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Some of the best EQ plugins are modelled not after standalone outboard units, but the EQ sections of classic mixing consoles. Here’s a very quick primer on classic EQ. It can really help when learning about EQ to be aware of some of the classic hardware EQ units and console EQ sections that many plugins are modelled on to varying degrees.
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Download some of the demos (or full versions, in the case of the freeware choices) and get building a small and refined selection of EQ tools to cover every eventuality with optimum working speed and results.Ĭlassic EQ: A Quick Salute To The Hardware
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Take this list as a starting point or further hints towards finding and refining your own collection of favourites. The best EQ plugin is always the one that best suites the specific task you’re undertaking and gives you the sound you want with the greatest ease and efficiency. Each EQ will produce subjectively better or worse results on different source material: some EQs are renowned for making smooth high-end boosts, others for taming low and sub frequencies, and others might be go-tos for vocal or drum processing. No single EQ plugin is the best for every application.
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Do you want to see your adjustments graphically displayed with a spectrum analyser, or do you prefer simple knobs and dials that keep you focused on the sound only? How many controls do you want to have access to at any moment, and in which ways do you want to be able to adjust them? Anything which has a bearing on how you experience the process of listening, making decisions and making adjustments based on those decisions is a factor worth considering.Īpart from these factors, all of the considerations I mentioned in The 10 Best Compressor Plugins and The 10 Best Reverb Plugins lists also apply to choosing EQ: One last thing, and some producers might disagree with me here and say that the sound is the only important thing, but don’t underestimate the importance of an attractive and intuitive interface. Of course, this is arguable: it totally depends how you approach your productions. There’s also the factor common to all aspects of modern/digital music production: sometimes, too much flexibility can be a hindrance rather than a help. If you’ve read any of the other posts on GTPS, especially The 10 Principles Every Producer Must Know…, you’ll probably have gathered that I’m a proponent of keeping things simple: having a slightly wider range of tools at my disposal that are each designed to do a more specific job extremely well I find generally preferable to tools that try to cover a lot of bases. One of the key things that differentiates EQ plugins from each other is how well they process boosts at particular frequency ranges: for example, applying a significant boost to the high end will produce more or less ‘smooth’ or ‘gritty’ results depending on the EQ used. Our selection here aims to highlight options for every EQ situation: For example, are you looking for a processor for sweetening and bringing out or adding character to instruments are you looking to gently tame parts or mixes with broad and smooth cuts and boosts, or are you after the audio equivalent of a surgeons scalpel for highly focused, precision adjustments? These clean, ‘digital’-style EQs offer the sort of flexibility, accuracy and, usually, a transparency that engineers in the 1950s could only dream of, working as they were with imperfect analogue components. However, when it comes to pure sonic character and musicality, analogue and analogue-modelling EQ is still hard to beat. Nowadays, we all have pretty amazing EQ functionality by default built into our DAWs. As soon as it became possible to record and transmit audio electrically, and then electronically, engineers and music-makers also began developing various ways of sculpting the sound by boosting or cutting specific parts of the frequency spectrum independently from the rest of the signal. The equaliser is one of the longest-serving and most fundamental sound processing tools. To celebrate the release of the Get That Pro Sound Ultimate Guide to Equalisation, we’ve put together this run-down of the very best EQ plugins available in the world.
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