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reciprocation of EQ

A buddy of mine (a sound engineer) was explaining some things regarding EQ for me and he said that when a freq is lowered on one side, the opposite happens to the other end.

EX: if one lowers 100hz by 2 db then there will be a +2 increase on the high end


I have no idea what,why, or how this is or happens and i cant not find any lit on it. can anyone explain this or link me an explanation? thx

also: when EQ a track, lets say a clap or snare for a trance song, the snare pops around 800hz so i slam a high-pass on it to remove any lower than 600hz. Now i notice that there is hardly any high end near the 15-20khz showing on my EQ color response (dont know what its called but it shows where the frequencies are being played on the background of the EQ in diff colors, the weaker the freq the color fades), so should i just remove those frequencies completely or is it not worth it seeing as how there is barely anything?


thx

nope. Perceptual ying yang , sure, but your eq isn't doing anything to the high end.

Re: reciprocation of EQ

quote:

Originally posted by Von Pistol A buddy of mine (a sound engineer) was explaining some things regarding EQ for me and he said that when a freq is lowered on one side, the opposite happens to the other end. EX: if one lowers 100hz by 2 db then there will be a +2 increase on the high end I have no idea what,why, or how this is or happens and i cant not find any lit on it. can anyone explain this or link me an explanation? thx

The explanation is that your buddy (a sound engineer) is an idiot, or perhaps you misunderstood what he was trying to tell you. Maybe he was trying to explain to you how linear phase EQs work (and failed miserably at it)?

quote:

Originally posted by Von Pistol also: when EQ a track, lets say a clap or snare for a trance song, the snare pops around 800hz so i slam a high-pass on it to remove any lower than 600hz. Now i notice that there is hardly any high end near the 15-20khz showing on my EQ color response (dont know what its called but it shows where the frequencies are being played on the background of the EQ in diff colors, the weaker the freq the color fades), so should i just remove those frequencies completely or is it not worth it seeing as how there is barely anything?

Stop mixing with your eyes. Try it both ways and everywhere in between, in the mix and in isolation, without looking at your SA. What do your ears tell you?

i don't think the thread is completely silly. I mean there is a perceptual sort of yin yang in that if you reduce bass, perceptually, it is like boosting highs. But this isn't anything an eq is doing , just our brains.

Cryo: I originally thought that i had misheard because i had not read/heard that anywhere but im 95% sure thats what he was saying.

I usually do listen to each track individually and then with the rest of the mix, but im still learning about EQ so looking at it is more beneficial from an educational stand point right now.


Looney: how do you mean the EQ wont effect the high end? i thought that the objective is to thin out the individual tracks in order to increase space and clarity? so even if there are small or weak high freq playing then removing them would be a good idea based on this.

and EQ does what it does.

If you attenuate the bass, you attenuate the bass. It doesn't do anything else. Perceptually, you need to understand that a bass cut, could sound like a high shelf . That is what i mean by the perceptual yinyang. But the eq isn't doing that.

i mean think about it. No bass is like something with too many highs. But that is purely perceptual.

The simplest way to see this for yourself is to play a static sound continuously (e.g., a synth with a straight saw wave playing a middle C looped). Insert an EQ, followed by a spectrum analyzer (or an EQ with a built-in SA set to "post", if you have one). Slowly sweep a high-pass filter from left to right while watching the spectrum analyzer and notice how only the lower frequencies (i.e., below the cutoff frequency) are attenuated/eliminated as you sweep up, while frequencies above the cutoff are untouched.

quote:

Originally posted by Looney4Clooney i don't think the thread is completely silly.

The thread itself isn't completely silly, but a so-called "sound engineer" should know better. Imagine if there was a see-saw frequency effect when EQing - that would make mixing a bitch (well, moreso) and think about the feedback issues that would cause for live engineers. Not to mention that any changes to the lows would throw the highs out of whack, causing you to re-EQ the highs, throwing the lows out of whack, causing you to re-EQ the lows...yada yada yada >>>> cascading EQ death spiral of no return.

perhaps the message got lost in translation.

for example, perceptually, a low shelf attenuation is identical to a high shelf boost given that you account for the overall intensity.

i think its about "relativity" for want of a better word

Like if you reduce the top end in a track and then increase the overall volume of the same track, isnt that kinda the same as boosting the low end only? Because the high end is reduced relative to the low end? kinda hard to explain in text

ya i didnt want to ask cuz i know how much you guys enjoy these trolling topics haha but i couldnt find anything and i wanted to know.

i thought that it would create a perpetual loop as well.

so removing the high end freqs that are barely heard is not good?

any good/useful reads reguarding this stuff (not on master list) that you may recommend?


thx

Mixing Audio by Izhaki is a good book that covers everything in sufficient detail

There are a bunch of duds at least in my opinion that lack alot of technical data and are kinda just flakey.

Re: reciprocation of EQ

quote:

Originally posted by Von Pistol A buddy of mine (a sound engineer) was explaining some things regarding EQ for me and he said that when a freq is lowered on one side, the opposite happens to the other end. EX: if one lowers 100hz by 2 db then there will be a +2 increase on the high end I have no idea what,why, or how this is or happens and i cant not find any lit on it. can anyone explain this or link me an explanation? thx also: when EQ a track, lets say a clap or snare for a trance song, the snare pops around 800hz so i slam a high-pass on it to remove any lower than 600hz. Now i notice that there is hardly any high end near the 15-20khz showing on my EQ color response (dont know what its called but it shows where the frequencies are being played on the background of the EQ in diff colors, the weaker the freq the color fades), so should i just remove those frequencies completely or is it not worth it seeing as how there is barely anything? thx

Maybe you guys should sit down together again, more frequently, assuming he is actually a "sound engineer". Can't you clarify with him, wouldn't that be ideal? Maybe hang out a second, third, or fourth time until you fully grasp what he means instead of trying to grasp something he seemingly told you in passing.

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