Frequency, Amplitude and EQ

Today we will be learning some fundamental elements of sound.  First of all, what is sound?

Sound is vibration that we detect with our ears.  When we hear sound, we detect different Frequencies.  


When looking at a sound wave, the frequency of the wave describes how frequent the wave cycle is.  The image above depicts waves that are different frequencies.  The top red wave has a low frequency and the bottom purple wave has a high frequency.

So what does Frequency mean to our ears? 
High Frequency sound waves are higher in Pitch
Low Frequency Sound waves are lower in Pitch.

 

What is another way to describe sound?  Sound can be High and low in Pitch, what else can you notice about sound?

Sound also has a Volume level.  When looking at a sound wave a louder sound would have a larger Amplitude.

You could say that Amplitude is how tall the wave is and Frequency is how long the wave is.
For your ears, Amplitude is how loud the sound is and Frequency is how high or low in pitch it sounds.

 

 

In Music the instruments that we love have Frequency Ranges.  For instance the Flute would have a higher range then the Bass Guitar.  Here is a chart showing the frequency ranges of instruments and the human voice. 

 In order to understand this chart we need to know how frequency is measured.  Frequency is measured in Hertz, Abbreviated Hz.  This Chart ranges from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. This is also the range of human hearing.  Dogs for instance can hear higher frequencies than humans.

Hearing test!

SO how is all of this information useful for us as we work with music?  

Well.... we will be using what is called an Equalizer.  This is often called EQ.   When we use an equalizer what we are doing is changing the volume at a specific frequency. 

You may have seen this on a stereo.  For example many stereos have to option of boosting the BASS.  What that means is they are using EQ to increase the volume of the low frequencies in your music.

Today we will be using EQ in Pro Tools in order to Effect the Guitar or Vocals that you recorded earlier this week.

Assignment

1. Open up your "who I am" Pro Tools Session

2. Go to the window menu to display the mixer

3. Find the inserts on the vocal or guitar track that you will be working with

4. Insert -> multichannel plug-in -> EQ -> EQ 3 7-Band (stereo)

5. Take a look at the EQ

6. First, experiment with the EQ. See how cutting or boosting the volume at different frequencies effects the sound. 

To EQ the vocals and guitar, the yellow green and blue sections will effect your sound the most.


7. Usually when using EQ it is a subtle effect but today feel free to experiment and see what you can do with the sound. 

ps. check out the Presets!