Magic EQ

For many years now, we’ve been able to take advantage of numerous impressive ‘match EQ’ designs, with which a source signal is analysed to create a target EQ curve for application to another signal. However, the latest developments in this area are truly changing the face of EQ and how we use it. Let’s quickly run through six prime examples.

Oeksound Soothe is a dynamic notching EQ that automatically picks up resonances for effortless reduction using a depth control. A five-band sidechain EQ increases or decreases sensitivity to specific frequencies, while the difference option (Delta) lets you check what the plugin is removing.

Sonible Smart:EQ+ is an eight-band EQ plugin, the four middle bands of which employ a ‘learning’ engine to generate a detailed filter curve for resolving spectral imbalances. That process takes place in the background; all you have to do is boost or cut the four bands as much or little as you like to apply the curve.

Soundtheory Gullfoss is an automatic EQ that adjusts its own settings based on the frequency characteristics of the input signal. The user simply decides how much to suppress (Tame) the dominant frequencies and enhance (Recover) the less dominant ones.

SurferEQ 2 is the latest incarnation of Sound Radix’s ingenious pitch-tracking equaliser. Each of its seven bands can be switched to Surf mode for tracking monophonic sounds and modifying the band frequency in real time.

Newfangled Audio’s EQuivocate ‘Auditory Paragraphic EQ’ is a very transparent graphic EQ with up to 26 frequency-adjustable bands that, by default, follow the auditory Mel scale for highly musical shaping.

Finally, HoRNet Plugins’ Thirty One is a nifty three-band EQ and analyser that also incorporates an Auto EQ algorithm. The latter adjusts the band gains to move the overall frequency content towards an ‘ideal’ response.

“The latest developments are truly changing the face of EQ”