How many of us get confuse, I mean really confuse in attempt to use the EQ to improve the vocal and may be, if you are lucky, to make it sound professional? By simply adjusting the EQ without knowing its outcome is not a good idea. You may end up getting the vocal too much EQ, which make it, sound terrible and may even cause feedback.
In this article, I shall be touching the basic concept of equalization and how it may affect the vocal as well as the music. How does EQ affect the sound? How do we make use of EQ to alter the sounds? Is EQ necessary for vocal and music? Why do things sound muddy? Why are some vocal sound blurred? Having difficulty to understand what the person is saying? These are the few question that we normally hear in regards to P.A. system or sound reinforcement system. Hope it will bring some light to the voodoo world of EQ.
Vocals
The vocal spectrum falls into three main frequency bands corresponding to the speech components known as:
Fundamentals:
a) Fundamentals: Speech fundamentals normally have a bandwidth between about 125Hz to 250Hz. To understand this range is important if one have to use EQ to alter the vocal frequency spectrum. The fundamental region is important in that it allows us to tell who is speaking, and its clear transmission is therefore essential as far as voice quality is concerned
b) Vowels: Vowels give the power of the voice and occurring over the range of 350Hz to 2000Hz
c) Consonants: Consonants occurring over the range of 1500Hz to 4000Hz contain little energy but are essential to intelligibility
For example, the frequency range from 63 to 500Hz carries 60% of the power of the voice and yet contributes only 5% to the intelligibility. The 500Hz to 1KHz region produces 35% of the intelligibility, while the range from 1 to 8KHz produces just 5% of the power but 60% of the intelligibility.
“ By rolling off the low frequencies and accentuating the range from 1 to 5KHz, the intelligibility and clarity can be improved ”
The effect of EQ on intelligibility:
a) Boosting the low frequencies from 100 to 250Hz makes a vocal boomy or chesty.
b) A cut in the 150 to 500Hz area will make it boxy, hollow, or tube like
c) Dips around 500 to 1Khz produce hardness
d) while peaks about 1 and 3Khz produce a hard metallic nasal quality
e) Dips around 2 to 5KHz reduce intelligibility and make vocals woolly and lifeless
f) Peaks in the 4 to 10KHz produce sibilance and a gritty quality
Effects of Equalization on Vocals:
For the best control over any audio signal, fully parametric EQ's are the best way to go.
The important of EQ to vocal intelligibility:
a) Too much boost between 2 and 4KHz
b) Can mask certain vocal sounds such as 'm', 'b', 'v'.
c) Too much boost between 1KHz and 4KHz can produce 'listening fatigue'.
d) Vocals can be highlighted at the 3KHz area.
Accentuation of vocals:
The range from 1.25 to 8K governs the clarity of vocals.
Too much in the area of 5 to 16K can cause sibilance.
Reference : Internet Sound Institute (www.soundinstitute.com)
In this article, I shall be touching the basic concept of equalization and how it may affect the vocal as well as the music. How does EQ affect the sound? How do we make use of EQ to alter the sounds? Is EQ necessary for vocal and music? Why do things sound muddy? Why are some vocal sound blurred? Having difficulty to understand what the person is saying? These are the few question that we normally hear in regards to P.A. system or sound reinforcement system. Hope it will bring some light to the voodoo world of EQ.
Vocals
The vocal spectrum falls into three main frequency bands corresponding to the speech components known as:
Fundamentals:
a) Fundamentals: Speech fundamentals normally have a bandwidth between about 125Hz to 250Hz. To understand this range is important if one have to use EQ to alter the vocal frequency spectrum. The fundamental region is important in that it allows us to tell who is speaking, and its clear transmission is therefore essential as far as voice quality is concerned
b) Vowels: Vowels give the power of the voice and occurring over the range of 350Hz to 2000Hz
c) Consonants: Consonants occurring over the range of 1500Hz to 4000Hz contain little energy but are essential to intelligibility
For example, the frequency range from 63 to 500Hz carries 60% of the power of the voice and yet contributes only 5% to the intelligibility. The 500Hz to 1KHz region produces 35% of the intelligibility, while the range from 1 to 8KHz produces just 5% of the power but 60% of the intelligibility.
“ By rolling off the low frequencies and accentuating the range from 1 to 5KHz, the intelligibility and clarity can be improved ”
The effect of EQ on intelligibility:
a) Boosting the low frequencies from 100 to 250Hz makes a vocal boomy or chesty.
b) A cut in the 150 to 500Hz area will make it boxy, hollow, or tube like
c) Dips around 500 to 1Khz produce hardness
d) while peaks about 1 and 3Khz produce a hard metallic nasal quality
e) Dips around 2 to 5KHz reduce intelligibility and make vocals woolly and lifeless
f) Peaks in the 4 to 10KHz produce sibilance and a gritty quality
Effects of Equalization on Vocals:
For the best control over any audio signal, fully parametric EQ's are the best way to go.
The important of EQ to vocal intelligibility:
a) Too much boost between 2 and 4KHz
b) Can mask certain vocal sounds such as 'm', 'b', 'v'.
c) Too much boost between 1KHz and 4KHz can produce 'listening fatigue'.
d) Vocals can be highlighted at the 3KHz area.
Accentuation of vocals:
The range from 1.25 to 8K governs the clarity of vocals.
Too much in the area of 5 to 16K can cause sibilance.
Reference : Internet Sound Institute (www.soundinstitute.com)
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