All EQ'd up

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

This begs another question.

What do people adjust when doing a sound check?

I meant an external graphic, which I'm sure you well know.

[rob1963]

And that's one too many for the technically challenged like you.

Pot, kettle, black!

I meant an external graphic, which I'm sure you well know.

Apologies for misunderstanding you, Darren, but I had no idea you were talking about an external graphic...hence my post.

[Mark Wild]

Just been plaing around with my rack mount EQ with my speaker setup using the Mackie V2 tops and DB sub 15. I am using a 31 band EQ so it ranges from 20hz right up to 20khz.

Been playing by ear and I think I have worked it out but would still need tweaking in a live situation. This is what has been adjusted.

31.5hz = +4
40hz = +4
80hz = -7
500hz = -2
630hz = -2
800hz = -2
12.5k = -2
16k = -2

Notice no happy smile on the graphic eq. lol.

After these small changes the sound is more clearer. 80hz had a big drop as this was quite boomy and to punchy. I try all genres of music from pop to dance, even metal and it was way to much for all music.

Mackies are know for being quite high in the treble but after playing about, the frequencies that are a tad to high are the 12.5k and 16k. With a backoff of -2, its much easier on the ear, while still keeping that crispness.

I played a song to 3 different people with the new settings on and off and when ask what did they think sound best, it was the new eq version. "not in your face" as one put it.

I was happy with that.

Will give a full report tomorrow as I have a football party so should be a good test, I hope.

I fail to understand this thread Tom, so what your saying is for someone with the same equipment as you, who has a rack mount 31 band EQ with a range of 20HZ to 20KHZ (which incidentally is the perception of the human ear) should use the same settings to utilise this equipment? I think you'll find its horses for courses and what you think sounds good others may not. Also in the environment you test in, all your surroundings will all have different densities and co-efficients to where someone else is. Its not possible to give EQ settings for someone else, is it? Or were you just stating a personal preference?

[nigelwright7557]

From what you have said it looks like your loudspeakers have a resonance at 80Hz. That is no suprise for a driver as all have a resonant frequency.
But your loudspeaker enclosure should be flattening it out a bit.

Perhaps it is a resonance between the driver and the enclosure ?
Perhaps there is insufficient damping inside the enclosure ?

[Tom]

I fail to understand this thread Tom, so what your saying is for someone with the same equipment as you, who has a rack mount 31 band EQ with a range of 20HZ to 20KHZ (which incidentally is the perception of the human ear) should use the same settings to utilise this equipment? I think you'll find its horses for courses and what you think sounds good others may not. Also in the environment you test in, all your surroundings will all have different densities and co-efficients to where someone else is. Its not possible to give EQ settings for someone else, is it? Or were you just stating a personal preference?

Right. Who said I was giving eq settings for anyone???

Not all rackmout graphics have the full 20hz to 20khz range. Some small ones only go up to 16khz. This is why I stated it went from 20hz right up to 20khz.

Also in my post I did say I was playing it by ear, so thats what I think sounds best. I like a very nice, clean and balanced sound. I dont like lots of bass for example. Just makes music sound . (sorry for swearing. i dont usually swear on a forum)

Also I did say that I got 3 people to give me there opinion on what sounded best with the graphic on and off. All three said that the sound was better with the graphic on and one quoted "not in your face" as it was before eq was turned on.

I also said that I will be giving a full report tomorrow. This means that things may need to be adjusted, which I know will need to be.

From what you have said it looks like your loudspeakers have a resonance at 80Hz. That is no suprise for a driver as all have a resonant frequency.
But your loudspeaker enclosure should be flattening it out a bit.

Perhaps it is a resonance between the driver and the enclosure ?
Perhaps there is insufficient damping inside the enclosure ?

I think its the other way round.

A cab will make peaks a lot bigger, hence the reason to lower the 80hz. I think this is group delay related if im correct.

Maby DB Tech got things wrong with port size, lengh and cab size as these can reduce these peaks to make the sound sound a lot better and not "one noted". After all, they did want a small, compact and loud sub.



Also I just want to note, that how ever much anyone spends on speakers or amps, might as well throw that in aswell, every speaker system will need some kind of eq weither it be a small 3 band eq on your dj mixer or a full 31 band eq. Any kind of sound will be different in any venue and with that you need some sort of eq.

You can't turn up to a gig, play some music and leave it at that. If a song soungs to bassy, what do you do, you turn it down on the mixer. You adjust the eq.

All I am doing is taking out certain frequencies that are causing a small issue in my sound system to try and improve the sound. Whats wrong with that???

[Corabar Steve]

So your settings only match one song.
Are you going to EQ on the fly every single song ?

Thats just not practical.

What else is there to do.....

I make adjustments all the time....slight tweak here and there....

Don't forget Nigel isn't digital, there's tons to do . He has to find the CD, locate the track, cue it up.........

This begs another question.

What do people adjust when doing a sound check?

To a general good sound for the room they are in, I wwould've thought that was obvious.

But half the messages on this board concern people wanting us to recommend subs coz they dont get enough bass

How many of those use Class D though?

From what you have said it looks like your loudspeakers have a resonance at 80Hz. That is no suprise for a driver as all have a resonant frequency.
But your loudspeaker enclosure should be flattening it out a bit.

Perhaps it is a resonance between the driver and the enclosure ?
Perhaps there is insufficient damping inside the enclosure ?

Do you just get this stuff off the internet?

[leighinstoke]

Looks a lot of messing with the EQ - playing back pre-recorded music shouldn't require much EQ - maybe a touch of Bass to compensate for the building or a touch of top if the room is softly furnished.

I usually play with a flat EQ most of the time and just EQ my mic.

[A1DL]

I didn't think you could eliminate feedback?

I thought all they did was to cut the frequency that was feediing back, which is not great when someone is speaking?

One cannot change the laws of physics and "eliminate" feedback, however it is possible to increase SPL gain before feedback, using several techniques;

(1) a parametric eq (as opposed to a graphic) - rifle approach vs shotgun. Insert at channel/subgroup level, not mains.

(2) apply a few ms delay - only a few, it won't be noticable. Work only with the wet (processed) signal.

(3) apply a very small pitch shift, as above. Again leave the dry signal out of the mix, and shift up, not down (the human hear detects flats before sharps).

However, before doing any of this, get your mic & speaker placement right. Remember you can't polish a turd.

[Mark Wild]

Right. Who said I was giving eq settings for anyone???

I didn't realise it was a personal experiment you'd decided to log in the "Technical Help" section.

[501damian501]

Does a decent sound system need eqing?

I once had an nice big flash 30odd band graphic equalizer, to be honest, more hassle than their worth, am happy using the EQ on the mixer, not that it needs massive adjustment, but sometimes a little ajustment is needed of course...