Real World Digital Audio

2. Add the effect: Drag your effect from the Device Browser (or drag it

with settings intact from another track), and drop it on a Return track.

(Here we’ve selected Live’s built-in Reverb, a likely candidate for use as

a send effect.)

3. Choose pre/post: By default, Live’s sends occur post-fader, so the level

and panning of the send signal will be determined by the volume and

pan settings of the channel fader(s). If you’d rather set volume and pan

solely with your return, choose Pre. Either way, you can adjust volume

and pan on your return track just as you would with any other Live track.

4. Add more returns: If the default two sends/returns aren’t enough for

you, use Insert > Insert Return Track to add as many as you’d like—

just remember not to overload your computer’s processor!

E

QUALIZATION

If you’ve used treble and bass controls on a car stereo, “Hi,” “Mid,” and

“Low” knobs on a mixer, or home stereo settings like “Loudness” or “Bass

Boost,” you’ve already used equalization. Despite the name, equalization

(EQ) doesn’t boost the loudness of the low frequencies so that they’re at

the same level as the high frequencies or vice-versa: it adjusts the relative

volume or gain of various frequency ranges within a signal. (The more

generic term “filter” is sometimes used in place of the term “equalization.”)

212

C

HAPTER

7: P

ROCESSING AND

E

FFECTS

Use third-party

plug-ins:

To make sure

Live finds your third-

party AU, VST, and

DX plug-ins, double-

check your preferences.

Use Preferences >

Plug-In > Active Sources

to turn on/off different

formats and set a default

VST folder. (On the Mac

choose Live > Preferences

and on Windows choose

Edit > Preferences.)

213

E

QUALIZATION

We hear a sound’s timbre based on its harmonic content—the relative

amplitudes of the overtones (partials) of a given sound (see Chapter 1,

p. 9)—so adjusting the loudness of whatever overtones happen to be present

within a frequency range will impact the perceived timbre of the sound.

You already have a harmonic filter in your mouth: when you form different

vowel shapes during speech, the shape of your mouth filters out certain

frequency ranges. (There are digital and analog filters that mimic this very

effect.) Likewise, by filtering certain frequencies, equalizers can be used to

solve recording problems, adjust the timbral balance of recordings, and

even achieve special effects.

You can conceptualize the effect of equalizers on a graph of frequency ver-

sus amplitude, as in Figure 7.9. The frequency axis of the graph (the x-axis),

represents the different components of the spectrum of the input sound,

its partials. The amplitude axis (y-axis) represents the amplitude change of

those partials when passed through the filter. With the equalizer’s response

shown as a curve on this graph, any rise above the 0 dB point represents a

boosting of overtones, while any dip below represents reduction in ampli-

tude. (Note, however, that if the sound being EQed has no overtones

present in the frequency range you’re adjusting, the EQ will make no

difference.)

Equalizers are grouped by different characteristic shapes on this frequency

graph. By mastering these different shapes, you’ll be able to manipulate dif-

ferent parts of the frequency spectrum.

 A peak rising above 0 dB represents an increase in amplitude of that part of the

frequency spectrum.

 A dip falling below 0 dB represents a decrease in amplitude.

Figure 7.9 Filter response

of equalizers is typically

represented as an X/Y graph.