Alesis PEQ-450 manual Basics of Equalization, What is equalization?, Chapter

Chapter 3

Basics of Equalization

This section will explain how equalization works, and explain the functions of the PEQ-450’s controls.

What is equalization?

An equalizer boosts or cuts a frequency range. The PEQ-450 is a parametric equalizer, which means that you can sweep the frequency bands and adjust the range of boost or cut. The other type of equalizer, a graphic equalizer, has many fixed frequency bands which can be boosted or cut. Alesis sells a graphic equalizer called the MEQ-230.

The three common controls on any parametric equalizer are gain, frequency and Q. Gain controls the amount of boost or cut in a range. A setting of 0dB means that the signal will not be affected in that frequency band. Frequency controls the tonal band which will be affected (high, low, mid, etc.) Q controls the width of the boost or cut. The PEQ-450 can also do shelving and hipass/ lowpass filtering. This will all be covered in greater detail throughout this chapter.

Equalization is used for:

•Adjusting the timbre of an instrument, voice, mix or effect

•Cutting or boosting frequencies to make a source easier to mix with other tracks

•Compensating for a less-than-ideal recording

•Creating a filter effect

•Eliminating buzz, noise or hum

Equalizers can make your recorded tracks sound polished and

professional. Chapter 4 will give specific example settings for various instruments.

PEQ-450 Reference Manual 27