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Instrument Frequency Ranges and How To Work With Your Equalizers
In audio processing, equalization (or equalisation, EQ) is the process of changing the frequency envelope of a sound. In passing through any channel, temporal/frequency spreading of a signal occurs. Etymologically, it means to correct, or make equal, the frequency response of a signal. The term "equalizer" is often incorrectly applied as a general term for audio filters. DJ mixing equipment and hi-fi audio components often include so called graphic equalizers or simply equalizer. These are in fact general all-purpose filters, which can be arranged to produce the effect of low pass, high pass, band pass and band stop filters. Only when these filters are arranged so as to reverse the effects of the internal circuitry on sound output, are they operating as equalizers.
Compressors and Compression for a Better Mix
In simple terms, a compressor is an automatic volume control. Loud sounds over a certain threshold are reduced in level; quiet sounds are not reduced. In this way it reduces the dynamic range of an audio signal. This may be done for aesthetic reasons, to deal with technical limitations of audio equipment, or to improve audibility of audio in noisy environments.
In a noisy environment background noise can overpower quiet sounds. A comfortable listening level for loud sounds makes the quiet sounds inaudible: A comfortable listening level for quiet sounds makes the loud sounds too loud.To make both the soft and loud parts of a sound audible at the same time, compression is used. Compression reduces the level of the loud sounds, but not the quiet sounds, thus, the level can be raised to a point where the quiet sounds are audible, but without the loud sounds being too loud. Contrast this with the complementary process of an expander, which increases the dynamic range of a signal.
More on compression for your mix
Limiting vs. Compression
Compression and limiting are more or less the same thing. Typically, the term limiter is used to indicate a device that is compressing with a ratio of 10:1 or higher. The word limit is used because it essentially limits the signals ability in any substantial way to go above the threshold. A Brick Wall Limiter is a special type of limiter with an extremely high ratio (50:1 or greater), usually used with a high threshold that only is engaged right before the signal would distort.
Reverb
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. When sound is produced in a space, a large number of echoes build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air, creating reverberation, or reverb. This is most noticeable when the sound source stops but the reflections continue, decreasing in amplitude, until they can no longer be heard. Large chambers, especially such as cathedrals, gymnasiums, indoor swimming pools, large caves, etc., are examples of spaces where the reverberation time is long and can clearly be heard. Different types of music tend to sound best with reverberation times appropriate to their characteristics.
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