

The below is an example of a parametric EQ from Presonus. But the baseline is, they give you the ability to personalize your listening experience and cover the aforementioned audio quality limitations. These built-in equalizers have more control sliders than the fundamental traditional equalizers but can’t match those in advanced studio equipment. And these early equalizers still exist in many consumer electronics and advance more with many knobs and sliders in studio recording equipment and DJ mixers.Įven so, many people are more familiar with digital equalizers available on their laptops, smartphones, and music streaming services like Amazon Music. A good example would be the three-tone knobs present on car stereos and instrument amplifiers for ‘bass,’ ‘mid-range,’ and ‘treble’ control. Old equalizer types are mostly hardware-based, with frequency-dedicated physical knobs for audio manipulation. They work within the human-audible frequencies of between 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, with different equalizer types having varying sound control and accuracy.Īnd as mentioned earlier, an equalizer helps balance frequencies to suit sound quality in different environments, listening methods, and personal preferences. So, consider the quality of your audio system, the type of audio, and the file compression type before sliding the EQ controls to their maximum.ĭigital Equalizer (From Descriptive Audio) What Is An Equalizer?Īn equalizer is an audio processor that allows tweaking of sound frequencies to improve overall quality or decrease/boost specific frequencies’ dominance. However, the EQ will only boost an already good audio system’s performance and can worsen the sound quality of a flawed playback system. In most cases, several EQ tweaks will turn okay sound quality to excellent sound for most audio systems worth their salt.

Therefore, even the best home theatre systems or In-Ear-Monitors (IEMs) need the help of an equalizer to smoothen the hardware quirks. While some audio systems sound better than others do, there is nothing perfect for all audio types. Music sounds as good as the interpretation of the sound signal by the playback system. To Cover Up The Limitations Of Different Playback Systems

Also, you can attenuate the imperfect frequencies or tone down high frequencies that cause rapid ear fatigue. That way, you won’t miss a word as the vocals become louder. For instance, when listening to a podcast, you can boost the frequency of lyrics to be dominant over other frequencies. You can tweak sound frequencies to focus on specific instruments, vocals, or elements of a song. Thus, the sound engineer will optimize music within the human-audible frequencies, but equalizers help boost or cut the frequencies according to your liking.Ī good EQ gives you broader control over basic bass or treble tuning. Therefore, everyone hears sound differently with changing loudness preferences and expectations. But how much you can actually hear in between that frequency range varies with age, environment, and your ear physiology. The human ear can hear sounds within frequencies of 20Hz to 20 kHz.
15 band equalizer settings for bass professional#
But why do equalizers exist? And why do you need to EQ your music if the professional engineers have already done it? Well, equalizers exist to give you the option to customize sounds for two main reasons: 1. For the older generation, the tiny little sliders that existed on Zeppelin record players may ring a bell, but EQ is now all-digital in modern devices such as smartphones and laptops.
