# EQ for adding high sparkle ?



## nuyo (Aug 29, 2020)

Do you have a favourite EQ plugin for adding high end to your tracks ?
(I know every EQ can do this, but every eq interacts a little bit different to the source material)
I'm talking about the stuff above 10khz.


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## vitocorleone123 (Aug 29, 2020)

Why not start free, and try out Luftikus and TDR Slick EQ?

Otherwise, I like E27. Usually, someone saying "sparkle" is after an analog EQ emulation. You can also try the beta of Big FrEQ by Empirical labs for free right now.


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## angeruroth (Aug 29, 2020)

+1 for luftikus. Awesome free plugin.
I also use the Acon plugins a lot for this kind of thing.
Most times I use both, with luftikus in the master.


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## muk (Aug 29, 2020)

Every eq can do this. However, a very useful plugin that can do what no other plugin does is the Kush Clariphonic. Used sparingly, it can open up a muffled instrument or mix. It adds just a little clarity and sheen. Very easy to use too much of it though, at which point it will sound too bright and harsh. It's one of the few plugins that I use very often and don't know any viable alternative for.


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## vitocorleone123 (Aug 29, 2020)

muk said:


> Every eq can do this. However, a very useful plugin that can do what no other plugin does is the Kush Clariphonic. Used sparingly, it can open up a muffled instrument or mix. It adds just a little clarity and sheen. Very easy to use too much of it though, at which point it will sound too bright and harsh. It's one of the few plugins that I use very often and don't know any viable alternative for.


That's the other one I was trying to think of but couldn't. Excellent suggestion.


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## storyteller (Aug 29, 2020)

NI’s Passive
Maag (or Luftikus for free alternative)
Waves RS56
I really like PSPs e27 the best though


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## JohnG (Aug 29, 2020)

maybe Manley Massive Passive?

Kind of hard to know what you're aiming for. Depending on the material, you can always use a guitar pedal -- not kidding -- sparingly on strings / brass / drums etc. to create some excitement. You can clone your original track or just do a parallel send through it. There's one called the Diamond drive in Digital Performer.

Obviously the guitar pedal thing won't work on just any kind of piece.


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## tomosane (Aug 29, 2020)

Here's a good video to illustrate why some EQs react differently than others to high frequencies, even if on the mid-to-low range they're sonically indistinguishable from FabFilter Pro-Q (say). And as noted in the video, a good free plugin to boost high-end is SlickEQ, just with the default setting or with the additional saturation setting, depending on your material


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## Marsen (Aug 29, 2020)

"For your tracks" sounds like mastering. Mixdown I use Precision EQ.
For single tracks, if you need bigger boost, without getting harsh sound, try Pultec?
I mean there are a lot of possibilties nowadays.


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## mixtur (Aug 29, 2020)

PSP E27 also has an "air-band" at 28khz, which can be engaged in the pre-amp as well as in the EQ-section. http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/equalizers/psp_e27/

Another one is Elysia Museq which has a 35K band: https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/elysia_museq.html

Maag was already mentioned, but that´s a classic. 

These are obviously above the human hearing range, but they extend the curve into the audible range which result in a very airy vibe.


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## JamieLang (Aug 29, 2020)

I'm going to point out that "HF sparkle" is nearly never EQ alone. You need saturation in combination with HF lift. Particularly if you're using a bunch of 44.1 sampled instruments. +1DB on a schepps Neve, in combination with a little offset (meaning link the input and output so it doesn't change volume) outputs drive will do more for natural sounding HF sparkle than some ProQ with a great big roller coaster looking lift. 

If you're working at single sample rate, IK's oversampling Pultec would get my money. You need a resampling EQ at single rate. But, also try Slate Digital's freebie "Revival" which acts a bit like an old tube exciter with some kind of parallel lift....it does a great job of bringing some "air" to something without making it "brighter" the way normal traditional EQ can.


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## JonS (Aug 29, 2020)

nuyo said:


> Do you have a favourite EQ plugin for adding high end to your tracks ?
> (I know every EQ can do this, but every eq interacts a little bit different to the source material)
> I'm talking about the stuff above 10khz.


Maag 4 and Maag 2 are the best for air!!


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## labornvain (Aug 29, 2020)

Eiosis Air Eq.


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## Living Fossil (Aug 29, 2020)

nuyo said:


> Do you have a favourite EQ plugin for adding high end to your tracks ?
> (I know every EQ can do this, but every eq interacts a little bit different to the source material)
> I'm talking about the stuff above 10khz.



This same question comes up regularly with always (more or less) the same usual suspects.

As for the question, there is to differentiate what you really want.

Basically, there are 3 main categories (maybe i forget another one):

1.) EQs that raise the highs without saturating. E.g. those with "Air Bands" belong to this category.

2.) EQs that saturate. This is the category with mojo EQs. To the mentioned ones you can add the IK 432, the Museq, the Lindell TE100, the Millennia NSEQ2 and some others.

The 3.) category involves phase manipulation / enhancement and similar stuff.
MIA labs Pi & Phi II belongs to this category, the SPL vitalizer, the Noveltech Vocal Enhancer etc.

And in addition to category 2.) i would add 2A for EQs that quite heavily saturate. Which sometimes is the right thing. Like Soundtoys Sie-Q or Radiator etc.


However, an interesting thing is that quite often in order to achieve a brilliant top end you have to take away some top end in lots of instruments (of course i'm not referring to an orchestral mix, but rather to an arrangement with elements of different priority).
The new NEOLD V76U73 is excellent in doing this in an organic way.


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## sostenuto (Aug 29, 2020)

JonS said:


> Maag 4 and Maag 2 are the best for air!!



Very easy to try using PA 14-day free trial. No restrictions on trial version for the 14-days.









Mäag Audio EQ4


6 bands of wonderful EQ from Mäag Audio. Add that magic “AIR” to your vocal tracks, master bus and more.




www.plugin-alliance.com


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## bill5 (Aug 29, 2020)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Why not start free, and try out Luftikus and TDR Slick EQ?


Right company, wrong product.  I suggest giving TDR Nova a try. 

And as others have stated, it may not necessarily be an EQ fix. Many things can come into play with "sparkle."


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## Dirk Ehlert (Aug 29, 2020)

My secret weapon for sparkle is Kush Audio Clariphonic. Have not met anything better yet. Use with caution though.


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## JeffvR (Aug 29, 2020)

The best is Clariphonic indeed. It's made for that purpose only.


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## jcrosby (Aug 29, 2020)

I don't use EQ for this, I use Ozone's exciter. It does an amazing job of adding high end, additional harmonics, and gives you different flavors to experiment with. Like Clariphonic is for some, Ozone's exciter has an x factor I haven't found using anything else.


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## CT (Aug 30, 2020)

"Sparkle" can mean a lot of things, but I've found that to get what I hear as "sparkle" from sampled strings, at least, I don't add anything, but I get rid of some nasty harsh stuff lurking between 2k and 5k. Seems to let the silky airy stuff through a little more. I think this works across a whole mix as well, but it's particularly useful with strings.

I don't really know anything though, so probably ignore this.


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## SupremeFist (Aug 30, 2020)

Sweet trick I learned on YouTube somewhere: if you have Logic, you can transpose the bands of the Vintage Graphic EQ up an octave and add a little at 32khz.


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## suburst (Aug 30, 2020)

+1 for Manley Massive Passive EQ, there are some Meldaproduction emulation in TurboEQ too, but not sure other than UADs, there are some Acustica Audio for Nebula 3rd partry libraries too.

AH! I remember, there is also Native Instruments Passive EQ too

Also Very famous is Maag EQ, and Eiosis,and Clariphonic

AND LASTLY, DMG Equilibrium has magical Highs! EQuick too etc And not only Highs, but anything! Highly recommend it


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 30, 2020)

Sounds like a job for an exciter rather than an EQ, but who knows.

I really like the VSL one that's included in Vienna Pro 7, but there are lots of them - in fact some if not all DAWs come with one built in.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 30, 2020)

By the way, do you young whippersnappers who are on my lawn really hear "air band" EQ?

I can hear 19K sines if they're turned up - although not all the freqs between 10K and 19K - but when I read about over 20K EQs, I can't help being skeptical.

The amount of power in those frequencies is very, very low , i.e. whatever's there is extremely quiet.

Caveat: my hearing is still very good, but humans do lose some HF over the years, presumably due to our cochlea becoming less elastic. So maybe that's why I don't hear it. But I don't think I'd have heard much when I was in my 30s either.


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## Akarin (Aug 30, 2020)

Oh yes. Soundtoys Sie-Q is awesome for adding that top sheen sparkles. It's one of the best soundgoodizer that I have. Just add +2 on the high and boom, done.


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## twincities (Aug 30, 2020)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> By the way, do you young whippersnappers who are on my lawn really hear "air band" EQ?
> 
> I can hear 19K sines if they're turned up - although not all the freqs between 10K and 19K - but when I read about over 20K EQs, I can't help being skeptical.
> 
> ...



nobody telling you they hear it is actually hearing the 28k boost. they're hearing the very loose Q that is reaching down an octave or two (or more) below it. example, a boost of 4dB at 28k on some of the EQs being mentioned may mean a 2db boost at 14k, which now, proper monitoring provided, most of us can hear. difference being doing that 28k boost vs just boosting at 14k is you now don't have a centralized peak in your audible range, you just have a 1 way really smooth curve. also unlike a shelf filter which is likely to flatten out after it's corner frequency and provide a different response. really the reesponse of these "air bands" is more similar to that of a baxandall filter, though i believe the math/circuit is approached much differently.

also just thinking out loud here (haven't run any measurements on this myself) but i believe putting your center frequency outside of the audible spectrum (and possibly above nyquist limit) will have a favorable effect on minimizing phase shift, being that the center freq of the eq is the point with the most severe shift. don't quote me on that, i need to open up the analyzer this week and check.


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## Saxer (Aug 30, 2020)

Here's another one...
https://www.stillwellaudio.com/plugins/1973-2/
But yeah, Clariphonic.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 30, 2020)

twincities said:


> nobody telling you they hear it is actually hearing the 28k boost



Right, I'm vaguely familiar with the concept of Q. 

But that is a good question, whether the filter ringing is worse/strongest at the center frequency. Probably not, thinking about it, there's just less boost at the audible freqs.

Also, linear phase EQ doesn't have the same ringing.


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## darcvision (Aug 30, 2020)

Akarin said:


> Oh yes. Soundtoys Sie-Q is awesome for adding that top sheen sparkles. It's one of the best soundgoodizer that I have. Just add +2 on the high and boom, done.


its one of my favorite EQ, and i got it free a few years ago... also this plugin add some analog noise at 20hz. i wish it has option to turn off the noise, example like plugin alliance


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## vitocorleone123 (Aug 30, 2020)

stefandy31 said:


> its one of my favorite EQ, and i got it free a few years ago... also this plugin add some analog noise at 20hz. i wish it has option to turn off the noise, example like plugin alliance


PSP E27 lets you boost 28k and control the noise as you want. It’s my favorite analog style EQ plugin. Between it, Clariphonic, and some kind of “exciter” you’d be able to have sparkle for days.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 30, 2020)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> But that is a good question, whether the filter ringing is worse/strongest at the center frequency. Probably not, thinking about it, there's just less boost at the audible freqs.



Thinking about it more, it's the corner frequencies where you get the ringing.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 30, 2020)

Akarin said:


> Oh yes. Soundtoys Sie-Q is awesome for adding that top sheen sparkles. It's one of the best soundgoodizer that I have. Just add +2 on the high and boom, done.



I like everything I've ever used by Soundtoys.

Years ago they had two plug-ins that are the only ones I really missed after giving up my Pro Tools TDM hardware system around 2004: Pitchblender and Timeblender.

They were like synths, except you run audio through them - my favorite plug-ins for when you just know you want an interesting effect without knowing what it is going in.


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## Dargin (Dec 2, 2020)

Hi, 

2 days ago I found free "Fresh Air" from Slate Digital
it looks it does what Clariphonic can, 
I wasn't able to compare them, as I don't own Clariphonic...
maybe some one who own Clariphonic could comper it to "Fresh Air" ?

regards
Jarek


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## doctoremmet (Dec 2, 2020)

vitocorleone123 said:


> PSP E27


+1


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## el-bo (Dec 2, 2020)

Perhaps have a look at the Brainworx bx_digital V3. It has a top band that reaches up to 40k, and can definitely help give that sense of air. It's a very versatile box-of-tricks:






Brainworx bx_digital V3


The latest update to this innovative Mid/Side EQ. The “Plugin of the Decade” gets a host of new features including dynamic EQ and more.




www.plugin-alliance.com





Another option to consider is careful use of an exciter. Slate Digital are currently offering 'Fresh Air', which is free for a limited time. I've not tried it, but I might:









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


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