EQ for Dummies- Version 2

Sound. We hear it all around us, in the form of music (which our ears like) and noise (which  they don't). You probably know what sound is, though a definition never hurt anyone: sound  is the vibration of air molecules, which are transferred outwards from the source. Thus they are waves of sound (which we can’t see, only hear).

For understanding EQ the most important aspect of sound to understand is its frequency. It's the number of times these waves move to and fro per second. The faster they move, the higher frequency or treble sound. For bass, the frequency of the waves are slower. Music contains a large number of frequencies, all mixed up together. Thus, EQ is simply the equalization of the many different frequencies in your music.

Why EQ?
There are two ways of looking at EQ. One is the important safety factor, which even the most  ‘experienced’ sound engineers ignore. It’s an important factor, as the wrong EQ setting on your software or deck can give out harmful sound – it can even make you deaf in the long run. The right settings can make the music sound better, as in more pleasing and serve the purpose better.

Back to the F word, our ears are capable of hearing 20 Hz – 20KHz (Hertz is the unit to measure frequency of anything, not just sound). So as I said, any music we hear will be a mixed sound wave comprising various ‘Hz’ of frequency, all mixed together by the studio engineers in different volumes. Sometimes low frequencies will be louder, sometime highs will be. The sound/music is ‘good’ or ‘pleasant’ when all the  frequencies are well balanced, not necessarily equal in amounts, but just well balanced.

Thus, applying EQ is very simple. It means just raising or softening (softening is better) certain parts of the frequency band (using software or in your MP3 player settings) to get a good sound. All MP3 players, software, or anything connected to sound playback has an EQ setting.