What is an Equalizer?
An equalizer is used in the field of Audio to adjust or fine
tune frequency response aspect of an Audio System. As a layman would adjust the
level of the Bass, Mid or treble in an Audio system found at home or in a car,
An audio Engineer uses an Equalizer to make subtle changes in the frequencies
of various audio tracks. These Frequencies and either be boosted or cut. Live
Sound Engineers often use Equalizers to treat various rooms, by using concepts
of Psychoacoustics. Below I will attempt to Analyze and compare two of the most
popular and widely used types of Equalizers.
Graphic EQ
This type of Equalizer uses several faders to Boost or Cut
the desired frequency. The “Band” of the equalizer determines the fixed number
of Frequencies that it can alter. For example, A five band EQ will be able to
increment/decrement Five fixed Frequencies being 30Hz for Lower bass, 100Hz for
Mid-bass, 1KHz for mid-range and 20Khz for extremely high frequencies. These
particular frequencies can either be boosted/cut to +6dB/-6dB or +12dB/-12dB
based on the company manufacturing the equalizer. This equalizer can also come
as a 10 band EQ, meaning ten different frequencies the audio engineer can
adjust. This also proves to also allow for greater control and increased
accuracy in fine-tuning.
LA Audio's Graphic EQ
Parametric EQ
A parametric EQ is based on the same Concept of a graphic
EQ, except it is slightly more complicated. This type of Equalizer enables the
engineer to control more additional parameters. While the Graphic EQ controls
the level of those fixed frequencies by boosting or cutting them, the
parametric EQ offers the same with two more Parameters. The First being the
bandwidth and the second being the range of each frequency. For instance, if
the Graphic EQ can boost or cut 20KHz, A parametric EQ can boost or cut various
frequencies in that given range like 15KHz, 25KHz or even 30KHz. Therefore a
parametric EQ can also control the center frequencies. This center frequency
can be adjusted to control almost any frequency desired. The parametric EQ also
controls the range of each frequency band. For example, If the center frequency
is 80Hz, a boost or cut applied on 80Hz would also adjust the level of
frequencies like 60Hz or 70Hz. However the impact of the boost/cut will be
mainly on 80 Hz but have an attenuated ripple effect on 60Hz and 70Hz,
decreasing on the extremes.
Pro-Tool's Parametric EQ
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