# EQ Substitutes



## José Herring (Aug 3, 2022)

I was curious as to how one could substitute EQ. I find for the most part EQ's to be rather clinical and kind of artificial sounding when boosting frequencies. So I was thinking of ways to substitute EQ to add high end, low end thinkness ect... What came to mind is using multi band saturation or Tape simulators ( I think I got this idea from Alan Myerson). Also, Soma EQ seems to be the best of both worlds. 
Anybody ever try any of this instead of EQ?


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## jcrosby (Aug 3, 2022)

All the time. Tape is great for adding sub depth. Some tube emulations add a lot of 2nd order harmonics which can add some nice subtle low mid weight. 3rd order harmonics ca be great for adding presence and high end...

Probably my favorite all-arounder is Ozone's exciter. IMO this is one of the most under appreciated and incredibly flexible tone shaping plugins around, outside of using an EQ...

If you use _Triode_ on the low mid band you can add a pretty chunky amount of low mid weight. (Horns for example...) Triode can also be nice on the sub band... _Warm_ adds 2nd order harmonics, it's more subtle, but can be nice on a sub or low mid band. The _Tape_ and _Tube_ algorithms are fantastic for adding brilliance in place of an EQ.... _Dual Triode_ can be nice for presence. Saturn's another great option... I prefer Ozone's exciter most of the time but Saturn can also be used in the same way.

The other upside to using saturators is that unlike an EQ, by adding harmonics they create 'additional' frequencies vs just boosting existing ones. It's a really useful technique.


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## José Herring (Aug 3, 2022)

jcrosby said:


> All the time. Tape is great for adding sub depth. Some tube emulations add a lot of 2nd order harmonics which can add some nice subtle low mid weight. 3rd order harmonics ca be great for adding presence and high end...
> 
> Probably my favorite all-arounder is Ozone's exciter. IMO this is one of the most under appreciated and incredibly flexible tone shaping plugins around, outside of using an EQ...
> 
> ...


Good to know thx. Luckily I'm an Ozone user so I will give it a shot. 
I've also given Chow Tape a shot and it has a lot of tone shaping ability, it's really amazing what it can do for a freebee. Next I'll give PA's Black Box Analog HG2 and try the triode settings on that. 
Again thx for the heads up on Ozone. I think people don't mention it because it's complicated. I've dedicated a bit of time to reading the manual and BOY what a difference that makes.


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## Trash Panda (Aug 3, 2022)

Here you go, Jose. This thing is wondrous and there’s honestly nothing out there that does what this does. 






Spectre | The ultimate enhancer | Audio plugin







www.wavesfactory.com





I used this on the JXL trombones regular mics and was able to coax out the beefy low end of the AMXL mics without the exaggerated top end those mics bring. Regular ol EQ couldn’t do it and multi band saturation was proving too fiddly as well.


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## Geoff Grace (Aug 3, 2022)

Slate's Fresh Air is another free exciter:









Fresh Air | Slate Digital


Get Fresh Air for FREE & give your mixes the smoothest highs you’ve ever heard. Fresh Air puts serious audio power behind a gorgeous facade. Based on vintage exciter circuits & state-of-the-art dynamics processing, Fresh Air lets you add just the right amount of brilliance & shine to your mix in...




slatedigital.com





Best,

Geoff


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## NoamL (Aug 3, 2022)

Wavesfactory Spectre - You can select a frequency range, saturate it and also boost it - but less boost is needed than an EQ, since you're adding frequencies to the mix.

Not sure about using it on the low end but I like it for adding sparkle to high freq.


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## X-Bassist (Aug 3, 2022)

José Herring said:


> I was curious as to how one could substitute EQ. I find for the most part EQ's to be rather clinical and kind of artificial sounding when boosting frequencies. So I was thinking of ways to substitute EQ to add high end, low end thinkness ect... What came to mind is using multi band saturation or Tape simulators ( I think I got this idea from Alan Myerson). Also, Soma EQ seems to be the best of both worlds.
> Anybody ever try any of this instead of EQ?


For high end boosting I like Kush Audio's Clariphonic if you haven't tried it. Adds harmonic distortion that adds clarity lie no other. 

My other suggestion is to try using dynamic EQ on Fabfilter Q3. When you set it up right it can boost frquencies in any range without being too much when those frequencies get hot. Sometimes a 3 or 4 dB boost with the dynamic balance being flat allow it to boost until it get hot, then it flattens the curve to keep it from being too much. Q3 is great for grabbing points or the dynamic threshold and moving it around the graph to hear what it's doing. I'm fixing issues in samples with it all the time.

Also you may want to try smoother/wider boosts when you boost or cut EQ. if the slope (Q) is too sharp it can sound weird to the ear. Often a wider Q will sound more pleasant.


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## timbit2006 (Aug 3, 2022)

add an eq to your compressor's sidechain


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## Geoff Grace (Aug 3, 2022)

X-Bassist said:


> For high end boosting I like Kush Audio's Clariphonic if you haven't tried it. Adds harmonic distortion that adds clarity lie no other.
> 
> My other suggestion is to try using dynamic EQ on Fabfilter Q3. When you set it up right it can boost frquencies in any range without being too much when those frequencies get hot. Sometimes a 3 or 4 dB boost with the dynamic balance being flat allow it to boost until it get hot, then it flattens the curve to keep it from being too much. Q3 is great for grabbing points or the dynamic threshold and moving it around the graph to hear what it's doing. I'm fixing issues in samples with it all the time.
> 
> Also you may want to try smoother/wider boosts when you boost or cut EQ. if the slope (Q) is too sharp it can sound weird to the ear. Often a wider Q will sound more pleasant.


I second both suggestions. Clariphonic and Q3 are great!

Best,

Geoff


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## SupremeFist (Aug 3, 2022)

Tone Projects' Kelvin is very very nice.


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## KEM (Aug 4, 2022)

Trash Panda said:


> Here you go, Jose. This thing is wondrous and there’s honestly nothing out there that does what this does.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Was just about to post this, seriously @José Herring this plugin is incredible, my mixing engineer swears by it and he was hounding me about it for weeks to get it, truly an amazing plugin, and it’s on sale right now!!


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## Geoff Grace (Aug 4, 2022)

If you’re looking at Wavesfactory, you may want to check out Trackspacer too:






Trackspacer | Create space in your mix | Audio plugin


A truly unique plugin that creates space in a mix in the most simple and elegant way. Used daily by thousands of products, musicians and mix engineers. Available in VST, VST3, AU and AAX formats.




www.wavesfactory.com





Best,

Geoff


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## re-peat (Aug 4, 2022)

José Herring said:


> I find for the most part EQ's to be rather clinical and kind of artificial sounding when boosting frequencies.



A good EQ doesn’t do that, José. If it does, and assuming you’re working with a good EQ, you’re either sending something into it that is already clinical and artificial sounding to begin with, or you’re boosting excessively. If the latter is the case, try using two EQ’s in tandem, both with more moderate settings. Often yields better-quality and more ear-pleasing results. (It’s a known limitation of a lot of digital processing that it is rarely at its best when used with extreme settings. Unless, of course, you don’t mind that type of digital sound degradation. Some people like it and even exploit it creatively.)

There are other options though. You can, for example, send your audio through *a convolution processor* — AudioThing’s excellent and recently updated Fog Convolver is a good choice — and have it adapt, to whatever degree you like, to the spectrum profile of the IR you’ve got loaded. (Convolution processing needn’t be limited to reverberation and is actually present in more non-reverb processors, such as compressors, tape simulators, equalizers, etc. than one might think.)
Fog Convolver (and I’m sure similar offerings from other developers do too) comes with plenty of hardware IR’s — mic’s, pre-amps, circuits, desks, vintage stuff, modern stuff, … — which expand your tone shaping options considerably without having to reach for a standard EQ. (It also includes tons of other IR’s, as well as reverb IR’s of course.)

WavesFactory’s *Spectre* is great, yes. (The four WavesFactory plugins all qualify for the label “Essential Tool”, in my opinion.) But Spectre is a (boost-only) EQ, be it a multiband one where you can send each of the bands separately into a saturation/distortion block. And not just any generic sort of saturation, but you have a choice between 11 high-quality saturation types. (And each band can have a different type of saturation, if you like.) And you can compensate for any unwanted level changes by de-emphasizing the process. Very good.

That said, even more powerful and a lot more versatile is FabFilter’s amazing-is-much-too-weak-a-word-for-it *Saturn 2*.

I like *Kelvin* a lot too. Something about the way it does its thing that makes everything that comes out of it sort of “fall into place”. I don’t know what it is. Difficult to describe, the Kelvin touch. I much prefer it to the Black Box, although that one is good too obviously. And what I’m talking about is very subjective anyway.

Another firm favourite is Goodhertz *Tupe*. Not in a small measure because of its crazy EQ-Emphasis combination.

__


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## Living Fossil (Aug 4, 2022)

From the preamp/saturation category I recently rediscovered Soundtoys "Little Radiator" when dealing with an Alto Sax plus a brass section. It's astonishing how good it sounds. 

Then, i think that sometimes enhancers are great tools to bring out details.
In this category, I'd mention MIA's 358 enhancer which i often use for stems (often strings); as well as the fantastic Intensity from Zynaptic. I use this one often on the master bus at a low wet setting (usually around 15% wet). But it's also great on busses (again: Strings) or even signals (like an E-Bass). 

Third, there is one specific reverb – the Sonsig Rev-A from Relab – that i like to use to highlight the high frequency content of high percussion when I don't want to boost the highs in the source (because a boost would place the source too much in the front).
The great thing about this reverb is that it has only a few parameters which makes it easy to set it up; for the described task adjusting the Brightness and Hi-Decay is quite crucial.


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## vitocorleone123 (Aug 4, 2022)

Saturn 2 multiband saturation. Kush EQs tend to be pretty soft and sweet but can be overdone like any plugin.

As I’m working with synths, I’m almost always cutting high end, not boosting.

Also, some plugin that smooths the middle ground may make the high end sparkle (again, Kush is a favorite of mine). Gregory Scott really doesn’t like the 2.5khz range so his plugins usually allow good control of that or 3khz. They also tend to not be quite as “surgical”.


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## José Herring (Aug 4, 2022)

KEM said:


> Was just about to post this, seriously @José Herring this plugin is incredible, my mixing engineer swears by it and he was hounding me about it for weeks to get it, truly an amazing plugin, and it’s on sale right now!!


Holy s&*t that's insane. It's exactly what I was looking for. Thx. 


vitocorleone123 said:


> Saturn 2 multiband saturation. Kush EQs tend to be pretty soft and sweet but can be overdone like any plugin.


Yeah, I've looked at Saturn 2 but I generally find Fabfilter to be more money than they are worth. I do have the EQ and a few other goodies though. 


vitocorleone123 said:


> As I’m working with synths, I’m almost always cutting high end, not boosting.


Yeah, but I'm probably an exclusive Low Pass filter user and I'm starting to notice that my stuff sounds a bit dull. So I'm looking to carefully add back in some saturation. Kind of like mimicing a preamp saturation but with a bit more control. Believe it or not I've been using Brainworx N channel strip on synths and giving the sound more depth and tonal control.


vitocorleone123 said:


> Also, some plugin that smooths the middle ground may make the high end sparkle (again, Kush is a favorite of mine). Gregory Scott really doesn’t like the 2.5khz range so his plugins usually allow good control of that or 3khz. They also tend to not be quite as “surgical”.


will try it out.


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## Pier (Aug 4, 2022)

Geoff Grace said:


> If you’re looking at Wavesfactory, you may want to check out Trackspacer too:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's good but a bit of a black box.

It's easy to replicate something similar with FF Pro-Q using the sidechain and the dynamic EQ. It's more work but gives you a ton of control.

Edit:

Here's a quick intro of the sidechain of Pro Q 3


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## method1 (Aug 4, 2022)

Toneboosters enhancer is really nice





ToneBoosters | Audio Plug-ins | Enhancer


Pro-grade audio software




www.toneboosters.com





Process Audio Sugar is also great but a bit pricy, worth it when it's on sale though.








Sugar - Multiband Enhancer Plugin - 30 Days Trial


Sugar is the Ultimate Multiband Enhancer. Designed by a team of award-winning engineers to offer their most useful and most essential harmonic enhancement.




process.audio


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## vitocorleone123 (Aug 4, 2022)

José Herring said:


> Holy s&*t that's insane. It's exactly what I was looking for. Thx.
> 
> Yeah, I've looked at Saturn 2 but I generally find Fabfilter to be more money than they are worth. I do have the EQ and a few other goodies though.
> 
> ...


Saturn 2 is pricey. But…. Considering what it can do and how much control it gives, it’s one of the few FF plugins to be worth the money (to me). There’s maybe only 3 or 4 FF plugins I’d recommend, and this is one of them. I deleted several one-off saturation plugins after getting Saturn 2.

I’d suggest it as a long-term demo prior to Black Friday sales.


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## Trash Panda (Aug 4, 2022)

Pier said:


> It's good but a bit of a black box.
> 
> It's easy to replicate something similar with FF Pro-Q using the sidechain and the dynamic EQ. It's more work but gives you a ton of control.
> 
> ...



I would argue that Smart EQ3 is an even better option than Trackspacer because you're able to take up to 6 tracks and have the same concept applied at three different tiers. Works even better if you set each instance to 100% dynamic.


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## Pier (Aug 4, 2022)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Saturn 2 is pricey. But…. Considering what it can do and how much control it gives, it’s one of the few FF plugins to be worth the money (to me). There’s maybe only 3 or 4 FF plugins I’d recommend, and this is one of them. I deleted several one-off saturation plugins after getting Saturn 2.
> 
> I’d suggest it as a long-term demo prior to Black Friday sales.


I also like Saturn. You can create all sorts of stuff with the multiple bands and the modulators like transient shapers and whatnot.


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## Pier (Aug 4, 2022)

Trash Panda said:


> I would argue that Smart EQ3 is an even better option than Trackspacer because you're able to take up to 6 tracks and have the same concept applied at three different tiers. Works even better if you set each instance to 100% dynamic.


Ohhh that's really cool!


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## José Herring (Aug 4, 2022)

Pier said:


> Ohhh that's really cool!



Neat tool but honestly the smarter this stuff gets the more stupid I feel. I've just finally come to grips with Dynamic EQ's.


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## SupremeFist (Aug 4, 2022)

José Herring said:


> Yeah, but I'm probably an exclusive Low Pass filter user and I'm starting to notice that my stuff sounds a bit dull. So I'm looking to carefully add back in some saturation.


Yeah I find (as someone who has also previously mixed a bit dull) that Spectre is ideal for this on channels or busses, while I think of Kelvin as more of a mixbuss thing (though it can no doubt do the first as well). Also check out PSP Saturator — has interesting tools for the upper end whereby you can boost and "smooth" simultaneously.


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## vitocorleone123 (Aug 4, 2022)

SupremeFist said:


> Yeah I find (as someone who has also previously mixed a bit dull) that Spectre is ideal for this on channels or busses, while I think of Kelvin as more of a mixbuss thing (though it can no doubt do the first as well). Also check out PSP Saturator — has interesting tools for the upper end whereby you can boost and "smooth" simultaneously.


In any selected tool when manipulating the highs (or lows), keep an eye and ear out for aliasing - especially on tools that don't include the feature or have it built in. Of course, oversampling can also cause artifacts.....

Side note - in case anyone is using high or low cuts or large boosts, I'd also suggest trying out shelves instead of bells or cuts, and/or using a more gentle slope db. Less likely to alias (just check in PluginDoctor if you've got it) and also more natural sounding overall. As with everything, "it depends"!

I don't have these 2 EQs, but it may also be worth doing demos of Kirchoff EQ and also Crave EQ if doing larger boosts in an EQ. Oversampling, etc. I wouldn't use FF ProQ3 for large boosts - I'm almost always cutting with it.


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## Trash Panda (Aug 4, 2022)

vitocorleone123 said:


> In any selected tool when manipulating the highs (or lows), keep an eye and ear out for aliasing - especially on tools that don't include the feature or have it built in. Of course, oversampling can also cause artifacts.....
> 
> Side note - in case anyone is using high or low cuts or large boosts, I'd also suggest trying out shelves instead of bells or cuts, and/or using a more gentle slope db. Less likely to alias (just check in PluginDoctor if you've got it) and also more natural sounding overall. As with everything, "it depends"!
> 
> I don't have these 2 EQs, but it may also be worth doing demos of Kirchoff EQ and also Crave EQ if doing larger boosts in an EQ. Oversampling, etc. I wouldn't use FF ProQ3 for large boosts - I'm almost always cutting with it.


I've actually moved to using EQ for cuts only and Spectre for boosts. Might not be the best approach, but it sounds good to me!


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## José Herring (Aug 4, 2022)

re-peat said:


> A good EQ doesn’t do that, José. If it does, and assuming you’re working with a good EQ, you’re either sending something into it that is already clinical and artificial sounding to begin with, or you’re boosting excessively. If the latter is the case, try using two EQ’s in tandem, both with more moderate settings. Often yields better-quality and more ear-pleasing results. (It’s a known limitation of a lot of digital processing that it is rarely at its best when used with extreme settings. Unless, of course, you don’t mind that type of digital sound degradation. Some people like it and even exploit it creatively.)



Understood. I feel I have good EQ's. I use Fab Filter mostly for orchestral stuff. What I find is that I'm probably trying to use it for the wrong reasons. In looking for alternatives I find that I was looking for a bit of saturation but to have more control over it. 


re-peat said:


> There are other options though. You can, for example, send your audio through *a convolution processor* — AudioThing’s excellent and recently updated Fog Convolver is a good choice — and have it adapt, to whatever degree you like, to the spectrum profile of the IR you’ve got loaded. (Convolution processing needn’t be limited to reverberation and is actually present in more non-reverb processors, such as compressors, tape simulators, equalizers, etc. than one might think.)
> Fog Convolver (and I’m sure similar offerings from other developers do too) comes with plenty of hardware IR’s — mic’s, pre-amps, circuits, desks, vintage stuff, modern stuff, … — which expand your tone shaping options considerably without having to reach for a standard EQ. (It also includes tons of other IR’s, as well as reverb IR’s of course.)


Never consider it. Always thought it was more snake oil having an impulse response that was emulating hardware fx. Will give it a try tonight though. I sometimes think my own bias gets in the way of actually trying things.


re-peat said:


> WavesFactory’s *Spectre* is great, yes. (The four WavesFactory plugins all qualify for the label “Essential Tool”, in my opinion.) But Spectre is a (boost-only) EQ, be it a multiband one where you can send each of the bands separately into a saturation/distortion block. And not just any generic sort of saturation, but you have a choice between 11 high-quality saturation types. (And each band can have a different type of saturation, if you like.) And you can compensate for any unwanted level changes by de-emphasizing the process. Very good.
> 
> That said, even more powerful and a lot more versatile is FabFilter’s amazing-is-much-too-weak-a-word-for-it *Saturn 2*.
> 
> ...


Oh, man I'm sorry I missed this post until now. Great suggestions. Have you tried Black Box HG2? Curious what you think.


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## KEM (Aug 4, 2022)

Trash Panda said:


> I've actually moved to using EQ for cuts only and Spectre for boosts. Might not be the best approach, but it sounds good to me!



I have as well, as has my engineer (his idea actually), you can get a much more defined and pleasing top end and the low end is more solidified doing it that way, eq cutting for cleaning and saturation boosting for definition!


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## manuhz (Aug 4, 2022)

José Herring said:


> I was curious as to how one could substitute EQ. I find for the most part EQ's to be rather clinical and kind of artificial sounding when boosting frequencies. So I was thinking of ways to substitute EQ to add high end, low end thinkness ect... What came to mind is using multi band saturation or Tape simulators ( I think I got this idea from Alan Myerson). Also, Soma EQ seems to be the best of both worlds.
> Anybody ever try any of this instead of EQ?


Dynone


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## Russell Anderson (Aug 5, 2022)

re-peat said:


> And you can compensate for any unwanted level changes by de-emphasizing the process. Very good.


Does it compensate for level change? I took de-emphasis to mean the EQ moves were then reversed in the dry signal the parallel band was added to (or I guess the parallel band could itself be subtracted after saturation)

I ended up selling Spectre, saturn and truthfully fullband saturation with EQ are all I really use. Really it's PSP Saturator that I use 80% of the time now. If I had Tupe, I'd probably use it a lot as well.

Ozone's exciter really is surprisingly good. Thanks @jcrosby for a very educational post! I didn't expect to like Ozone's tools besides the ones I bought it for but when I tried the exciter, I mentally filed it away for later... sounded really good to me, I ought to pull it out again and put it to use.

@José Herring the EQ you use does matter, as well. Two things:

- IIEQPro is the best-sounding EQ for everything non-linear-phase, but it does come with maximally linear phase without latency in the Bessell filters. Ana Peak, Bessel and Butterworth are the prizes IMO, with Legendre being a Bessel/Butterworth hybrid filter type. 

If you want extremely best good low end boosts or cuts, use IIEQPro. I guess EQuilibrium is good, too... Kirchhoff and SlickEQ is what I use for boosting high end. SlickEQ and SlickEQ M both feature band saturation or explicitly high-band and it works effectively

2) If you want to boost high sides, limit it to a few dB tops. Also, use linear phase when adjusting mid/side. You will preserve spatial relationships.


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## Russell Anderson (Aug 5, 2022)

Satin is also nice for high-end. Someone mentioned boosting the highs in the side band of a compressor, that works as does multiband compression or spectral compression with emphasis on higher transients (where transients are concerned, anyway). Part of what makes Satin so useful is the compander and emphasis filters that color the saturation, you can get all kinds of colors and nice flavors of high end. I found spectre to work well for high boosts as well.


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## AudioLoco (Aug 5, 2022)

From a Manny Marroquin interview:

"You’d take EQ over compression?

Definitely. I’d take EQ over anything. You can’t uncompress something. I can make things sound compressed using an EQ, but I can’t necessarily EQ things with a compressor. You can use a compressor as a tone shaper, sure, but you’re limited to that one tone. With EQ, you have unlimited tones.

What’s your usual approach with EQ? Are you a booster or cutter?

I’m usually not a tight Q type of guy, I’m more of a broad stroke guy. I do take things out, absolutely, but only if it bothers me. I never do it just because. I always think like what’s the primary focal point in anything, and often I don’t have to touch it, I just have to carve out space around it.

With EQ it’s about what’s _around_ the sound, what’s touching it, not the sound itself. A lot of the time you need to EQ things next to that focal point to draw attention to it, or to influence it in a certain way. That’s the art of EQing, it’s like a painting, right? Red will look different if there’s white or black around it, it will create a different perception."


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## Arbee (Aug 5, 2022)

AudioLoco said:


> With EQ it’s about what’s _around_ the sound, what’s touching it, not the sound itself. A lot of the time you need to EQ things next to that focal point to draw attention to it, or to influence it in a certain way. That’s the art of EQing, it’s like a painting, right? Red will look different if there’s white or black around it, it will create a different perception."


Sometimes I read something that hangs in the air and makes me read it again. This is one of those, thanks for sharing 👍


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## polynaeus (Aug 5, 2022)

X-Bassist said:


> For high end boosting I like Kush Audio's Clariphonic if you haven't tried it. Adds harmonic distortion that adds clarity lie no other.
> 
> My other suggestion is to try using dynamic EQ on Fabfilter Q3. When you set it up right it can boost frquencies in any range without being too much when those frequencies get hot. Sometimes a 3 or 4 dB boost with the dynamic balance being flat allow it to boost until it get hot, then it flattens the curve to keep it from being too much. Q3 is great for grabbing points or the dynamic threshold and moving it around the graph to hear what it's doing. I'm fixing issues in samples with it all the time.
> 
> Also you may want to try smoother/wider boosts when you boost or cut EQ. if the slope (Q) is too sharp it can sound weird to the ear. Often a wider Q will sound more pleasant.


YeH the Clariphonic is awesome for additive high end.

The Oxford Inflator is great too!


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## Drumdude2112 (Aug 6, 2022)

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Wavesfactory Sceptre (as already meantion’d) is fantastic and sees a lot of use but here is my ‘secret weapon’
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## Geoff Grace (Aug 7, 2022)

I thought I'd post these Dan Worrall videos for those who would like to compare Spectre and Saturn 2:





Best,

Geoff


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## Pier (Aug 7, 2022)

I know this thread is about boosting but...

I just watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The whole time I was thinking how smooth the brass and strings sounded. They are still bright but not harsh at all. At first I thought that it was a nice EQ job but then it dawned on me... this smoothness it's probably mostly the room, the reverb.

Obviously I thought this must be the sound of Abbey Road One but according to this website only Raiders was recorded there. All the other were recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage.


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## KEM (Aug 7, 2022)

Pier said:


> I know this thread is about boosting but...
> 
> I just watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The whole time I was thinking how smooth the brass and strings sounded. They are still bright but not harsh at all. At first I thought that it was a nice EQ job but then it dawned on me... this smoothness it's probably mostly the room, the reverb.
> 
> Obviously I thought this must be the sound of Abbey Road One but according to this website only Raiders was recorded there. All the other were recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage.



Saturating the room mics but keeping the close mics cleaner is a great way to get some weight and air without getting harsh!! That’s something I’ve been doing for awhile now, and I know Alan Meyerson likes to put Decapitator on his reverb sends, Spectre is really perfect for these applications


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## Living Fossil (Aug 20, 2022)

X-Bassist said:


> For high end boosting I like Kush Audio's Clariphonic if you haven't tried it. Adds harmonic distortion that adds clarity lie no other.


Late comment on this, but I was on vacation and couldn't make the screenshots sooner.

However, there is no harmonic distortion present in the Clariphonic, at least not in above -96dB
Not even, if your output is bigger than 0dB.
So, whatever is responsible for the nice sound of Clariphonic, it's not "harmonic distortion".
(I guess it's the curves of the EQ)

I've added a couple of screenshots, always with a sine wave and an EQ.
In addition to the Clariphonic (with no harmonic distortion > -96dB I've chosen some that do add harmonic content:
1) the Elysia museq (in warm mode, however with "warm" off the harmonics were a tad louder)
2) the Lindell T100
3) the Millennia NSEQ-2 (vacuum tube mode; the other one shows no harmonics)
4) The PSP E27 (with the default drive, it produces harmonics without any EQing; so there are two examples: one with the drive at minimum (-36dB) one with drive at 0dB (default).


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## AnhrithmonGelasma (Aug 20, 2022)

Living Fossil said:


> Late comment on this, but I was on vacation and couldn't make the screenshots sooner.
> 
> However, there is no harmonic distortion present in the Clariphonic, at least not in above -96dB
> Not even, if your output is bigger than 0dB.
> ...


From "the guy who helped tune the Clariphonic's filters and then modeled them for the plugin":

"the Clariphonic has some of the least amount of phase shift of any eq on the planet, and the phase shift it exhibits is purely a result of the equalization it applies.

IOW, it does *not* shift phase for the purpose of widening the image, 'exciting' the upper registers, or any other 'tricks' to increase perceived brightness.

It's an eq and nothing but an eq, albeit a very sophisticated and novel implementation. It's also one of the cleanest designs (lowest phase distortions and lowest harmonic distortions) around."









UBK Kush Audio Clariphonic = Aural Exciter? - Gearspace.com


I was just wondering how the UBK clariphonic is different from an Aural Exciter that I could buy on Ebay for \\\0. The clariphonic seems to add high fr



gearspace.com





Still, I first heard about it when Dave Pensado demonstrated using it iirc to add "energy" to a vocal recorded with an SM7B....


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## AnhrithmonGelasma (Aug 20, 2022)

AnhrithmonGelasma said:


> From "the guy who helped tune the Clariphonic's filters and then modeled them for the plugin":
> 
> "the Clariphonic has some of the least amount of phase shift of any eq on the planet, and the phase shift it exhibits is purely a result of the equalization it applies.
> 
> ...


Though listening to the sense of depth being added in this (not the Pensado video I was thinking of) I find it hard to believe it's just EQ curves:



It's also a parallel rather than serial EQ.

(I have the Acustica version in Jade2 (EQ C1), but haven't demoed Kush's own modeled version yet....)


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## JSTube (Aug 20, 2022)

José Herring said:


> I was curious as to how one could substitute EQ. I find for the most part EQ's to be rather clinical and kind of artificial sounding when boosting frequencies. So I was thinking of ways to substitute EQ to add high end, low end thinkness ect... What came to mind is using multi band saturation or Tape simulators ( I think I got this idea from Alan Myerson). Also, Soma EQ seems to be the best of both worlds.
> Anybody ever try any of this instead of EQ?


Instead of using a LPF, you can also resample audio to a lower sample rate for a similar effect.

One of Drake's producers does this, 40 Shebib.

edit: *I didn't know this "EQ substitutes" thread was going to turn into an EQ shootout.*

I'll put my +1 in for, imo -- the best digital EQ of all time -- DMG Audio's EQUILIBRIUM.


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## Living Fossil (Aug 20, 2022)

JSTube said:


> edit: *I didn't know this "EQ substitutes" thread was going to turn into an EQ shootout.*


If you read my post (carefully) you'll see that it didn't turn "into an EQ shootout" at all.
Showing that a specific EQ doesn't produce harmonic content while others do has nothing to do with the quality of these EQs.


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## JSTube (Aug 20, 2022)

Living Fossil said:


> If you read my post (carefully) you'll see that it didn't turn "into an EQ shootout" at all.
> Showing that a specific EQ doesn't produce harmonic content while others do has nothing to do with the quality of these EQs.


EQUILIBRIUM


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## MLaudio (Aug 20, 2022)

Saturation and Exciters (usually multiband) is how i often build presence with a synth or even a sub group. I generally do this rather than boosting an EQ. A few that are really good at this are Toneboosters Enhancer (which is really underrated), Ozones Exciter and Kilohearts Multipass with any of their saturation snap ins. 

That said, any multiband saturation plugin can yield results.


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## MartinH. (Aug 20, 2022)

Pier said:


> I know this thread is about boosting but...
> 
> I just watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The whole time I was thinking how smooth the brass and strings sounded. They are still bright but not harsh at all. At first I thought that it was a nice EQ job but then it dawned on me... this smoothness it's probably mostly the room, the reverb.
> 
> Obviously I thought this must be the sound of Abbey Road One but according to this website only Raiders was recorded there. All the other were recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage.


Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't John Williams often use dynamics lower than modern soundtracks commonly use? It might be that the instruments simply have a smoother timbre with less harshness when they aren't blasting at fff.



Pier said:


> I also like Saturn. You can create all sorts of stuff with the multiple bands and the modulators like transient shapers and whatnot.


Why did I never think of using it as a multiband transient shaper? Got any recommendation for a video on advanced usecases for saturn 2 by chance?


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## JSTube (Aug 20, 2022)

MartinH. said:


> Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't John Williams often use dynamics lower than modern soundtracks commonly use? It might be that the instruments simply have a smoother timbre with less harshness when they aren't blasting at fff.


5 instruments in unison at ppp will most definitely have a smoother, rounder sound than one or two parts slightly louder. I think it's a matter of the orchestration and not the room sound as someone suggested.

Lushness in many cases can just be making the sound SO ambiguous that you really can't tell what it actually is. Wagner's orchestration comes to mind.


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## Russell Anderson (Aug 20, 2022)

MartinH. said:


> Why did I never think of using it as a multiband transient shaper? Got any recommendation for a video on advanced usecases for saturn 2 by chance?


Well... closer to a multiband gate/compressor but it does work usefully sometimes. Best advanced use cases are going to be demonstrated by Dan Worrall on youtube (both his and FabFilter's channels) and explained on gearslutz/gearspace by Dan's friend bmanic who goes into some interesting details about depth tricks.


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## robgb (Aug 20, 2022)

José Herring said:


> I was curious as to how one could substitute EQ. I find for the most part EQ's to be rather clinical and kind of artificial sounding when boosting frequencies. So I was thinking of ways to substitute EQ to add high end, low end thinkness ect... What came to mind is using multi band saturation or Tape simulators ( I think I got this idea from Alan Myerson). Also, Soma EQ seems to be the best of both worlds.
> Anybody ever try any of this instead of EQ?


Just learn to use eq properly and it shouldn't be an issue.


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## José Herring (Aug 20, 2022)

robgb said:


> Just learn to use eq properly and it shouldn't be an issue.


What makes you think I don't?

Kind of a brush off presumptuous response.


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## José Herring (Aug 20, 2022)

Yes definitely Clarphonic is what I'm thinking would work. 

I did get Fog converter and that's going to work well as well. 

Thanks all for the suggestions.


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## KEM (Aug 20, 2022)

José Herring said:


> Yes definitely Clarphonic is what I'm thinking would work.
> 
> I did get Fog converter and that's going to work well as well.
> 
> Thanks all for the suggestions.



Spectre, buy Spectre!!


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## MarcusD (Aug 21, 2022)

Another way to do it, without really “sculpting” with EQ. Is to create a bus or duplicate the track. Then use HP/LP filter on the band you want emphasise to compress / saturate then blend it back in.

If you’re using Fab Filter ProQ3 only use slopes that are -6db. Anything above starts to cause slight phase issues when running the plug-in with zero latency mode, I believe. If you need steeper slopes, use linear phase mode.


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## AudioLoco (Aug 21, 2022)

MarcusD said:


> Another way to do it, without really “sculpting” with EQ. Is to create a bus or duplicate the track. Then use HP/LP filter on the band you want emphasise to compress / saturate then blend it back in.
> 
> If you’re using Fab Filter ProQ3 only use slopes that are -6db. Anything above starts to cause slight phase issues when running the plug-in with zero latency mode, I believe. If you need steeper slopes, use linear phase mode.


I would always use linear for this purpose on ProQ3.
Also with multimiced instruments. 
The problem is some processors have phase shifting stuff going on so when multi-ing an instrument like what you descirbed (which is a great technique!) it could come into play. Often it will sound good nevertheless, just to be kept in mind.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Aug 21, 2022)

José Herring said:


> What makes you think I don't?
> 
> Kind of a brush off presumptuous response.


Just a classical asshole. Nothing more or less to that I think.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Aug 22, 2022)

Don't think it has been brought up since I just now discovered it despite reading the entire thread... I think ;D









Harmonic Maximizer - Multiband Exciter and Loudness Maximizer Plugin (VST, AU, AAX)


Bring your mix, stems and masters to new life with the Harmonic Maximizer plugin. Shape your sound with a 6 band exciter and a powerful loudness maximizer.




www.audiority.com





Example

1 = Processed
2 = Raw 

Just me quickly dialing in settings. Its flexible, you have control over which frequency is targeted and how much etc. Also pretty cheap and on sale for 22 euro now.

View attachment Harmon Exc.mp3


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## KEM (Aug 22, 2022)

Lionel Schmitt said:


> Don't think it has been brought up since I just now discovered it despite reading the entire thread... I think ;D
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Audiority is a great company, they made an emulation of my favorite guitar pedal of all time (Horizon Devices Precision Drive) and they made it completely free, they could’ve charged $50 for it and I gladly would’ve paid that price, I own the real thing and it’s extremely close


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## S R Krishnan (Aug 23, 2022)

Lionel Schmitt said:


> Don't think it has been brought up since I just now discovered it despite reading the entire thread... I think ;D
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Amazing difference!


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## olvra (Aug 23, 2022)

Lionel Schmitt said:


> Example


(may I expand on it)


Lionel's Bypass 
View attachment 01-BYPASS.mp3

Lionel's Harmonic Maximizer
View attachment 02-HARMMAX.mp3

OTT
View attachment 03-OTT.mp3

Waves Aphex Aural Exciter
View attachment 04-APHEX.mp3

Soundtoys Decapitator 
View attachment 05-DECAP.mp3




BYPASS/HARMMAX, BYPASS/OTT, BYPASS/APHEX, BYPASS/DECAP
View attachment 06-OnOff.mp3


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## José Herring (Aug 23, 2022)

Lionel Schmitt said:


> Don't think it has been brought up since I just now discovered it despite reading the entire thread... I think ;D
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is really good and exactly what I was hearing in my head as far as substituting EQ.


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## method1 (Aug 23, 2022)

Harmonic Maximizer basically IS a boost only EQ with saturation. The blurred lines are getting thicke.


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## KEM (Aug 23, 2022)

method1 said:


> Harmonic Maximizer basically IS a boost only EQ with saturation. The blurred lines are getting thicke.



Sooooo… Spectre?


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## Tanarri (Aug 24, 2022)

Just curious. What is this Spectre/Saturn raving about? Do these plugins have some special harmonic profiles? Cubase has a build-in multiband saturator. It doesn't have that many saturation types, but it should be able to do the trick, to saturate a specific part of the spectrum. You can use normal EQ before or after it. Am I missing something?



SupremeFist said:


> Also check out PSP Saturator


I have both versions and I think the older MixPack2 sounds better. It also uses a fraction of CPU. MixPack2 is great overall.



MartinH. said:


> Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't John Williams often use dynamics lower than modern soundtracks commonly use? It might be that the instruments simply have a smoother timbre with less harshness when they aren't blasting at fff.


The old-school advice has always been "drop the dynamic markings down one notch and it will sound better". The semi-constant multiple F is a modern thing brass players can't physically maintain during standard concerts without losing 10 pounds a night.


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## Trash Panda (Aug 24, 2022)

Saturn 2 is “just” a really good multi-band saturation/distortion plugin. You’d have to demo it to see if it’s a big enough improvement over your other plugins from a sound or workflow perspective. 

Spectre is more unique in that it is a boost only EQ that applies the selected saturation type only to the boosted curve. There’s a video narrated by Dan Worrall on the Wavesfactory YouTube channel that explains it pretty well.


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## Russell Anderson (Aug 24, 2022)

(good) Saturation types are good and modulation/stereo control are good, Saturn has both and mostly Spectre does too, just no modulation. Which you might think isn't needed anyway, but envelope followers on drive/stereo controls are pretty saucy

Interestingly because Spectre is built on parallel eq, you can have multiple types of saturation on the same "band" in parallel and depending on your use of the de-emphasis feature you can have it either with a linear response/harmonics only or alter the phase while boosting in parallel.


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## Tanarri (Aug 26, 2022)

method1 said:


> Toneboosters enhancer is really nice
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I demoed https://www.toneboosters.com/tb_dualvcf_v1.html
The harmonic content it creates is insane, and it's just $19. Beefs the sound up without any EQing.


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## re-peat (Aug 26, 2022)

This thread should also include a drooling mention of Softube's *Overstayer M-A-S*. Exceptionally powerful, high-quality tone- and saturation-shaper, this plug-in.











_


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## AudioLoco (Aug 26, 2022)

re-peat said:


> This thread should also include a drooling mention of Softube's *Overstayer M-A-S*. Exceptionally powerful, high-quality tone- and saturation-shaper, this plug-in.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



249???

Softube are a really good company, I've got a few of their products, but these prices... man....


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## KEM (Aug 26, 2022)

Yeah that’s an absurd price for a saturation plugin, and I love Softube as well


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## Pier (Aug 26, 2022)

MartinH. said:


> Why did I never think of using it as a multiband transient shaper? Got any recommendation for a video on advanced usecases for saturn 2 by chance?


This is the video where I got the trick from:


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## MartinH. (Aug 26, 2022)

Pier said:


> This is the video where I got the trick from:



Fantastic video! Thanks so much for digging it up!


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## vitocorleone123 (Aug 26, 2022)

AudioLoco said:


> 249???
> 
> Softube are a really good company, I've got a few of their products, but these prices... man....


I'd consider $99 for that plugin. It really is good. But it wasn't THAT good to my non-professional mixing engineer ears vs. what I already have. More different than better. For example, I found it really did a nice job of preserving the stereo image (some saturation/distortion plugins seem to collapse it to some degree), but... so does Neold BigAl, as just one other that does so.

For clarity: I'm speaking of the plugin only. The hardware seems pretty impressive.




Tanarri said:


> Just curious. What is this Spectre/Saturn raving about? Do these plugins have some special harmonic profiles? Cubase has a build-in multiband saturator. It doesn't have that many saturation types, but it should be able to do the trick, to saturate a specific part of the spectrum. You can use normal EQ before or after it. Am I missing something?


Yes, you are missing something. Whether that something has value is what you'd need to discover. Saturn 2 is multiband distortion (don't forget about being able to control the slope between each band in S2) with powerful modulation capabilities. "Swiss army knife" within what it does. You can make compressors, and do all sorts of impressive things with a good UX.

If you just want to add a plugin for some saturation, there are decidedly cheaper alternatives that are just as good for that. Which I think I mentioned (e.g., TWK, BigAl, etc. etc.). And if you want harder distortion, S2 can go there, but there's better. I think S2 may be the best "one size fits all" tool out there. That is, if you're only going to get one - and only one - saturation and distortion tool it's probably the best choice.


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## re-peat (Aug 26, 2022)

KEM said:


> Yeah that’s an absurd price for a saturation plugin, and I love Softube as well



If it were just a saturation plugin, I'd agree. Even Softube would agree.

_


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## dyross (Aug 31, 2022)

re-peat said:


> If it were just a saturation plugin, I'd agree. Even Softube would agree.
> 
> _



How else do you use it?


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