When was the first time you saw a graphic equalizer? And when was the first time you did anything with it other than turn up the bass? And what does it even do, really? And what is it equalizing? It turns out the whole thing is all about frequency. Here’s more from Ethan Hein:
To understand how EQ works, you first need to learn what a frequency is. If you are a musician, this will be easy, because frequency is just another name for pitch. All sounds are produced by vibrating objects. Pitched sounds are produced by regular, steady vibrations. The faster an object vibrates, the higher the pitch it produces. Frequency is a measure of how many cycles of vibration there are per second: how many times the speaker cone goes in and out, how many times the guitar string flexes back and forth, how many times your vocal cords flap, how many times the air pushes harder or more gently against your eardrum.
Now that you know how to visualize the frequency spectrum, you are ready to understand EQ: it’s a device or software program that can cut or boost specific ranges of frequencies. An EQ might be as simple as the bass and treble knobs on a stereo, or it might give you individual control of dozens of frequency bands… EQ has two sets of purposes, the practical ones and the creative ones. The practical uses are easy to understand: sometimes there are frequencies that you want to get rid of.
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