EQ & Dynamics

EQ and dynamics play an essential role in audio production. Whether it's pumping the fundamental on a kick drum track, removing high-end frequencies, crunching a snare drum to make it 'splash' or squeezing a whole track together to make it come to live, EQ and dynamics are the backbone of modern production processes. They can be used correctively to remedy issues at the recording stage or to clean up an old sample, or they can be used creatively to bring out a particular frequency or completely alter a sound from its original state.

EQ is short for 'equaliser', a tool for affecting the perceived level of a specific frequency or range of frequencies. EQs can also be referred to filters. Filters can be set or variable and includes designs like high-pass and low-pass that cut out bass and treble frequencies respectively, and shelving filters that allow for both boosts and cuts after or before a user selected 'cut off' frequency.

Dynamics processors are units like compressors, limiters and gates that allow for control over the dynamic range of an audio signal. Compressors and limiters work by reducing louder sounds and boosting quieter sounds within a single audio signal so that the difference in their dynamic range, i.e. the difference between the highest and lowest sound, is reduced.