TheAudioMasterclassMusicProductionandSoundEngineeringCourse

MODULE04PRACTICALASSIGNMENTNOTES:Equalization

RefertotheAssignmentNotesAudiofolder

Screen shots of the EQ settings required to fulfil this assignment are available in the
View When Module Completed folder.

There are two tools that are more important to the sound engineer then any others. First is the
ability to balance the levels of the various instruments of the mix, in recording or live sound. The
second is equalization. Often, complete mixes can be made without using any other tool or
process.

Assessing the relative balance of frequencies of an individual instrument or an entire mix is a skill
that is only learned with much practice. However, the intention of the exercises in this assignment
is to provide a more active means of encouraging the learner to listen, analyze and then
implement their EQ decisions.

Just as musicians take part in regular and extensive aural training to recognize notes, rhythms and
harmonies, a sound engineer would do well to carry out regular practice in assessing EQ balances
and making corrections.

Professional standard

In this exercise, one point of doubt may be where the professional standard lies.

Well, technically, one could consider absolute perfection to be the standard. That would mean that
you could mix the original track and the EQed track together, with one of them inverted in
polarity, and the two would cancel out completely.

This is not humanly possible, and in any case it would require the equalizer that produced the
sample track and the equalizer that was used for the correction to be identical.

There is another standard - could an experienced engineer not be able to hear the difference on a
direct A/B test? (An A/B test is where you can switch instantly from one track to the other, and
back again, as often and as quickly as you like.)

This is also an unrealistic standard. An experienced engineer will immediately pick out the
inevitable very small differences.

So where does the professional standard lie?

The answer to that is to reach a standard where although there may be some differences, they are
so small that no-one is going to worry about them. The A&R manager, the producer and the
musicians probably won't be able to hear anything at all, even on an A/B test.

The engineer will be able to tell on an A/B test, but if presented with one of the versions at
random and asked to say which it is, he'll have to think carefully about it.

How to approach this task

Since it states in the brief that only one band of EQ was used to create the sample tracks, the first
step is to decide which type of EQ to use - low-frequency, mid frequency or high-frequency, and
whether to cut or boost. That should be so straightforward we'll consider it done.

Module04PracticalAssignmentNotes
Let's take the example where a low-frequency EQ has been used. The next steps will be to identify
the frequency, and the amount of gain applied.

The best way to approach this is to set a gain that is easily audible - 12 dB should be enough (or
minus 12 dB if a cut is required).

Then pick out a low frequency instrument that has clearly been affected by the EQ. Sweep the
frequency and try to home in on the point where the effect is similar in the corrected version to
what it sounds like in the sample track.

Lastly, fine-tune the gain.

It must be stressed that this is not a linear process. You don't perform Step 1, Step 2, Step 3 and
it's done. No, you will search for the right frequency, then adjust the gain. Then tune the
frequency more tightly, then return to the gain. First one control, then the other, then repeat as
many times as necessary.

By following this process, gradually the difference between the two tracks will become less and
less.

Similar methods will apply to the high-frequency band.

One additional problem is that LF and HF equalizer sections often have the option of a bell or shelf
curve. 'Bell' means that the EQ is most effective around the center frequency, and tails off on both
sides. 'Shelf' means that frequencies below the center frequency (for the LF band) maintain
whatever degree of cut or boost has been set. This applies similarly to the HF band. To detect this,
you will have to listen carefully to the extremes of the frequency range.

The mid band has the additional complication that there is a Q or bandwidth control (alternative
names for the same thing). It is best to set this to a moderate value, around 1, and fine tune the
frequency and gain as much as possible first. Then start experimenting with the Q control. You'll
probably have to revisit the frequency and gain controls too.

Examples

To get a sense of perspective here are three examples...

Example file: flat.wav the original un-EQed track

Example file: close.wav quite close to the original
Example file: closer.wav very close to the original, but still not quite there

close.wav is in fact probably close enough. There are few people who would quibble with this.
closer.wav is very close indeed and should satisfy everybody.

Summary

Even experienced engineers find this task difficult. Perfection may be attainable in these simple
tasks, but real life EQ uses more bands and can be massively more complex. Even so, the more
one listens closely to the effects of EQ, the better one will become in this art.

Endofassignmentnotes.

Module04PracticalAssignmentNotes