawn]

well, without having a more specific question (ie. *what frequencies can i boost in a pre preamp eq to get more attack, or what frequencies in a post preamp eq can i boost or cut to clean up my tone) *its kind of hard to run the entire gamut in one post. *

but, a few general statements --- *bevery careful with high and low shelving eq's: *when you use these, you are cutting the upper registers of the harmonic overtones and subharmonics, respectively. *a little cut for shape is ok, but dont remove them completely or you will find your tone as dead as a doornail. *

also, pre preamp eq and post preamp eq are both very important and serve completely different purposes: *think of the pre preamp eq, *what is it essentially? *well, its the only thing that changes the sound of your guitar until it gets to your preamp (or in my case the bad horsie, the sd-1, the ds-1, then the preamp, but you get the idea), so its basically changing what you would percieve as the response of your pickups, which makes it a sort of pickup modeler -- or thats how i use it anyway. *then the post preamp eq tweaks the overall tone without vastly changing the "feel" of the guitar. * of course, extremes of either form of eq can produce the effect of the other, but generally speaking, the pre preamp eq shapes the harmonic content and "feel" of your tone, and the post preamp eq shapes more of the sound of the tone. *i hope this has helped you focus on a couple of aspects of your tone about which you can ask more specific questions and get more useful answers.

--shawn

[shawn]

oh yeah, and bob's a studio guy, so he can probably add quite a bit to this thread.

"PAGING BOB OAKMAN. . . . .
. . . . . . . BOB OAKMAN TO THE TECH THREAD PLEASE"

:biggrin:

[kennydoe]

You didn't mention what application you're using the EQ for.

I'll go ahead and assume you're talking about an EQ in a guitar rig.

For a guitar rig, less is generally more. * You don't need more than a 10 or 15 band EQ. *any more than that is overkill in a guitar rig and will probably do more harm than good.

The easiest way to learn to use an EQ is hands on. *You can start with the little Boss Graphic EQ pedal and just experiment with it. *The layout on a graphic is very simple - highs on the right. lows on the left. *Using an electronic EQ with an LED readout is much harder to learn on, as you're not really getting the picture in your head of what the sounds' shape actually looks like.

Each slider has an assigned frequency. *Lower #s (ie 60Hz) correspond to lows (bass) while higher #s (is 10kHz) correspond to highs (treble).

important to remember...by pushing up a particular slider's freqency, you're also pushing up the adjoining frequencies slightly also.

For example, if you push the 1kHz slider up, this happens:
* * * * - * * * * * * *<==1kHz
* * * - * - * * * * * *<==900Hz and 1100Hz
* * - * * * - * * * * *<==800Hz and 1200 Hz

Those numbers vary from EQ to EQ and it largely depends on how many 'bands' you have. *The fewer 'bands' of EQ, the further the Freq. spread.

The most improtant part of EQing is DON'T OVER-DO IT!

I hope this explains it a little to you - as i said the best way to learn is to buy an EQ with real faders on it and just use it! *You'll get the feel for it in no time at all.

~Kenny

[carlos seo]

Hey Kenny, thanks for your post. But I know how to operate it anyway... I mean, how it works, not how to make it work for me...I hate making things via trial and error! :biggrin:

Yes, I'm using it in a guitar rig. I have 2 EQs, one 15-band custom made EQ (for recording)and a BOSS GE-7 EQ (for quick plug-and-play gig adjustments).

I'm always experimenting with these but I wanna lean more than just shaping the sound. I'd like to know how to use it as a noise supressor, to eliminate unwanted feedbacks and harmonics, and so on...

My sound engineering teacher at university said that I can do these and much more things using and EQ in my guitar rig. And I wanna learn...

[Getthis]

found this link on another forum a few days ago

http://www.trinitysoundcompany.com/eq.html

[carlos seo]

Thanks for the link! It was very helpful!

[shawn]

wow, phenomenal site, thanks for sharing that