>Step by step

Use cases for dynamic EQ in the mix

1 For this month’s article I’ve created a song with several different use cases for dynamic EQ. We’ll be removing unwanted resonances in two ways. We’ll clean up some low end mud. We’ll also create space and interaction in the mix by using a sidechain. To finish things up, we’ll do some broad-band shaping on the mix bus. Let’s get to it! 2 For the most part in this tutorial, I’m using the excellent and free TDR Nova parallel dynamic EQ plugin. To demonstrate a couple of more advanced techniques, I’m also using its paid but very reasonably priced big brother, TDR Nova GE. If you haven’t got the free version yet, I recommend you to download it at once from tokyodawn.net. 3 We’ll start by removing some nastiness from the Drum Loop track. The snare is ringing heavily, dominating the mix with it’s unpleasant character. By switching on the analyser, we can clearly see the resonance at around 1kHz. I’m setting a single band at the resonant frequency and adjusting the Q to match the resonance. I go for a fairly aggressive Ratio of 6:1. 4 I adjust the Threshold until Nova tames the resonance. I don’t want to kill all transient energy in the region so I dial in an Attack of 10ms. For the Release, I go for a longer setting of 214ms to capture the tail of the resonance as well. As a further clean-up measure, I’m using the high-pass filter at 120Hz. 5 Removing mud and boominess is one of my favourite uses for dynamic EQ. We have a Tom Loop track going on with a very boomy bottom end. The boomy hits only happen on the first part of the loop, so we’ll set up the dynamic EQ to react only at those moments and pull back when gain reduction isn’t needed. This evens things out nicely. 6 I locate the boominess around 120Hz; I don’t want to shape the dynamics here any more than necessary. A fairly gentle Ratio of 1.8:1 works out great. Attack and Release settings of 20ms allow the transients to come through and the gain reduction to pull back quickly. Adjust Threshold for the right amount of reduction, then fine-tune everything.

7 On the Pad track we have the continuous harmonic backbone of the song. It occupies a lot of space in the frequency domain. I’ve used TDR Nova’s sidechain input to dynamically reduce the lower mids whenever the Tom Loop track is playing. It’s a great technique for keeping the sensitive low mid region of the mix from getting clogged up. 8 I don’t want the Pad track to sound jumpy – any gain changes should be gentle and smooth. A long Attack setting of 400ms and even longer Release of

800ms ensures this. I just want to gently make room for the Tom Loop whenever it starts playing, and gently return back to the original gain level when it stops. 9 The problem on the Bass track is again very familiar: the bass synth is causing a lot of build-up in the mid and low-mid areas of the mix. We can hear and see many resonances in that range. I’m using the super awesome Deresonate smart function in TDR Nova GE to bring everything under control neatly, precisely and – of course – dynamically. 10 All I need to do is to click Learn first and let the plugin listen to the signal for a bit. I will then choose Deresonate and Dynamic from the Action menu. Nova GE automatically sets things up for me. I want to go in a bit harder so I simply select

all bands and adjust the Threshold. Using equal loudness bypass ( EL Bypass) it’s easy to hear the difference! 11 The low end of the mix could use some beefing up. The highs would also benefit from some air. In fact, outside an educational scenario I recommend fixing this lack of highs in the mix! I deliberately went for an extreme scenario to demonstrate how transparent a good dynamic EQ can sound even when doing heavy-handed boosting on the mix bus. 12 I’m using the expansive ratios of TDR Nova GE to create dynamic shelving filters at the top and bottom ends of the frequency spectrum. It’s essentially a dynamic version of the classic smile EQ. I’m using the GR Delta function to listen to what I’m adding in isolation. Hit bypass – what a massive difference! Dynamic EQ can truly make a dull mix come alive.