EQ theory, sorta

[soupster]

Hey guys. I know hz and khz, and the things they do. BUt i want to know what there SUPPOSED to do and what they mean and what they are exactly. Like the numerals in front stand for ?hertz? I know im a dumbass but i am just a small town musician, and im not to enlightened on the music i love. I have gigs and stuff, not paying all the time but still. If theres anything u guys can just tell me to further my knowledge that u think is very important, not long that be kool. and....ive been looking for an upright, i just love the sound on it for the blues patterns and jazz progressions. Charles mingus kills man, and ray brown too. see ya and thanx

[I I mjrn]

Never sell yourself short jsut for not knowing something----nobody knows as much as they could (should?) & the biggest fools are those who pretend they don't need to ask questions.

Anyway, if I understand your question, you're asking about the numbers you might see before the designation "hz" or khz".

Those are just the pitch frequencies; for instance, 1000hz =1000 cycles per second (or 1khz); 440hz = standard concert tuning for "A", so 55hz =the pitch frequency of a bass guitar's A string; etc.

This helps you select a range of frequencies to be affected by a device, although most musical tones have a much higher range of frequencies than the just the fundamental & these are also important to the sound.

[alexclaber]

Hz=Hertz and means cycles per second. Any musical wave has a fundamental frequency and a series of overtones. The overtones (or harmonics) follow a mathematical relationship to the fundamental: the second harmonic is at twice the frequency of the fundamental, the third harmonic at 3 times, the fourth harmonic at 4 times etc.

 

Concert pitch defines A=440Hz (I believe that this is the A above middle C, not sure though). Consequently A at the fifth fret on the E-string is at 55Hz. Thus the frequencies your bass will generate when plucked are:

 

55, 110, 165, 220, 275, 330, 385, 440, 495, 550

and so on right up to 11,000 Hz (= 11kHz) and beyond.

 

The relative volume of each of the harmonics (and also their envelopes) defines the timbre of any instrument. The dominance of different harmonics shapes the tone in critical ways - if harmonics equivalent to the major 3rd are loud the sound tends to be muddy, if harmonics equivalent to the perfect 5th are loud the sound tends to be thick etc. Unfortunately using EQ will not help with this as the EQ would need to be changed for each pitch you play.

 

Alex

[462]

Judging by the title of you post, I think your asking about the relevance of these numbers on an equalizer? If so, the basic theory behind it has already been explained, fundamental frequencies and overtones... The human ear can typically hear from 20hz to 20 000hz. However, on a tipical eq for a bass rig the eq parameters would not usually go below 30hz and above 15khz. The lower frequencies control the deep bass sounds, and the higher frequencies control the higher pitch sounds. I dont think I've seen an eq where the boost/cut controls were not in ascending order (lowest to highest). Now do yourself a favour and give those low numbers a nice big boost

[Bob Gollihur]

One of the more helpful visual aids I've seen is a graphic of a piano keyboard that has the frequencies, in hertz, labeling various keys, as well as line graphics showing the range of various instruments. It is within a PDF document (page 9) on the Sabine web site: http://www.sabineusa.com/newsite/pdf/Positive-Feedback-v2-pp-1-8.pdf

 

It is within a series of informative articles on feedback on their site at http://www.sabineusa.com/newsite/pdf_fbx_files.html

[soupster]

thanks guys.......really thanks. This just made a much better musician sorta