RESEARCH ABOUT THE HISTORY + DEVELOPMENT OF EQUALISATION – week four
An equaliser, also known as an EQ is a tool in which gives us control over boosting or cutting a range of unwanted audio frequencies. There are different forms of EQs, which include graphic EQs that involves adjusting the gain at set frequencies, high and low-shelving EQs, low-pass and high-pass filters and parametric equalisation, which is the most common form of EQ.
With the invention of telephones in the 1870s, by 1892, Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone system had developed, connecting New York to Chicago with two parallel wires, which everyone found out acted as a high-cut filter. With this knowledge Bell Laboratories developed fixed-frequency filters to restore these top end frequencies that were cut to ‘equalise’ the frequencies in telephone signals. The first adjustable equaliser was created by John Volkmann, who initially did this to ‘equalise’ movie theatre playback systems in the 1930s. Other companies were also at the same time developing equalisers that would be able to be used for audio production and broadcasts. The first graphic equaliser, the Type 7080 was designed by Art Davis of the Cinema Engineering Company. In 1952, Englishman Peter J. Baxandall released his scheme for a ‘negative-feedback tone control circuit using potentiometers’ rather than switches, which are knobs that are now commonly used in many forms of equipment since it can allow the user to have full control over the EQ. With this, introduced a ‘new era of fully active EQ circuitry’ and also became the most reproduced tone control in history.
Equalisers thus grew in popularity throughout the 1950s and 1960s, with Bell at the start of this timeline, where others have developed EQ systems from this information since it is so commonly used especially in music production as a device that helps producers to shape certain sounds in the way they prefer, whether that be cutting all the low-end frequencies, getting rid of certain frequencies or adjusting every instrument to ‘have its own place’ within the audio frequency spectrum. An example of this is how John Barera uses EQ to sculpt the kick drum, where he asks himself ‘Can the kick drum be felt properly?’ where he chooses not to cut out the low frequencies of the kick drum in contrast to all the other tracks he cuts low frequencies from.
This shows that the development of equalisers was due to the development in people’s listening and understanding skills of frequencies.
Day, J. (2021). Meditations on High-Fidelity: A brief history of equalization in the recording arts and its relevance to audio enthusiasts today. Part 1. [online] Jeff’s Place. Available at: [https://jeffsplace.positive-feedback.com/meditations-on-high-fidelity-a-brief-history-of-equalization-in-the-recording-arts-and-its-relevance-to-audio-enthusiasts-today-part-1/.]
Intelligent Sound Engineering. (2016). A short history of graphic and parametric equalization. [online] Available at: [https://intelligentsoundengineering.wordpress.com/2016/02/22/a-short-history-of-graphic-and-parametric-equalization/.]
Jackson, G. (2015). Modern Approaches: Equalization. [online] daily.redbullmusicacademy.com. Available at: [https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/09/modern-approaches-equalization.]
Szikla, A. (2018). View From The Bench: Tracing the EQ Path. [online] AudioTechnology. Available at: [https://www.audiotechnology.com/tutorials/view-from-the-bench-tracing-the-eq-path.]