Professional EQs in Home Audio

[Ric_LV]

Hello

I have recently bought a Rane SEQ30L eq for DJing purposes. But I must say, that when I tried to use with my home stereo (I have DIY speakers and 2x300w @ 8ohm monoblock amps. A russian brand KIT, but sounds good!) I was amazed of the power of that EQ! The best result I had, was with Iron Maiden Rock In Rio CD (live). If I leave the signal untouched and hear the music at HIGH volume, then all I hear is the screaming of fans and the three sologuitars mumbling somewhere. The solo-singer (Bruce Dickinson) was like a backvocal. Plus, the sound was really a pain - screech. In other words - chaos! But when I adjusted some of the 30 EQs sliders, I received a clear sound, I could hear every guitar, the crowd was there but was not so annoying and the solist was actually a SOLIST! Smile I wanted to say, that you can achieve a good sound with a simple thing we all know. And that thing is called EQ. Any comments?

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally posted by Ric_LV
Hello

I have recently bought a Rane SEQ30L eq for DJing purposes. But I must say, that when I tried to use with my home stereo (I have DIY speakers and 2x300w @ 8ohm monoblock amps. A russian brand KIT, but sounds good!) I was amazed of the power of that EQ! The best result I had, was with Iron Maiden Rock In Rio CD (live). If I leave the signal untouched and hear the music at HIGH volume, then all I hear is the screaming of fans and the three sologuitars mumbling somewhere. The solo-singer (Bruce Dickinson) was like a backvocal. Plus, the sound was really a pain - screech. In other words - chaos! But when I adjusted some of the 30 EQs sliders, I received a clear sound, I could hear every guitar, the crowd was there but was not so annoying and the solist was actually a SOLIST! Smile I wanted to say, that you can achieve a good sound with a simple thing we all know. And that thing is called EQ. Any comments?

Graphic EQ is used to balance your complete system, including speakers AND the room. To set it up you should apply pink noise, use a precision measuring micrphone and a spectrum analyser - and adjust the graphic to give a level response. This should give you the optimum sound.

[Ric_LV]

There is also an option, a lot cheaper - adjusting the EQ by ear. I use EQ to make the music sound more enjoyable - screechless, chaos-free and so on. And till this day it works! I have many records which lack bass or have too loud mids or highs. Some old recordings lack high frequencies. For example, to add more feeling to the techno music, I don't gain the whole "LOW" knob on my DJ mixer, like most Djs do, because it gains the whole low part from 25-160 or 200 Hz. Instead of that I gain only the 30-60 Hz on my EQ and it sounds a lot better. Deeper. Cooler. If I play a rock song on a party (for ex. Guano Apes - Open your Mind or Rammstein - any song) there is always a screech comming from the speakers, because at high volumes, the sound in a 2000-3000 Hz range gets too audiable and it kills the music, because all you hear is the screeching guitars and no singer at all. In this situation I usually cut 2kHz and 2,5Khz sliders and gain 1Khz and 1,25Khz (but it all depends, you gotta hear it!). A frequency that is quite pleasent at high volumes is 300-500 Hz, I usually gain that a little if necesary. This gives the music it's powerfulness, pretty much like bass, but with more tone. And it is all done by ear!