The Snap, Crackle and Pop of Frequency and EQ!

Like a badass sports team where every player has his or her own set of skills and plays a specific position the frequencies and equalization in our music needs a very similar balance to be successful.

Sound is created through vibration, and a frequency is a measure of that vibration or oscillation. Frequency is related to how quickly an object or a sound signal moves backwards and forwards between two positions. The measurement unit for vibration is frequency and is known as Hertz or Hz. So, if a drum skin is tuned to 100 Hz, its drumhead will vibrate up and down 100 times in a single second, and yes that is a lot of movement!!

So, if we take the most black and white musical instrument we have, a piano, every note has a distinct frequency just like every note we sing – for example Middle C is 261.6 Hz and the perfect 5th above that, the G note, is 392 Hz.

As a result, all sound can be described in terms of its frequency. EQUALIZATION and MIXING is the organization and level adjustments of those frequencies to achieve a clear and balanced mix. Music and songs can have hundreds and thousands of different frequencies in it and when layered and played properly can sound like candy for our ears!

As humans, we can only hear sound vibrations between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz

As a result, a frequency spectrum can be created for our ears; we generally call frequencies down in the 20-200 Hz range ‘bass frequencies’, those in between (200-4,000 Hz) ‘midrange frequencies’ and those up in around the 4,000-20,000 Hz range ‘treble frequencies’.

To get even more detailed, below is a description of 7 sub areas of the frequency spectrum.

1. Sub-Bass (20-60hz) - bass instruments and kick drum

2. Bass (60-250hz) - the majority of your rhythm section – bass and drums

3. Low Mids (250-500hz) - most musical instruments are present in this range

4. Midrange (500-2000hz)

5. High Mids (2-4khz) - vocals are very prominent in this zone.

6. Presence (4-6khz) - this is the frequency range that provides clarity and definition to your sounds. If you boost this range, it can make mix elements feel closer to the listener. Conversely, if you cut here, it can make things sound more distant and transparent.

7. Brilliance (6-16khz) - much of this range is composed of harmonics, and boosting it can add 'sparkle' to a sound.

As noted in the “brilliance” subset of frequencies, strings and bars can vibrate with perfect harmonic overtones. This means that the main fundamental frequency of a string is joined by many other frequencies that are harmonically related, which results in a beautiful rich tone that is much more ‘musical’ than a single frequency all on its own. As can be shown in the below schematic.

I am a big believer in music production and songwriting that LESS IS MORE. Our ears and mind can only process so many sound signals at once. It is very critical to keep simultaneous hooks and major audio signals to a limited amount during a song production. Having EQ and frequencies balanced and a “spot” in the mix for all instruments and voices allows those hooks to really stand out and make a production not just good but great. Always trust your own ears!

Stay in tune and in touch.

Cheers,

Kent