ALESIS PEQ-450 - Manual (Page 27)

Chapter 3
PEQ-450 Reference Manual 27
Basics of Equalization
This section will explain how equalization works, and explain the
functions of the PEQ-450’s controls.
What is equalization?
An equalizer boosts or cuts a frequency range. The PEQ-450 is a
parametric equalizer, which means that you can sweep the
frequency bands and adjust the range of boost or cut. The other type
of equalizer, a graphic equalizer, has many fixed frequency bands
which can be boosted or cut. Alesis sells a graphic equalizer called
the MEQ-230.
The three common controls on any parametric equalizer are gain,
frequency and Q. Gain controls the amount of boost or cut in a
range. A setting of 0dB means that the signal will not be affected in
that frequency band. Frequency controls the tonal band which will
be affected (high, low, mid, etc.) Q controls the width of the boost or
cut. The PEQ-450 can also do shelving and hipass/ lowpass filtering.
This will all be covered in greater detail throughout this chapter.
Equalization is used for:
• Adjusting the timbre of an instrument, voice, mix or effect
• Cutting or boosting frequencies to make a source easier to mix
with other tracks
• Compensating for a less-than-ideal recording
• Creating a filter effect
• Eliminating buzz, noise or hum
Equalizers can make your recorded tracks sound polished and
professional.
Chapter 4 will give specific example settings for various
instruments.