Equalizer - Specifying Frequencies (SOLVED)

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hi, I’m using version 2.0 on Windows which I installed with the .exe installer.

This is a general question about the equalizer tool. I’m trying to equalize an experimental microphone that I’m using to record. It has a pretty complex frequency response, and I’ve found that the equalizer tool in Audacity is not precise enough to equalize my microphone.

It would be nice if I could zoom in to a specific region of the equalizer graph, so I could more precisely define cutoff frequencies. I’ve played around with the equalizer quite a bit, but I haven’t found anything like this. Is there some way to do this? Can I specify frequency ranges manually in a text box or something? Is there something I can do using Nyquist?

My next approach will be to use MATLAB, but I’d rather not go there if I don’t have to. Audacity is easier to use.

Thanks for your help,
-Tyler

2

You can stretch the window for the “Draw curves” view.
Select “Linear” or “Logarithmic” frequency scale to suit your needs.

Note that for really steep filter curves you will need to increase the “Length of Filter” setting.

You can create an XML file to define your required filter, then import that into the Equalization effect.
Here’s a simple example for a filter to gradually roll off the bass (below 250 Hz):

<equalizationeffect>
	<curve name="bass-roll-off">
		<point f="20.000000000000" d="-36.000000000000"/>
		<point f="250.000000000000" d="0.000000000000"/>
	</curve>
</equalizationeffect>

See here for more information: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Equalization

3

Thanks Steve, the XML file solution is exactly what I was looking for.

4

Cool. Topic marked “solved”

I’m intrigued by the “experimental microphone”.
Feel free to make a post about it in the Lounge or All things Audio forum.