PARAMETRIC EQ VS GRAPHIC EQ HOW TO
PARAMETRIC EQ VS GRAPHIC EQ FULL

The name comes from the fact that the EQ settings of a graphic EQ unit typically look very obvious and вЂњgraphicвЂќ. What is graphic audio equalization? Graphic equalization is a style of EQ where predetermined bandsВ centredВ around set frequencies with setВ Q factors that can be eitherВ boosted (amplified) or cut (attenuated).

PARAMETRIC EQ VS GRAPHIC EQ FULL

He loves his twins, the Packers, music, and pro audio gear.Graphic EQ is one of the common equalization types in audio technology and deserves a full article dedicated to its explanation. Pat is a musician at heart and has also found himself playing gigs with several bands over the past 30 years. Patrick Smolinksi is a recording industry veteran with over 15 years of pro audio retail sales experience, over 11 years of running his own recording studio in central Wisconsin, and is a multi-instrumentalist playing all of the instruments on songwriter demos. The decision on which one to use is just that: Is it just one, or a small set of frequencies that are not sounding right, or do you just want to control the entire spectrum from bass to treble? This is unlike the graphic EQ which lets you adjust the entire spectrum from low to high. This is perfect for finding and cutting bad sounding frequencies, or enhancing weak ones in order to balance out your frequency spectrum. In conclusion, parametric equalizers are used to target specific or specific sets of adjacent frequencies, anywhere you want to. The wider settings with take a bigger вЂњbiteвЂќ out of the frequency spectrum, and the narrow settings let you focus in on a very specific frequency. If you make it the widest, you might be affecting all the way from 100-400Hz, with 250 as the center. If you make it very narrow, you are affecting only like 245-255Hz. Now the вЂњQвЂќ control determines how wide a swath centered on 250Hz you are affecting.

LetвЂ™s say you are cutting -6dB with the level control. This control is the most mis-understood one, and not all parametric EQ controls have it.

This means that the band on right of the EQ could be affecting bass, and the one on the left could be affecting treble! Very different than the graphic EQ. Others let any one of the bands affect anywhere in the entire audio frequency spectrum. Some parametrics have different ranges of frequencies you can control for each band. This is the control that sets what frequency you are cutting or boosting with the level control. The more right or clockwise, the more you are boosting a frequency. The more left or counter-clockwise you go, the more you are cutting a frequency. Place it at 12 OвЂ™clock and itвЂ™s not doing either, in other words, not changing the sound at all. The level control determines whether you are cutting, or boosting a frequency. WeвЂ™ll look at the controls one at a time. Not all parametrics have the вЂњQвЂќ control, like most parametric midranges on mixers and multitrack recorders. Unlike the graphic equalizer, each band is NOT вЂњpresetвЂќ at a certain frequency, but rather variable.ДЄ parametric EQ has 3 basic controls, Level, Frequency, and вЂњQвЂќ, or width of the section of the spectrum you are adjusting. Most parametric EQs have only 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7 bands. Also, there arenвЂ™t as many вЂњbandsвЂќ as a graphic, which may have 7, 9, 15, or 31 bands to play with. These are quite different than graphic equalizers in that the sound spectrum is NOT set out in order from left to right by lowest to highest frequency. Please see my previous article on вЂњWhat Is The Proper Way To Set An EqualizerвЂќ for the best method for setting a graphic equalizer. You have the entire sonic landscape in front of you at your disposal. These are perfect for shaping the entire spectrum of a sound system or recording from the deepest bass, to the highest treble. This is also known as a вЂњmatrixвЂќ, where left to right is the frequencies, and up and down are the levels of each one.

PARAMETRIC EQ VS GRAPHIC EQ HOW TO

As a follow-up to my previous article on how to set a graphic equalizer, I will go into the differences between parametric and graphic equalizers, why there are two types in the first place, and when & why to use one over the other.Д«y definition, graphic equalizers are called this because they lay out the sound spectrum in order from lowest frequency to highest from left to right, in a graphical or вЂњgraph-likeвЂќ fashion. This is another good question I get from time to time that should be asked more often.

Parametric eq vs graphic eq