Today we’re taking a quick breather in the Frequency Fundamentals series, for an introduction to two important topics for audio engineers: EQ Feathering and Spectrum Analyzers. Once you’re familiar with both of these, you’ll be ready for the final part in the series, on harmonics of sounds.

…Here is the answer to the mystery bonus question at the end of the last article. If you’ll remember, I asked:

What is EQ feathering?

Answer: EQ feathering is a way of applying, or rather spreading equalization through adjacent and tangential frequencies on both sides of the main frequency that you are trying to adjust, thus resulting in a smoother tone curve.

Confusing?

Don’t go away just yet. Let’s look at a working example….it will be a much clearer answer! Click to read the rest…

We now continue our discussion of the 10 audible octaves. We left off at Octave 5 in Part 1. Onward….

Characteristic Sounds: Bands 6-10

Octave 6 (640-1280Hz)

This is midrange land again. Remember Octave 5, and now 6 are referred to as the projection octaves.

Specifically, here in Octave 6 rests the difference between Click to read the rest…

Now comes the time that we need to address actual characteristics of different frequencies, as well as the different octaves that humans can hear. (As in, how many are there actually?)

As always, let’s follow the flow of logic. The simple question first:

How many octaves are there in the human hearing range of 20-20kHz?

The answer is 10.

If we take the lowest frequency humans can hear, which by now you know is 20Hz, and then simply double that number until we reach the 20k range, we’ll end up with 10 total octaves encompassing the 20-20kHz range.

Here is the exact break down: Click to read the rest…