Study of EQ Controls
01h 09min
(52)
Every Equalizer Setting Explained
Equalizers are the most commonly used and misunderstood tool in an engineer’s toolkit.
The ability to bend, shape and carve frequencies at-will is an audio superpower not to be taken lightly. It’s important that sound engineers understand what is going on behind the knobs and fully understand the impact of what every EQ parameter can have on a sound.
In this tutorial, Grammy winner Fab Dupont explains everything you need to know about:
- Fully Parametric and Semi-Parametric EQ
- High and Low Shelves
- Bell curves and Q settings
- High Pass and Low Pass filters (aka Low Cut and High Cut filters)
- Frequency graphs
- Analog vs Digital EQs
- Personal tastes (sonically) and how to find the right tools to match
- The subtle differences between the hundred of different EQs available
Learn the theory and concepts you need to know about EQ controls and parameters so no matter what EQ is put in front of you, you’ll be able to mold the sound to your liking with no second guessing.
Once logged in, you will be able to click on those chapter titles and jump around in the video.
- 00:00 - Start
- 00:0 - Introduction
- 00:33 - Different EQs - Same Purpose
- 02:02 - Analysis Of An Equalizer
- 08:08 - Types Of Qs - What Are The Differences ?
- 16:20 - EQ Character - Parametric or Shelf ?
- 21:37 - Filters - HPF, LPF, HCF or LCF
- 28:40 - Gear vs. Plugins - Emulation vs. Factory
- 29:34 - Neve 1073 vs. Avid EQ III
- 33:04 - API 550A vs. Flux:: Epure v3
- 34:32 - Limitations - The Good & The Bad
- 37:52 - EQ Graphs
- 39:47 - Variety Of EQs
- 39:51 - Pultec EQP-1A & MEQ-5
- 43:44 - Manley Massive Passive
- 45:38 - Trident A-Range
- 46:08 - Harrison 32C
- 49:42 - Helios 69
- 51:14 - McDSP 6020 Ultimate EQ
- 52:59 - Linear Phase EQs
- 57:42 - Tilt EQs
- 59:10 - SoundRadix Surfer EQ
- 1:02:00 - Conclusion
00:00:00
Good morning children!
Today we're going to
talk about EQ controls.
00:00:03
That's what the video is called,
'Study of EQ controls'.
00:00:06
I know what you're thinking. It's riveting.
00:00:08
I know you're thinking that you already
know everything about it.
00:00:11
And maybe you do.
00:00:12
But based on the
settings that I've seen
some of the sessions that are
sent to me by my clients,
a little brush-up could
help some people.
00:00:19
So, we thought we'd put it together.
00:00:21
Plus, it's a really good companion to
the study of compressor controls.
00:00:24
They go together.
00:00:33
There are many different
kinds of plug-in EQs.
00:00:36
And hardware EQs.
00:00:37
But in the end, they all
do the same thing.
00:00:40
They look different,
they sometimes feel different,
some of them sound different.
00:00:45
But overall, they do the same thing.
00:00:47
They EQ stuff, what does that mean?
EQ comes from equalizer.
00:00:52
I'll let you think
about what that does.
00:00:54
So it was invented to be able to
fix the sound of badly recorded stuff
back in the day.
Or to make things brighter
when tape was making it to dark.
00:01:02
Or make it brighter
to be able to
broadcast further on the
antenna and stuff like that.
00:01:08
Basically someone had
to invent a way
to even out sounds that were
altered by different kinds of processes.
00:01:15
We'll keep that simple.
00:01:17
Now, over the years,
more and more features have
been added
consequently more and
more controls have been added.
00:01:23
Everybody uses EQ everyday.
00:01:25
Your parents do, your grandparents do.
00:01:27
Yes they do.
00:01:28
They have a receiver or a car, right?
On the receiver there are two buttons:
Bass and treble.
00:01:35
If your grandmother has the bass on stun
she's a cool grandmother
you should also get her some
Beats by Dre headphones.
00:01:41
Now...
00:01:42
Although they all
do the same thing,
they all do it in different way.
00:01:46
Which is the point of this video.
00:01:47
The idea is this:
Once you're very very clear
on what goes on when
you turn those knobs,
it won't matter what the knobs look like,
where they're positioned
and what they say.
00:01:58
Because you'll always
be able to figure out
what to do to get
the sound you want.
00:02:02
A good place to start is the
built-in EQ of your DAW.
00:02:06
They all have one
and they work fine and sound fine,
contrary to popular belief.
00:02:11
First things first.
00:02:14
Let's pick one, Cubase, no.
00:02:16
Let's start with Pro Tools.
00:02:18
Pro Tools these days has these
guy, it's called EQ 3.
00:02:21
I'm assuming it's the third version.
00:02:23
This is actually very full featured.
00:02:25
So we can look at this and learn
pretty much the entire
set of controls from this.
00:02:31
By the way this is the standard edition
of what they call a parametric EQ.
00:02:36
Why is it called parametric?
Because it has parameters
that you can adjust.
00:02:40
Sometimes they call it semi-parametric.
What does that mean?
They have less parameters
so they're not as parametric
because they don't have
as many parameters.
00:02:48
Here...
00:02:49
On the upper left and right
is input - output.
00:02:52
Don't underestimate the power
of an input and an output level.
00:02:55
Why is that?
Because...
00:02:58
An EQ, like any other process,
works best at certain levels.
00:03:02
If you get into the process
very very loud
you don't have a lot of
places to go
because you have no headroom.
00:03:08
Let us not forget this
very important thing.
00:03:11
An EQ is a fader.
00:03:13
It's a selective fader.
00:03:15
But it's a fader.
00:03:16
So, for example...
00:03:18
Say you have a...
00:03:20
Full range mix
that goes from 20 to 20K.
00:03:25
And it's loud.
00:03:26
And maybe you have 2 dB of headroom left.
00:03:29
So your peaks are at -2,
all the way up there.
00:03:33
And say it's not fat enough
because the drummer said so.
00:03:36
What you're gonna do?
It's just a mix.
00:03:38
You don't have control
over anything.
00:03:39
So you're gonna put an EQ over
the whole mix.
00:03:41
Fair enough.
00:03:43
And then you're gonna
start raising the bass.
00:03:46
So, say you're gonna put a shelf,
I'll explain that in a second,
at 100 Hz and you're gonna give it
2, 3, 4, 5 dB.
00:03:54
What happens when you go over
3 or 4 dB at 100 Hz
on a fat mix that only
has 2 dB of headroom?
You clip.
00:04:03
So, having an input knob
is very nice in a chain of events,
to be able to lower the input
to give yourself some
headroom inside the plug-in
and then, you can adjust the output
to be able to hit
the next plug-in
or your channel at the right level.
00:04:18
I don't see many people doing this
unless the DAW is
screaming at them,
but this is a really good
feature to have.
00:04:23
I wish all EQ plug-ins did.
00:04:26
They don't. And most
hardware EQ don't.
00:04:29
Let's move on to the mid frequency
EQ band here.
00:04:33
We all know and love this controls.
There's gain, frequency and Q,
otherwise known as bandwidth.
00:04:39
So, I'm not gonna insult your intelligence.
00:04:41
The gain knob...
00:04:43
Up is more, down is less.
Any questions? No, thank you.
00:04:48
The frequency knob.
00:04:49
This is where it gets
more interesting.
00:04:51
The frequency knobs points
to the center frequency
that your EQ is gonna target.
00:04:56
It doesn't mean you're equalizing
just that frequency.
00:04:59
Like here I have 732.
00:05:01
This doesn't mean I'm
gonna give 13 dB at 732
and everybody else is gonna
go back on vacation in peace.
00:05:06
No, that's not how it works.
00:05:09
The Q knob affects
how much of the bandwidth around
the center frequency is touched,
we're gonna discuss that in a minute.
00:05:16
From what I've read
around places,
and from my discussions with
people in real life,
a lot of people really like
to hang on to the belief
that if they pick 732 and
they raise 6 dB,
they are raising 6 dB at 732.
00:05:31
No.
00:05:32
It will never happen because
of the ever present and
annoying laws of physics.
00:05:38
Which we can't alter yet.
00:05:40
We're working on it though,
but we can't.
00:05:42
There's no quantum
equalizer yet.
00:05:44
Right now you have a good
old equalizer where when you raise
732, 6 db,
732 gets raised
and then there's a bunch of frequencies
on the left and the right of 732
that get raised also.
00:05:57
And that is controlled by
the Q or the bandwidth.
00:06:01
The wider the bandwidth, the more
the spectrum is touched by the EQ.
00:06:05
The tighter the band, the less.
00:06:08
However, even though you can get
pretty tight with digital EQs,
there are limits because of
the aforementioned laws of physics
which means you can't get
to one frequency at all.
00:06:17
Also, there are some sonic limitations.
00:06:19
Very very narrow Qs
with very high gain tend
to ring and sound genuinely offensive.
00:06:25
Consequently it's not always
a good idea to do this.
00:06:30
And another thing you
need to know is this:
If you start EQing
your material and an hour and half
on the road, on your bass EQ
and you have something like this...
00:06:46
This means that you went
down the rabbit hole.
00:06:50
Super narrow Qs trying to
remove frequencies you don't like.
00:06:53
And then you do another one,
and you do another one,
and another one.
00:06:57
The reason why that's happening
is because you're using super narrow Qs
and you're removing the frequency
you don't like and you're really happy.
00:07:04
But then, the byproducts of doing that
create some much ringing and
phase-shifts
and chaos into your material
that you're like: 'Oh, no...
00:07:13
This is wrong too'.
And then this is wrong too,
usually an octave apart,
and this is wrong too and
this is wrong too.
00:07:18
And then you end up with
this Swiss cheese
which, invariably sounds like garbage.
00:07:23
Side-note.
00:07:25
One of the possible reasons you
find yourself in this situation
is that the material is badly recorded.
00:07:31
So there are some standard
behaviors to adopt in this situation.
00:07:35
Case number 1:
You did not record the badly
recorded stuff.
00:07:39
The standard behavior here is
to blame whoever recorded it
heavily to your client
and move on
and try and do this.
And if it sounds bad just blame.
00:07:49
Most widely adopted situation.
00:07:51
Behavior number 2 in case number 2.
00:07:53
In case you're the one
who recorded the badly recorded material.
00:07:59
What I recommend you do is
you re-record the badly recorded material.
00:08:05
That's the only way you're gonna get
it to sound good. Because this, ain't it.
00:08:08
There is more to discuss about Q.
They're not static things.
00:08:11
Well, they can be, but they
don't have to be.
00:08:14
If I look at the Oxford EQ,
there are four different kinds of EQ types.
00:08:19
In this one global EQ plug-in,
you'll notice that if you compare to the
built-in Avid EQ,
that's the same thing.
Filters, here and here.
00:08:30
And then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 bands.
00:08:32
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 bands.
00:08:34
It's the same thing.
00:08:35
And here you have,
gain, frequency and Q.
00:08:39
However, there are things that
are maddening from EQ to EQ.
00:08:43
Even though the controls are the same
they're laid out differently.
00:08:46
So for example...
00:08:47
Here, if I give 6 dB...
00:08:50
at 700 Hz, if I want a wider Q,
I have to go to the right.
00:08:55
Here, if I go to 700 Hz
or any frequency,
and I want a wider Q I have to
go to the left.
00:09:00
So when you switch from EQ to EQ,
anything that you have automatically
in your fingers, is not gonna work.
00:09:06
Which is why people develop a
certain affinity for certain EQs.
00:09:11
Because they work their
brain works, or not,
and provides them with a
challenge, or not,
and helps them think differently
about the program material.
00:09:20
The reason why I brought the Oxford EQ
is because it's very easy
the difference in Qs
because of the difference in types.
00:09:27
The Avid EQ only has one type of Q.
00:09:29
And it's semi proportional,
it's kind of proportional.
00:09:33
If you look at the Oxford EQ,
it's very different.
Type 1 is a very digital EQ.
00:09:39
Very simple, very pure.
00:09:40
With the standard knob proportional Q.
00:09:43
Meaning, the higher you
go in gain,
the Qs stays the same.
00:09:47
There's no adaptability to it.
00:09:49
It's easier to see maybe at a lower
Q range. There you go.
00:09:54
That's it, you use to see this happen.
00:09:56
OK. It's static Q.
00:09:59
Somebody a while ago was using
an EQ and paying attention
and found out that, maybe
when you're using small
gain increments,
they just needed a little bit of a touch
but broader,
but then when you use a lot of gain,
or a lot of cut, it's because
you're bothered by one frequency.
00:10:16
So they said: 'Wait..
00:10:18
What if you could have an automatic
Q range that would follow that?'
Well, there you have it.
00:10:25
Of course, that's on top
of the existing range.
00:10:28
That's where it gets a
little complicated.
00:10:30
Say you choose a very narrow Q
and give it some gain.
00:10:35
Because you are on the proportional,
type 2 here on this Oxford EQ,
you will get narrower and narrower
as you get up.
00:10:42
With the end point being
whatever Q you decide here.
00:10:45
If you start with a wider Q
it still gets narrower and narrower
just not as narrow.
00:10:51
So you have to understand when you
use proportional Q EQs
that you're basically setting a target Q.
00:10:57
And you're aiming towards that Q.
00:10:59
Which means that this settings
and this readings mean absolutely nothing.
00:11:03
Why? Because, if you're
using proportional,
and you're only adding 2 dB of gain,
you're not gonna get a full
2.26 Q range
because this is proportional and
it changes over time.
00:11:15
Does it matter? Absolutely not. Does
it sound good? That's the question.
00:11:19
Say if you go to number four here.
00:11:21
Which is a very wide Q akin
to old Pultec style stuff.
00:11:26
You noticed just how wide it is
and how wide it can get.
00:11:31
Literally almost the whole bandwidth.
00:11:33
Now, this is the same frequency.
00:11:35
This is the same gain.
00:11:37
And this is the same Q as this type.
00:11:40
Notice the difference?
So you have to be careful what you do.
00:11:44
Here's how I recommend
you think about it
since you're now potentially
getting confused
and worried that you're not doing
the right thing.
00:11:50
Pick your DAW EQ.
00:11:53
It's probably a proportional Q
and it's probably designed by people
who wanna make sure you don't screw up.
00:12:01
Start with the default Q setting
at all times.
00:12:04
Find your problem.
00:12:06
Fix it. And then,
even if your happy,
play with the Q at that moment,
just to see what it does.
00:12:14
And over time you will develop a taste
for what that does.
00:12:17
So, I repeat. Pick a standard,
for the Oxford I recommend type 2 or 3.
00:12:24
Pick your frequency. Be happy.
00:12:26
But don't leave now.
You're happy, that's great.
00:12:29
Could you be happier?
Play with the Q at that point
and listen very intently.
00:12:34
If you have an EQ like the Oxford that
has the ability to have 2 settings
you can alternate between the two settings.
00:12:40
And listen very intently without having to
focus on moving
the buttons, which is
really practical.
00:12:45
So, I said DAW EQs.
Let's go to Logic.
00:12:50
You noticed here? This is the
channel EQ, this is the one
that if you double click on any
EQ window in Logic
this comes up.
00:12:56
And it has the exact same stuff.
00:12:58
And there you have it. This is clearly
a proportional Q, as you can see.
00:13:02
So basically, there is no
difference between this and this.
00:13:05
It's just laid out
very differently.
00:13:07
You noticed that this is trying
to imitate the past.
00:13:10
Knobs, displays and a separate graph.
00:13:14
This wants to be very futuristic.
00:13:17
In the end, it does the exact same thing.
00:13:19
Except here, you don't have knobs.
00:13:21
You just have a little thing like this.
Little dots.
00:13:25
And you have...
00:13:27
Fields, that you can alter.
But in the end,
the end result is the same.
00:13:33
There are many different models.
This is future.
00:13:36
This is anchored in the past.
00:13:38
Or, as they probably would say, tradition.
00:13:41
Let's look at Studio One.
00:13:43
You have a graph.
00:13:45
And you have the exact same controls
in the other two.
00:13:47
And you can notice that this one is fixed.
00:13:50
So which one you like best?
I don't know, it depends on your taste.
00:13:56
Is this one gonna sound different
from this one?
Which is gonna sound
different from this one?
They're probably gonna sound
a little bit different
based on the personality of the
person who programed them.
00:14:04
Are they gonna sound vastly different?
Not these days.
00:14:09
And this is turned fiercely
towards the future.
00:14:12
Meaning, they don't have knobs.
00:14:14
It's a computer, it doesn't have knobs.
00:14:16
So they have a graph.
00:14:18
You could grab frequencies like this too.
00:14:20
This is a hybrid of tradition and modern.
00:14:23
Because it didn't have any graph.
00:14:27
Same here. So this comes
from one sensibility.
00:14:30
And this is the more modern approach
but it's the same stuff.
00:14:34
You noticed that the proportional Q here
is not an EQ type.
00:14:37
You could decide to have Q coupled.
00:14:39
Or not. Q coupled means
when it's on, means that
you have a proportional Q
and when it's off you don't.
00:14:46
Simple enough.
00:14:47
Start with it on. It won't hurt.
00:14:50
Studio One, there you go.
00:14:52
Coming from tradition, with a graph.
00:14:55
Look at this, we've seen this before.
Five bands of EQ,
two filters, gain, frequency, graph.
00:15:03
We're in familiar territory.
What kind of filter is this? Good question.
00:15:07
It's slightly proportional.
00:15:09
Fair enough.
00:15:10
Because that's the easiest to use and
the one you can't screw up with.
00:15:14
Cubase.
00:15:15
Cubase is interesting
because they decided that it'd
be a good idea
to have an EQ built into the
channel, just like consoles.
00:15:21
So it's not a plug-in
but it's a plug-in.
00:15:23
Does it sound different from a plug-in?
Probably not.
00:15:26
Is this gonna be lesser because
it's built into the DAW
then if you had the plug-in?
No. A lot of people think it is
for some reason I'm not sure why.
00:15:33
This is a digital EQ.
00:15:35
If you grab the center frequency
and remove 10 dB at 500 Hz
you're removing 10 dB at 500 Hz.
00:15:41
Your Q is here, you
can do your work.
00:15:43
There is no guarantee of quality
because the plug-in is expensive
or it comes from a name
that you've heard before.
00:15:50
EQs are no different than cars.
00:15:51
You probably better off buying
your EQ from BMW
Rolls Royce or Renault
then from a dude who just
made one in his garage.
00:16:02
EQs are the same.
00:16:03
But these days, it's really hard
do buy and EQ
that's not gonna help you EQ stuff.
00:16:09
Everything is pretty good,
at the very least.
00:16:12
Alright, so let's switch
back to Pro Tools.
00:16:15
And look at this thing here.
00:16:16
Let's reset this, this is offensive
to my spirit. There you go.
00:16:20
So you see that we have here 5 bands
and we have here this control
that switches the band from
a parametric, which is
what we've been discussing...
00:16:28
Here...
00:16:30
To a shelf.
00:16:32
The green, the yellow and the
orange are parametric.
00:16:37
Fixed.
00:16:38
These two...
00:16:39
Can be switched between
parametric and shelf.
00:16:42
So, if you switch
the blue band to parametric
you just get one more band
of this stuff.
00:16:47
Fair enough.
00:16:49
If you switch it to shelf
you get this new type o EQ that allows
you to raise broad bands
of spectrum as opposed to just focus on
one frequency and whatever the
neighboring frequencies are.
00:16:59
This is very useful,
as you probably know,
to be able to raise big portions,
make something brighter
or, at the bottom, make
something globally fatter.
00:17:10
Now, look.
00:17:11
This is a good setting for bass drum,
if you want a bass drum to be
fat you're raising everything
below 104.
00:17:18
Don't forget that this EQ
is subjected to the same
abject laws of physics
as the other type, parametric type.
00:17:25
It's not just from 104,
there's a little bit of
above 104 being touched.
00:17:32
How much of that depends
on the Q.
00:17:34
If you have a very wide Q
then even though your frequencies is 104,
it's gonna get touched all the way
to the 500, 600 range.
00:17:41
And as you narrow the Q,
you can get less ripple
effect if you will
or less spilling effect
on the frequencies above
whatever frequency you chose
for your shelf.
00:17:50
However, again, there are
physical limitations to this.
00:17:54
As you go higher and higher in Q
you will start noticing that
there's a dip
at the knee right here,
at the turn around frequency.
00:18:01
Because of how the stuff works
you get a little bit of an overshoot
here, at the turn around frequency,
and a little bit of an overshoot
over the turn around frequency.
00:18:09
This, before people had graphs,
confused a lot of people.
00:18:14
But now that we have
graphs, take a look at it,
it's pretty close to what's
going on in real life.
00:18:18
You don't really need to
know anymore other than
pay attention to what you're
doing and listen to it.
00:18:24
It's music, after all.
00:18:26
If you go see the rest of the family,
you notice that this, is fixed.
00:18:30
I can't switch it from
parametric to shelf.
00:18:33
I have a dedicated shelf EQ.
00:18:35
So...
00:18:36
This brings a conversation,
Why?
This EQ was intended
to help people who
don't necessarily have a lot of
experience EQing,
being comfortable.
00:18:46
So, less options is always better.
00:18:48
And one knob does one thing is great.
00:18:51
You wanna a shelf, you turn it on,
you use a shelf.
00:18:54
Fair enough.
00:18:56
And then, if you wanna start
playing with the Q, you can.
00:18:58
But the default is designed for
you to not screw up too much.
00:19:03
Studio One...
00:19:05
We have a low frequency
that can be switched between
a 6 dB shelf,
a 12 dB shelf or 24 dB shelf.
00:19:13
Oh no! What could that be?
Well, easy, check it out.
00:19:17
I'm gonna remove this.
00:19:18
So you know what's going on.
00:19:19
This is a 24 dB shelf.
00:19:21
This is 12 dB shelf.
00:19:23
This a 6 dB shelf.
00:19:24
Basically, that's the Q.
00:19:26
The thing is, when you switch to
shelf, you no longer
have Q control,
this is fixed.
00:19:33
Why? I don't know.
00:19:34
But I would guess because of
the combination of two factors.
00:19:37
Number 1, DSP.
00:19:39
Number 2, trying to create a tool
that's easy to use
and easy to understand because
there are so many tools
and they are so difficult
to understand.
00:19:46
So...
00:19:47
One of the reasons why all these
EQs behave the same is because
that's one of the few standards
we have, let's enjoy them.
00:19:54
But then everybody has an idea
of how they can do it better,
and there goes the standard.
00:19:58
In the built-in EQ of Cubase,
this bottom band here for example,
can be a parametric,
as we discussed before,
or a low-shelf, or a high-pass,
on top of this high-pass right here,
or...
00:20:09
Another type of parametric,
probably with a different Q system.
00:20:13
Or four different kinds of shelfs,
goodness, gracious.
00:20:16
The next band over
can only be two different
kinds of parametric,
and the high-band
can be the same mirrored,
parametric or high-shelf
or low pass.
00:20:25
Or something like that.
00:20:26
So basically,
different philosophies
same exact stuff.
00:20:30
You have a shelf, you
have a parametric,
you have the gain, you have frequency
and then you have Q
and they all interact,
in subtle manners.
00:20:39
And they all kind of do the same.
00:20:41
My feeling is that most of
this built-in EQs
from the DAWs are gonna sound the same.
00:20:45
What sets them apart is
the design choice for the Q ranges
and how wide the defaults are...
00:20:53
The interface.
But the tone of them...
00:20:56
Probably not that different,
no matter what you convinced
yourself of. Why?
Because they are not trying to
emulate analog EQs.
00:21:04
They push 2 dB at 10K.
00:21:06
Two dB at 10K is 2 dB at 10K.
00:21:09
The Q of the shelf to
push 2 dB at 10K,
that's where the difference is.
00:21:13
But 10K, 2 dB, that's it.
00:21:15
Now, we're not talking about garage
DSP doctor,
kind of like home-made EQs here.
We're talking about engineers
who use great algorithm, we're not
talking about badly programed stuff.
00:21:26
But on a quality plug-in,
you add 2 dB at 10K, in EQ 3,
and you add 2 dB at 10K
in the channel EQ in Logic,
it's 2 dB at 10K.
00:21:34
Let's move on and focus on the music.
00:21:37
Because all these plug-ins are
all built-in DAW plug-ins,
they come for free with the DAW.
00:21:41
Those who designed these
plug-ins had the mission
to make sure that you felt
that when you bought the DAW
you wouldn't have to
buy a plug-in to EQ.
00:21:49
Consequently, they do
pretty much everything.
00:21:52
So they all have high-pass
and low-pass filters.
00:21:56
Let's turn it on.
00:21:58
These is called the
high-pass filter.
00:22:00
So I'm high passing to 500 Hz.
00:22:03
Does this mean that everything
below 500 Hz is gone?
No.
00:22:06
Because we have slope here.
00:22:09
Six dB per octave.
00:22:11
Meaning that if our
key frequency,
the frequency at which we
start the process, is 500 Hz,
we start with no cut there,
and then it goes down
6 db, it gets 6 db quieter
octave by octave.
00:22:25
So, 2 octaves, 12 db down.
00:22:27
Three octaves, I'll let you do
the math, 18.
00:22:30
Etc, etc, etc.
00:22:32
Now...
00:22:33
Why is this useful?
This is useful because this
is very gentle.
00:22:36
And it's very different from a shelf.
00:22:39
At 500 Hz...
00:22:41
This is what it does.
00:22:44
Right?
But the filter does this.
00:22:49
This is very useful to get rid of
garbage at the bottom.
00:22:52
It's also very useful
to kiss the bottom of things
that are a little too fat,
say a vocal for example,
without having to deal with a lot
of artifacts on the signal.
00:23:01
Now, of course...
00:23:02
Because we live in the modern
world, and this is digital,
they were able to push the envelope.
00:23:07
You can have a 12 dB
per octave curve,
you could have...
00:23:11
An 18 dB per octave curve,
You could could have, 24.
00:23:16
And some plug-ins go all the
way up to 96 dB per octave,
basically, a cliff.
00:23:20
There's always trade-offs.
00:23:23
But these days most of
the filters sound good.
00:23:25
And this is a good way to
clean up your material.
00:23:27
Now, one thing you
have to be aware of
is that, if you use the 6 db
per octave filter
at 500 Hz,
you will touch above 500 Hz.
00:23:36
You will have some effect above 500 Hz.
00:23:39
None of this is as clear cut
as the settings say.
00:23:42
So it's always very important
to listen to what you're
doing and to compare.
00:23:47
I strongly urge you to take
a vocal like for example...
00:23:49
This is our good friend Will Knox.
00:23:52
This is with no processing.
00:24:00
So you hear that little 'mmm'
at the bottom, right?
Check it out.
00:24:13
This video is not about
how to use an EQ,
it's about what the controls are.
00:24:18
But check this out, because it's fun.
00:24:20
I'm gonna high-pass the vocal
as far as I can.
00:24:31
Now, If I go in a
higher range...
00:24:35
That's too much.
00:24:36
However, I could lower
the frequency...
00:24:41
But then the ring comes back.
00:24:45
Still the ring.
00:24:48
Now it's too thin.
00:24:50
So that's not working for me.
Let's go back to 6.
00:24:54
Very nice, without.
00:24:57
Without you hear the mask come on.
00:24:59
If I turn it back on...
00:25:03
It's gone.
00:25:04
Now I can switch to a shelf...
00:25:11
Go up.
00:25:20
Not bad.
00:25:22
Let's compare.
00:25:30
I think that the filter,
the high-pass filter sounds more natural.
Check it out.
00:25:39
You hear a little bit of resonance
here and there.
00:25:42
Maybe I haven't set it right,
maybe I should have a faster Q
and a lower frequency.
00:25:54
I tend to like
high-pass better for bottom
on male vocals.
00:25:58
That's how my brain functions.
00:26:00
Maybe you like this better.
00:26:04
Maybe you like this better.
00:26:08
Even though they operate now,
roughly at the same frequency.
00:26:10
You can tell there's a difference
in how they handle the material.
00:26:13
Some people,
also call it,
a low cut filter.
00:26:19
The difference between a high-pass
and a low cut filter
is none.
00:26:22
It's the same thing,
it's just designed to confuse you,
to make sure that you're
absolutely sure
to not remember what anything does.
00:26:29
So a high-pass, high pass.
00:26:31
It let's the high frequency pass.
00:26:33
But it cuts the low end.
00:26:34
Or a low cut, is a same thing.
00:26:36
Some companies push the trickery
to having something called the
low cut filter here,
but then, you have an option
for a high-pass here.
00:26:46
Which, if you ask me,
is a crime against humanity,
since they're the exact same thing.
00:26:51
So we have low cut here,
and high-pass here, and it's the same.
00:26:56
Way to go.
00:26:57
In Studio One
it's called a low cut.
00:27:00
Which is the easier term.
00:27:03
In Logic...
00:27:07
They call it nothing.
00:27:09
You'll noticed that it has a Q
and you can overshoot,
you can make it ring.
00:27:13
You should play with this,
it's really fun.
00:27:15
For example, if you have an 808
bass drum that's a little anemic
but it's also too fat below
the place you want it to be fat,
with this filter you can just
cut the bottom and go nuts.
00:27:25
And adjust this ringing frequency
just like the resonance of a synth
and make it go crazy.
00:27:30
It's fun to do.
00:27:31
And you have your frequencies here.
00:27:33
48 db/octave.
00:27:34
Rock and roll.
00:27:35
Of course, we have low pass
filter which does the same thing.
00:27:39
Why would you use a
low pass filter?
Just like I did with the vocal,
sometimes you have things
that are too bright.
00:27:44
And then you EQ them down
and they sound dark.
00:27:46
That thing where it's
too dark to be natural.
00:27:50
Very often you'll find that
using a filter, as opposed to a shelf
or parametric, is more natural
and more transparent.
00:27:57
And you'll be able to actually
get something that's too bright
back into life.
00:28:01
They all have low-passes.
00:28:03
The principals are the same.
00:28:05
You have ranges,
you have slopes and frequencies.
And that's it.
00:28:10
Of course,
the pompom goes to
Cubase again, for having
both a high-cut
and here, if you want,
you could have a low-pass,
because, you know...
00:28:20
You can't have it
both ways, except
in Cubase where you can have it
which way you want.
00:28:26
Ain't that fun?
And you could have both at different
slopes which is like super
super confusing.
00:28:31
That said,
the high-cut low-pass
gets a lots less used
than the high-pass low-cut.
00:28:38
True on that.
00:28:40
In the past, EQs looked like this.
00:28:43
You recognize the
familiar parameters.
00:28:46
A gain, which is
your input gain.
00:28:49
This is the high-frequencies,
it's fixed.
00:28:52
Meaning, you can't change the frequency.
00:28:54
Here, this is gain,
and this is your frequency.
00:28:59
This is the way it used to be.
00:29:01
Frequencies were fixed
for design reasons,
for technology reasons.
00:29:07
So somebody picked the
frequencies for you.
00:29:09
In this case Rupert picked
the frequencies
and apparently he has pretty good taste.
00:29:13
So this is a semi parametric EQ.
00:29:15
The 1073, because
you can pick the frequency but
not all of them,
but you can't pick the Q.
00:29:23
The Neve had a proportional Q
and it was pleasant enough
and useful enough
that everybody wants
to buy this no matter
what's the price.
00:29:30
The bottom here is a fixed shelf.
00:29:33
So essentially, this EQ,
which is worth
U$ 10.000,00 in the hardware version,
in the free market,
has one fixed knob,
so this one you can use this
as is, don't touch it.
00:29:46
You have one middle knob,
right here, this one,
where you can't touch this guy.
00:29:51
And you can touch this guy
but you only had 6 choices
and you could use this guy.
00:29:56
And then you have the bottom guy
which is stuck in shelf
and you can't touch this.
00:30:00
And you can't touch the Q.
00:30:02
That's it.
00:30:03
And then, you have a high-pass filter
but you can't touch the slope.
00:30:08
So, in theory
in the name of progress,
this...
00:30:15
is a lot more powerful than this.
00:30:18
So why do people swear by this
and not this?
Good question.
00:30:24
It has to do with several things,
in my opinion.
00:30:26
And this is a highly volatile subject.
00:30:29
My opinion is:
Too many options is a problem.
00:30:34
Unless you really spend time
figuring out what's going on
with this settings
and you own them, there's
not a shadow of a doubt
of the interaction between gain and Q,
the difference between the feeling
of a high-pass filter and a low shelf.
00:30:50
When you own that stuff
and it's part of
you intuitively,
than you'll be able
to do a lot with this
that you never do with this.
00:30:59
If, you're kind of confused
or you like working very fast,
or you've been working the same way,
for years.
00:31:06
You'll be more comfortable with this
because, why would you
want more options
if the preset options that Rupert
picked for you are great?
You know.
00:31:14
This is great. Let's use this.
00:31:16
The other consideration is that
an EQ like this one
is not a transparent EQ.
00:31:22
This...
00:31:24
And this...
00:31:26
And this...
00:31:28
And this,
are designed to be
transparent EQs.
00:31:31
They have no sound of their own.
00:31:32
This was modeled after
a piece of hardware
that has transformer inputs and
transformer outputs for example.
00:31:38
And it has a bunch of electronics in it.
00:31:41
And because of the
restrictions and limitations
of the electronic design of
the 60's and 70's,
it gave tone to the material
even when not EQing anything.
00:31:51
If you turn on a Neve EQ,
with all the gain at zero,
and you turn it on, it will
change the sound of your material.
00:31:58
If you take this EQ and turn it on
and you have no gain anywhere,
it will not change
the tone of your EQ.
00:32:04
And if you have a digital EQ
that's not supposed to emulate anything
that changes the sound when
it doesn't EQ, get rid of it.
00:32:12
This is EQ right here has a tone.
00:32:15
Makes people feel like
something is going on.
00:32:18
It's also guiding them through the process
by the experience of the designer.
00:32:22
This EQ, you're on your own and
there's a lot of parameters.
00:32:26
I think that's why this
EQ is very popular.
00:32:28
Are these controls
easier to use than this?
No. You don't have a graph.
You don't know what you’re doing.
00:32:34
Here you can just grab a
little dot and move it around.
00:32:36
Here you have to kind of like, you
have to click here and everything.
00:32:40
So, control wise,
the 1073 emulation is not better.
00:32:45
Tone wise, it gives you something
that this will never give you.
00:32:49
If you wanna raise 2 db at 10K
and you're happy with your sound,
you just want it to be brighter,
use this guy.
00:32:55
If you want some
transient control,
a little kind of like fatness coming on
because of the transformer
emulation, use this guy.
00:33:01
They're both equally valid.
00:33:03
Here's another example.
00:33:05
This guy.
00:33:07
If you're given the option of
using this guy
versus say... This guy.
00:33:13
I would use this guy
any day because my brain,
small brain, doesn't function
well with the API stuff.
00:33:21
I'm not comfortable using this.
00:33:24
I just never know what frequency it is.
00:33:26
It never feels good, to me.
00:33:28
I love the way it sounds,
there's been generations of engineers
who make the most fantastic
sound records with this stuff.
00:33:38
I can't, I hate it.
00:33:40
I'd rather use this.
00:33:41
I know for a fact
that...
00:33:44
I will not be able to get
the same sound with this.
00:33:48
Is this a better sound?
No, it's a different sound
because it emulates
the input and output transformers
and whatever circuitry is in here.
00:33:56
And this just raises this frequency.
00:33:58
Fair enough, but...
00:34:00
If I want control over the Q
I'm out of luck here.
00:34:05
That's is why you need to know
your settings
and you need to know
what they do intimately
that will allow you to choose
your plug-ins
wisely, regardless of the
amount of marketing
you've been subjected to on the quality
of this plug-in or this plug-in.
00:34:21
Besides the sound,
the available settings will help you
fix problems
beyond what the analog
emulations can do.
00:34:29
And that's a very important thing.
00:34:32
Because of the capabilities of the
digital format,
laws of physics not withstanding,
the new EQs can do
a lot of stuff.
00:34:41
And it comes with problems
or...
00:34:45
Things to watch out for.
00:34:47
Some designers, like for example,
the guys at Flux,
make this unbelievably easy to use
super clean sounding EQ.
00:34:55
And every band can be anywhere.
00:34:58
We can go down to 13 Hz
all the way down to 24K.
00:35:02
Well that's great because say
you're looking for something
and you're a little confused,
and you get confused
by the harmonics and
you're looking at 10K,
and the problem is not at 10K
it's at the root of whatever is
making 10K sound ugly.
00:35:13
So you have to go down to...
00:35:16
I don't know, 5K or 2.5K.
00:35:19
Fair enough, so you can
do it with the same band.
00:35:22
Here on the Neve, you can't do that.
00:35:24
10K is up here.
00:35:26
If you wanna do 4.8K you have to go
here, you can't do 4.8K up here.
00:35:31
And most of the old analog EQ
had fixed frequencies for the
reasons aforementioned.
00:35:36
Now, here, I can take this frequency
move it up to here.
00:35:40
So say I'm working on something
and then, you know, I'm sliding.
00:35:43
And now my fourth band is taking
care of my bass drum at 30 Hz.
00:35:46
And then my first band
is all the way up here
at 10K.
00:35:51
This is chaos.
00:35:53
If you don't pay attention
you'll find yourself with 5 bands
doing stuff not at all in range
of what they were
designed to do.
00:36:02
So when you reopen your mix
6 months from now, you're like...
00:36:08
"What?"
Some EQ manufacturers
found a solution.
00:36:12
These guys have decided to limit the range.
00:36:15
So this goes from 100 to 6K.
00:36:18
This goes from 600 Hz to 1800 Hz.
00:36:20
So, these you can
always find these
more or less,
within the range of their physical
position in the interface.
00:36:30
Some people find that limiting.
00:36:33
Some people find
that really great
because it forces them
into a certain discipline.
00:36:37
I use the Sonnox EQ very very much.
00:36:40
Half the time I'm delighted that
it is limited,
and half the time it drives me insane
because I really would like
to bring this down to 90.
00:36:50
And I can't, and I
have to reset it
and I have to come here, but
this one may be already used.
00:36:55
So, there's give and take in
all situations.
00:36:58
Part of the time it feels restricting,
and part of the time it feels like:
Yes, I have a guideline that I'm
gonna follow that's gonna allow me
to not make chaos
with my plug-ins.
00:37:08
It really depends on the philosophy
and emotional make-up of
the designer of the interface.
00:37:13
If they're not imitating analogue EQs
they can do whatever they want.
This case for example...
00:37:18
The high range goes to 20K but
stops at 1.80K.
00:37:22
And this goes to 18K
and stops at 200.
00:37:25
So this is in between the Sonnox
and the Flux plug-in.
00:37:30
Over time you'll learn every setting
and every knob, and every interaction
in your EQ plug-in arsenal,
of which you have too many,
I'm pretty sure, because
everybody has too many,
and you'll find what limits you
and what motivates you.
00:37:43
What's really important is that
it's based on knowledge
and not on hunch.
00:37:49
Because secondhand
hunch can kill you.
00:37:52
Other wonderful settings
or functions of digital EQ
are dynamic graphs.
We've seen these graphs.
00:37:59
Which tells you what's going
on, like this, right?
And this guy...
00:38:04
And the Pure...
00:38:08
This guy.
00:38:09
These are great.
00:38:10
They help you understand
what's going on
because of the way they are designed
they let you really understand
what's getting cut and stuff like that.
00:38:17
This is great, you can see
what's going on, it saves time.
00:38:19
It saves lives.
00:38:21
There's a new kind of graphs that some
companies have been developing
which are dynamic graphs.
00:38:26
So, if you look at this,
you see that there's an actual
dynamic real-time...
00:38:36
analysis of what's going on.
00:38:38
This could be very useful
to figure out what the problem is
when you have a big problem.
00:38:42
This case this is pretty OK recorded.
00:38:46
You can hear and see a
little bit of that bump here.
00:38:49
Some of the analyzers have
a lot of control. You can see before...
00:38:55
And then if I raise,
you can see after.
00:39:03
And then you can see before and after.
00:39:07
You can see in the bottom...
00:39:11
The two different curves.
00:39:12
The bottom curve is pre-EQ
and top curve is post-EQ.
00:39:15
Very practical to learn
what you're doing
and also to figure
out what's going on
when you've been mixing for
12 hours and you have no idea
of what you're
listening to anymore.
00:39:23
That's a very good feature,
they have the same kind of
stuff in Logic built-in EQ.
00:39:28
You have an analyzer, you can
see pre or post, you can't see both.
00:39:31
You can turn it on here.
00:39:33
Some plug-ins have it,
some plug-ins don't.
00:39:35
It's not a sign of quality,
again, it's a sign of the philosophy
of the EQ designer.
00:39:39
These built-in plug-ins are trying
to do everything for you
so that you don't feel have to buy
another one to be able to do some work.
00:39:46
Fair enough.
00:39:47
Let's talk about some of
my favorite weird birds.
00:39:51
This is one hell of a weird bird.
00:39:54
At the time, it was the only bird
worth it's salt.
00:39:58
It's two birds into one cage.
00:40:00
You have the top bird
and the bottom bird.
00:40:03
This is a an MEQ 5
which was a mid-range EQ.
00:40:06
And this is the EQP 1A which
was a high and low
EQ shelving.
00:40:10
We discussed shelvings before.
00:40:12
There's a lot of mystique around
those because they sound very special.
00:40:15
Mostly they sound special because they
were inductor EQs
and that gives it a certain sound,
and because of all the transformers
on inputs and outputs and inter-stage.
00:40:23
And that also shapes the sound
beyond the EQ.
00:40:25
If you run audio through this,
without any EQ, it
will sound different.
00:40:29
And sometimes people think
that it's different better.
00:40:32
And sometimes people think
it's different not better.
00:40:35
Most people think it's better.
00:40:37
These have been discussed to death
but I'd like to attract your attention
to help you visualize something.
00:40:43
Because there were no graphs,
and because the designers said:
'Well, you know...
00:40:48
We wanna make this efficient."
You can boost this frequency
or maybe you wanna cut
these frequencies.
00:40:53
And because engineers and producers
are who they are
they decided to boost and
cut the same frequency.
00:40:57
And then something happened,
but what happened?
Nobody could really tell for sure
except the real engineers.
00:41:03
Idiots like us, who don't have a scope
and don't know exactly
how things go,
you know, we push this and
then we cut this and we'd do things
and it created a lot
of mystique around it.
00:41:12
Let me show you where this goes on.
00:41:14
It's not that complicated
when you can look at it.
00:41:17
This is the PRO-Q2.
00:41:19
I'm gonna create a shelf here
and I'll create another band here.
00:41:23
And turn into also a low shelf.
00:41:25
So now I have two
low shelf, alright?
I'm gonna go to my first low shelf
and set the frequency to say, 100.
00:41:34
Fair enough.
00:41:36
And I'm gonna give it, I don't know...
00:41:39
Say... Five dB of gain.
00:41:43
Fair enough?
Then I'm gonna take this band
and set it to low shelf,
already done, and I'm gonna go
to the same frequency, 100.
00:41:53
And I'm gonna cut
the gain also 5 dB
so it should in
theory cancel itself.
00:41:59
Since we have 5 dB
of gain on the shelf here,
which is right here,
and 5 dB of cut,
on the shelf here, at the same frequency.
It should cancel itself.
00:42:09
The thing is, if you use two
different Qs,
because this and this have
different Qs,
then you get this.
00:42:16
And depending on the Qs
and I don't know if this example
has the exact Qs of a Pultec.
00:42:21
What I hear from a Pultec
is a little bit like this.
00:42:26
So because the boost
and the attenuation
have different Qs,
what you see is this.
00:42:33
This is what's happening
when you use a Pultec
boosting and cutting
the same frequency.
00:42:37
Which is kind of cool.
Why is that cool?
Because with just 2 knobs and
one frequency, you can have a bump
and then you can have a
nice little dip here.
00:42:46
And it just so happens that
if you set it at 100
the dip is in 120 to 180 area
where is great to have
a little bit of a dip
because that usually sounds
muddy on a lot of instruments.
00:42:57
And a lot of people discovered that
and took a lot of advantage of it.
00:43:01
Which is part of some the mystique
of this thing.
00:43:04
Otherwise, think about this.
00:43:05
These days we have this guy,
we can do anything.
00:43:08
With this guy, all you can do
is boost a little bit here,
boost a little bit here.
00:43:13
Boost a little bit at 5K or 1K,
cut in the mids
and boost a little of the
bottom, that was it.
00:43:19
And you didn't know and couldn't
see what you were doing
and it was not like, a 5 dB
thing, it was not measured.
00:43:24
It was pretty by ear only.
00:43:26
And by ear only is cool.
00:43:28
By the way, kudos to
the good people at Oxford for having
an ears only mode.
00:43:36
Isn't that nice?
If you work this way you
can actually pay attention
to what's coming out of the speakers as
opposed to looking at it.
00:43:43
Wonderful.
00:43:44
Another interesting and
wonderful outboard
is the Massive Passive.
00:43:50
Whether you have it in
hardware or software
a lot of people are confused about this.
I get emailed about this.
00:43:54
Here's how it goes.
00:43:56
There's only one button.
00:43:57
Basically, this knob is your gain knob
and it can either be boost
or cut.
00:44:04
If you wanna go from...
OK, I wanna check out
where the problem is using
the traditional, you know...
00:44:10
Let's boost the hell
of of the frequency
you go this and then you
wanna cut it
you just press this button right here.
00:44:15
Otherwise it's pretty standard.
00:44:16
Every band could
be shelf or bell,
which means you could do the
same trick as what we just saw
with the Pultec.
00:44:24
You boost one, you cut one,
you have slightly different Qs,
at the same frequency
you get the same thing.
00:44:30
And you have filters right here.
00:44:34
Low pass, high pass.
00:44:36
It's fairly standard edition.
00:44:38
You'll see here that the
ranges are fixed for you.
00:44:41
22 to 1K, 62 to 3k.
00:44:43
220 to 10K, and 56 to 27K.
They overlap.
00:44:47
But they are kind of forcing
you into one area per band
which is because it's an
emulation of a physical hardware
and this is the way the designer thought.
00:44:57
Now...
00:44:59
This is a trick you
want to use sometimes
because this settings
here are really intense.
00:45:05
If you're going at 12K
on shelf and boost
you see you're already hitting 3
buttons to get to this point.
00:45:11
Once you get used to it,
most people think that the
sound is really worth it.
00:45:15
I strongly recommend you spend time,
if you have this plug-in or
if you plan to use this plug-in,
checking out the high band like
this, on a vocal, around 10K,
and play with the shelf,
and play with this Q system.
00:45:29
And remember, it's gonna do
that cut and knee thing.
00:45:32
And it's really really powerful,
not to be played with lightly.
00:45:37
Another odd looking bird,
which is a great example of how and the
UI can throw you off a little bit.
00:45:43
They somehow decided to put the
low end to the right
and the high end to the left.
00:45:47
That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
00:45:50
But that's how it
was on the console.
00:45:52
And that's what they did.
00:45:53
And also, they have
faders instead of knobs.
00:45:55
And so, when you look at
it like this, you're like...
00:45:59
Do you have a visual rendition?
Can you see right away
what the sound is like?
Absolutely not.
00:46:04
The saturation sounds bananas.
I strongly recommend you try it.
00:46:08
Here's another wonderful odd
bird that has to be described
because Bruce Swedien used it
on his Harrison console.
00:46:15
Check this out, we have
semi parametric bands.
00:46:18
This actually is a shelf but
they don't really tell you.
00:46:20
This can be a shelf or not
based on this button.
00:46:23
So, if this is not
pressed, this is a shelf.
00:46:26
If this is pressed this is a semi
parametric where you can choose
the frequency, the gain, but not the Q.
00:46:33
The filters are very interesting.
00:46:35
This is the sound without the filter.
00:46:37
Notice that the filter is on zero.
00:46:41
There's nothing at the high pass.
00:46:43
And there's nothing on the low pass.
00:46:46
You're gonna have to pick a camp.
There's a low-cut camp,
and there's a high-pass camp.
00:46:51
Whichever works for you.
00:46:52
In this case, I'm gonna do
high-pass / low-pass.
00:46:55
So the high pass knob
and the low pass are on stun.
00:46:58
Which means that if I turn this one
I should hear no difference.
00:47:03
But because they modeled the console, the
'In' button actually makes a difference.
00:47:06
First, the sound of Will's voice raw
with the filters
disabled completely.
00:47:17
Listen to the words 'Clouds of sugar'
'sparkle' and 'wind'.
00:47:25
And now with the filters
that are supposed to do nothing
because they're basically out.
00:47:43
It's a little more together.
00:47:44
Doesn't have that
little mask on 'sparkle'.
00:47:48
That's due to the circuitry emulation
that the UA people have done on this.
00:47:52
Now, let's listen to the filter.
00:48:06
This doesn't sound like a low-pass
filter at 12 db/octave at 130 Hz to me.
00:48:12
Let's check.
00:48:13
This guy, right here...
00:48:16
Will tell me the truth.
00:48:19
So, 12 dB/octave,
130 Hz.
00:48:25
Let's use the markings, let's do 160.
00:48:28
That way, you know.
00:48:30
It's a fair test of the
emergency broadcast system.
00:48:34
There you go.
00:48:36
OK, great, this has to be off.
00:48:38
Here we go. This is the Harrison version
of a low pass filter at 160.
00:48:50
Avid.
00:48:55
Very different.
00:48:57
Again, Avid.
00:49:09
The Harrison is a lot muddier
and has a lot more resonance.
00:49:13
So, what this says is
not necessarily true.
00:49:17
I can guarantee you that this says
2.8 kHz here.
00:49:22
It wants to be 2.8 kHz when
it grows up, if it grows up
but it's probably not 2.8 kHz.
00:49:28
You should consider this settings
on most plug-ins, are indication
of what they'd really like to reach.
00:49:34
But because of the
limitations of the medium,
very often you'll find
that it ain't true.
00:49:42
Here's another odd bird.
00:49:45
Probably the oddest birds of them all.
00:49:48
This guy!
Now, that is odd!
If you come to this
without a solid knowledge
of how EQ functions
and must function,
then you could look at this for a while
to figure out what's going on.
00:50:02
Check it out.
00:50:03
This has a fascinating thing.
00:50:05
This knob right here
is your bass knob
on the Helios 69 plug-in.
00:50:10
If you go below zero here
this a fixed shelf at 50 Hz.
00:50:16
So you can go -15 at 50 Hz.
00:50:19
OK.
00:50:20
But if you go above the zero
now this becomes a positive shelf
at whatever frequency you choose,
with this knob being the gain.
00:50:30
That did not exactly jump to mine
the first time I
looked at the plug-in.
00:50:34
Because I never had a Helios, because
there's not that many in the world.
00:50:38
So, I'll say that again.
00:50:39
If you are above, this is a
shelf, this is the gain.
00:50:43
If you're below zero
this serves no purpose,
still there but serves no purpose
and the shelf is fixed at 50 Hz.
00:50:50
With gain cut.
00:50:52
Isn't that insane?
And this is all the same, it's a
little bit like the Massive Passive.
00:50:57
This can be gain or can be cut.
00:50:59
This is the frequency, they are fixed.
00:51:02
Why would one wanna use
this EQ since it's very restrictive?
For the tone.
00:51:07
But if you don't really have
a solid understanding of what's going on
settings wise, you could scratch
your head for a while
trying to figure out what
to do with this stuff.
00:51:14
Collin, at McDSP said:
"I'm good at modeling stuff".
He is.
00:51:18
So, why don't I
model a bunch o different EQs
and put them all in one plug-in
where you could have the settings
of one EQ
carried over from model to model.
00:51:33
I think this is a very interesting example
because instead of falling in
love with the interface,
you could listen and then you could
listen to the different sounds.
00:51:41
That's a good afternoon of fun.
We could try...
00:51:44
One, let's see...
00:51:45
Let's call this,
British E, I wonder what's that for.
00:51:49
Let's see.
00:51:52
Here's Will bypassed.
00:51:59
This EQ has the same settings
but has no markings.
00:52:01
You don't know what you're doing.
00:52:06
OK, so we have this,
that's pretty cool.
00:52:10
A little lower.
00:52:14
Maybe a little bit more.
00:52:19
There's a high-pass,
let's use that.
00:52:24
We started here.
00:52:34
So what would that
sound like with this?
Hard to listen to, how about this one?
Isn't that interesting?
How about this one?
They're all the same settings.
00:52:56
Different sounds.
00:52:58
Pretty cool concept.
00:52:59
A new type of EQ that
digital has afforded us
is called Linear Phase EQ.
00:53:05
Not possible in analogue.
00:53:08
A lot of people think that linear phase
EQs sound better because they are linear.
00:53:13
I don't think so, you have
to listen for yourself
but I don't think that's the
main appeal to linear phase EQ.
00:53:19
The main appeal to me,
to linear phase EQs,
is that they allow you to work on the
bottom of two phase related instruments
without screwing the phase.
00:53:29
Don't forget, whatever
you use a regular EQ,
on say, 2 bass drum,
inside and out,
and if you already like the relationship of
the two bass drums
and you just wanna make
one fatter than the other,
you will have phase issues,
that's the principle of EQ
is manipulating phase.
00:53:45
So if you already have a
relationship you like
and you need to EQ the bottom
of one of those two tracks,
a linear phase EQ is amazing for that
because you can do the work
get the EQ for that one track
and not screw up the
relationship between the two.
00:54:00
It's a little bit like
having a regular EQ
plus a phase alignment.
00:54:04
Except it's faster and not as
complicated, let me show you.
00:54:11
This is a bass drum.
00:54:13
We have...
00:54:16
A microphone on the inside and then...
00:54:20
The sample, to try and fill the holes.
00:54:23
The two of them together sound like this.
00:54:28
So, the sample is pretty good,
The inside...
00:54:37
has all sorts of mask and stuff.
00:54:39
So I'm gonna take an EQ like the Pro-Q2,
and I'm gonna listen to
the inside bass drum,
and find out what the problem is.
00:54:50
Since we have a
real-time analyzer
you can see that there's a huge
burst of energy right here.
00:54:59
Before.
00:55:07
Right. Why not?
That's good enough for jazz.
00:55:10
So, now, if I put this back
together with the other,
the sample.
00:55:20
There's lots of weird
stuff going on.
00:55:22
As a reminder this is what
happened before we had the EQ.
00:55:35
The problem is this,
if you listen to the inside
bass drum by itself,
It holds together. Sample by itself.
00:55:46
It holds together.
Two of them together...
00:55:52
Something goes away compared to this
relationship before the EQ was in.
00:56:02
Right, you feel that rub.
00:56:04
So if you're paying attention
you're gonna tell me that...
00:56:06
"Yeah the reason why
it's slim it's because
you're removing fat from
the inside bass drum."
No, that's not true.
00:56:12
If you listen to that in
solo, this is the raw track.
00:56:21
So it's slim but it
doesn't have the mask.
00:56:23
So it should be better.
00:56:25
But no.
00:56:26
So, here's the trick,
listen to the two of them together.
00:56:35
And then switch to Pro-Q2
to linear phase.
00:56:42
The bottom comes back.
00:56:43
Why is that?
Because you're working in the 80 Hz range.
00:56:47
It would be even more drastic if you're
working in 30 or the 40 Hz range.
00:56:51
The low end is very sensitive
to phase alignment.
00:56:54
You are changing the phase relationship
between these two tracks by using this EQ.
00:56:57
If switch to linear phase EQ
you no longer are changing the
relationship between the 2 tracks as much.
00:57:03
Because this EQ is doing the working
of EQing and then realigning the phase,
so that there's no phase
shift do to the EQ itself.
00:57:09
And the difference again, is like this.
00:57:11
This is with a linear phase.
00:57:23
This may not be night and day,
but it's a huge difference if you're
trying to make a fat record.
00:57:29
Whenever you find yourself
adjusting one or several
tracks that are phase related,
most of the time at the
bottom of your record
and you're struggling.
00:57:39
Try the linear phase EQ.
00:57:41
One more fun thing that
sometimes confuses people.
00:57:45
The Tilt EQ.
00:57:46
What's Tilt EQ?
Tilt EQ is this, imagine this.
00:57:50
You have a center frequency
and imagine if you could in one knob,
have a high shelf and
a low shelf do this.
00:57:58
Or basically, rotate all
the frequencies this way.
00:58:01
That's what a Tilt EQ is.
00:58:04
See what I mean?
And all in one knob.
This one by Tonelux,
which is a software emulation
of a hardware unit,
let's you do this way.
00:58:15
So as I raise the high end
the low end goes away.
00:58:20
Or, as I raise the low end
the high end goes away.
00:58:26
This is a really nice,
fun and quick way
to do a fast adjustment
on the whole mix.
00:58:31
I love this stuff.
00:58:38
Old school tradition.
00:58:39
So if you see a Tilt
EQ, don't be scared.
00:58:42
It really can be a quick way to
adjust the tone,
the overall tone of a track,
without having to
deal with many settings
and stuff like that.
00:58:50
Before we part on this wonderful journey
through EQ settings,
I'd like to send a shout-out
to the amazingly inventive people
that come up with new tools everyday.
00:59:01
There's amazing amount of stuff
that's just mind-boggling.
00:59:04
Some of them are super useful,
Some are just crazy and complete useless,
but fun nonetheless.
00:59:10
One of these guys
is the guys at Sound Radix for example.
00:59:15
This is one example but I love
what these guys are doing.
00:59:18
This is called Surfer EQ.
00:59:19
Since we're on an EQ video,
I thought we'd look at it.
00:59:22
What is this? Well, it's an EQ.
You turn it on,
and then you have Will.
00:59:27
And there's the same mask,
and then so you turn on the
band, you look for it.
00:59:36
OK fine. That's too fat.
Then you remove a little bit.
00:59:41
And we heard before that's
not necessarily perfect,
maybe we're gonna use a high-pass filter,
maybe we'll use a little dip.
00:59:47
Whatever, we do our
thing, the usual way.
00:59:50
We started here.
00:59:53
Hear 'mmmm'. That thing.
00:59:59
OK, it's a little better.
It's a little thin though.
01:00:01
What these guys do
is you can tell them:
"Look, focus on the frequency...
01:00:08
Track the pitch, focus on the frequency
that the singer is at and follow that."
Which is wild when you think about it.
01:00:14
So now, you have and EQ
that's a little bit like
a synthesizer filter.
01:00:18
When you play a synthesizer
and you have a filter,
the higher up you go the more
the filter follows, otherwise,
if you had the low pass filter,
and you went to the high end it'd get
darker and darker as you go up.
01:00:28
This is kind of like
that philosophy applied to EQ.
01:00:32
What does it do? Well...
01:00:33
It makes it more precise.
01:00:35
Say, if you remove a resonance and
you hit it in this one frequency.
01:00:39
But the singer sings a different note.
01:00:41
When the singer sings a different note,
that resonance is gonna move with.
01:00:44
Well,
in a tradition EQ you
can't really do that,
you kind of like,
shoot for the best.
01:00:51
This EQ let's you track the
pitch of the instrument
and follow, and let you
remove that resonance
at the pitch.
01:01:00
It sounds like this.
You turn the Surf on here.
01:01:10
You still hear that thing on
'Factory wheels'.
01:01:12
Now with the Surf.
01:01:21
Isn't this wild?
I'll play it again.
01:01:25
Without the Surf.
01:01:31
Then we just EQed, traditionally.
01:01:51
Did you know about this?
I didn't until a few weeks ago.
01:01:54
Quite a wonderful tool.
01:01:55
And there are a lot of
this tools out there.
01:01:57
We can do hundreds of hours of
videos on all those tools.
01:02:00
But now that you know
all the settings,
and you have a good
concept of what they do,
and you can really tell what they disguise
themselves as, from platform to platform,
you can pretty much
understand any tool out there
without us having to
tell you how they work.
01:02:15
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
DAWs
- Avid Pro Tools
- Apple Logic Pro X
- Steinberg Cubase
- Presonus Studio One
Plugins
- Avid EQ3
- FabFilter Pro-Q2
- Flux:: Epure v3
- McDSP 6020
- Oxford EQ
- SoundRadix Surfer EQ
- Softube Tonelux Tilt
- UAD API 550A
- UAD Harrison 32
- UAD Helios 69
- UAD Manley Massive Passive
- UAD Neve 1073
- UAD Pultec Pro
- UAD Trident A-Range
Fab Dupont is a Grammy winning NYC based record producer, mixing/mastering engineer and co-founder of pureMix.net.
Fab has been playing, writing, producing and mixing music both live and in studios all over the world. He's worked in cities like Paris, Boston, Brussels, Stockholm, London and New York just to name a few.
He has his own studio called FLUX Studios in the East Village of New York City.
Fab has been nominated for Grammys 6 times, including two Latin Grammys and has received many other accolades around the world, including Victoires de la Musique, South African Music awards, Pan African Music Awards and US independent music awards.
David Crosby
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Toots And The Maytals
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