Ableton Forum

Can anyone please point me in the right direction for understanding how frequency ranges and EQing works? I'm having trouble interpreting the charts and EQ8 for example.

Thanks!

I'm a newbie at this myself but what I've learned so far - basically - is that the lower the frequency, the lower the sound. For example, sub bass is a low-pitched sound and is therefore a low frequency - around 100 hertz and below. Now higher-pitched sounds like vocals will be in the thousands of hertz range. EQ-ing is very useful for cutting out sounds from a sample. Say you have a sample that has both vocals and bass sounds but you want just the bass sounds. You can use the EQ8 to make a low-pass filter to chop off the higher frequencies of the sample, leaving you with just the bass sounds. It is useful to put a spectrum analyzer on the sample. This will show you what frequencies the sample is hitting, and will help you decide where to put your low-pass.

I just don't understand if I should be reading it as "filling up the space" left to right (stereo) or up and down.. I can't really decipher the eq8 graph

eq8 is really simple far left is low frequency, far right is high. and the middlle is well mids. Then you have all the different shades.

Up or down is boosting or cutting at that frequency

So you get one of the little dots on the frequency you want and boost it up or down

put an eq8 on a track, then put the "spectrum" device after it, then you'll be able to see what frequencies a sound is making, and by messing with the eq8, how that changes those frequencies. Might help a bit in getting a handle on it!

To understand is to listen. The graphs are only a visual representation of the audio spectrum.
It takes a relatively long time to know how a certain frequency sounds. You can practice it with a little more focus.

You can set up an operator instance and sweep a sine wave oscillator from the lowest frequencies to the highest. If you put a spectrum oscillator behind this operator you might get a grasp of fundamental tones. It gets more complicated when overtones come into play. But if you know where 3khz is and what it sounds like, you can cut out certain resonances a little bit faster and don´t have to do the narrow bell curve eq trick.

It´s a matter of practice. This sine oscillator practice has helped me to hear problematic frequencies and to cut them out.

I hope it helps and will motivate you to train your ear.

Good luck.