|
|
|
04-27-2017, 01:02 PM
|
#1
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Dynamic EQ and it's uses
Hi everyone,
I have searched and read some threads on here and also on the internet regarding the various EQ plugins available but I'm still a bit confused particularly about dynamic eq's.
I'm looking to try out some other EQ's but was wondering can a dynamic EQ be used like a standard one? Do they have the capability to be both or one or the other depending on what your eq'ing whether it be a track or instrument ect
I noticed some say it should only be used to fix problem areas and others say they use it as their main EQ unless I read in to it wrong lol
edit....I should also mention I'm looking at the TDR Slick EQ bundle which consists of slickEQ GE and slickEQ M.......would one be used as a main EQ and the other only for mastering? Pardon my newbeeness guys
Last edited by reapermusic; 04-27-2017 at 01:37 PM.
Reason: Forgot to add some more info
|
|
|
04-27-2017, 02:31 PM
|
#2
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Asheville NC
Posts: 1,335
|
I tend to use Dynamic EQ (using ReaEq and parameter modulation) for corrective mastering - pulling down a bass note that pokes out of a mix, or enhancing a kick drum that's hidden behind mud, smoothing out splashy drum overheads, etc. I've also used it to eliminate noise on a guitar track before sending it to an amp sim, for example.
Personally I don't see much reason to use dynamic EQ as your general EQ. It's more for fixing specific things, but of course there are no hard and fast rules.
Those SlickEQ plugs are great though, and can absolutely do standard EQ very well in addition to dynamic EQ.
|
|
|
04-27-2017, 03:53 PM
|
#3
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
Posts: 190
|
I guess i'm using a dynamic EQ when i feel the need to turn down some frequency area in more seemless way. And yes they can be used as a normal EQ. For general i'll just grab ReaEQ as a first choice since they're more resource friendly than any dynamic EQ i've tried. But why do you ask about dynamic EQ while looking at SlickEQ? I assume you do know about their Nova dynamic EQ right?
|
|
|
04-27-2017, 04:39 PM
|
#4
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamp Ape
I tend to use Dynamic EQ (using ReaEq and parameter modulation) for corrective mastering - pulling down a bass note that pokes out of a mix, or enhancing a kick drum that's hidden behind mud, smoothing out splashy drum overheads, etc. I've also used it to eliminate noise on a guitar track before sending it to an amp sim, for example.
Personally I don't see much reason to use dynamic EQ as your general EQ. It's more for fixing specific things, but of course there are no hard and fast rules.
Those SlickEQ plugs are great though, and can absolutely do standard EQ very well in addition to dynamic EQ.
|
Thanks for your response and examples Swamp!
Very informative
Yea I had my eye on the slick EQ's and the bundled price is really nice
|
|
|
04-27-2017, 04:50 PM
|
#5
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by crimsonmerry
I guess i'm using a dynamic EQ when i feel the need to turn down some frequency area in more seemless way. And yes they can be used as a normal EQ. For general i'll just grab ReaEQ as a first choice since they're more resource friendly than any dynamic EQ i've tried. But why do you ask about dynamic EQ while looking at SlickEQ? I assume you do know about their Nova dynamic EQ right?
|
Hi Crimson,
Thanks for your response and perspective
yes I imagine they would be resource heavy as opposed to Reaeq.
I know about Nova but the bundle price of SlickEQ is drawing me to it since you get both
|
|
|
04-27-2017, 06:47 PM
|
#6
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by crimsonmerry
I guess i'm using a dynamic EQ when i feel the need to turn down some frequency area in more seemless way. And yes they can be used as a normal EQ. For general i'll just grab ReaEQ as a first choice since they're more resource friendly than any dynamic EQ i've tried. But why do you ask about dynamic EQ while looking at SlickEQ? I assume you do know about their Nova dynamic EQ right?
|
I got a chance to actually TRY Nova, I downloaded the free version a while ago and I really like it too!
Too many cool plugins, I think I would want to get both slickEQ and Nova LOL
|
|
|
04-27-2017, 10:10 PM
|
#7
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada
Posts: 6,551
|
Dynamic EQ is mostly just a more transparent version of multiband compression - you can use it anywhere you'd do that.
- Taming woofy palm mutes on distorted guitar. Find the peak, probably around 150Hz, then set it to drop that area a few db to keep things under control.
- I use it all the time for sidechaining, i.e. from the kick to the bass, so that only the low end is ducked and not the rest of the bass tone, or with a send from the vocals over to the instrument bus, ducking out just the range the vocals need.
|
|
|
04-27-2017, 10:51 PM
|
#8
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Winnipeg Manitoba Canada
Posts: 304
|
I tell my clients that if they can't find a good de-esser for cheap, grab TDR Nova, dip a sensible bell curve into the offending frequency bandwidth, and play around with the compression settings. Dynamic EQs have a lot of really cool uses.
|
|
|
04-28-2017, 07:47 AM
|
#9
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lokasenna
Dynamic EQ is mostly just a more transparent version of multiband compression - you can use it anywhere you'd do that.
- Taming woofy palm mutes on distorted guitar. Find the peak, probably around 150Hz, then set it to drop that area a few db to keep things under control.
- I use it all the time for sidechaining, i.e. from the kick to the bass, so that only the low end is ducked and not the rest of the bass tone, or with a send from the vocals over to the instrument bus, ducking out just the range the vocals need.
|
Lokasenna,thanks for the response and for your examples as well!
In fact I would like to try what you said as I do have a track I want to practice on and it is metal with palm muting ect There are live recorded drums too so I can try
|
|
|
04-28-2017, 07:50 AM
|
#10
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by BRBWaffles
I tell my clients that if they can't find a good de-esser for cheap, grab TDR Nova, dip a sensible bell curve into the offending frequency bandwidth, and play around with the compression settings. Dynamic EQs have a lot of really cool uses.
|
Thanks BRB! Good to know Nova seems to be really nice!
Seems I'll have to do much practicing, very cool
|
|
|
04-28-2017, 08:02 AM
|
#11
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 7,271
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lokasenna
Dynamic EQ is mostly just a more transparent version of multiband compression - you can use it anywhere you'd do that.
|
When you use ReaEQ for this, are you also EQing the signal that Parameter Modulation follows? It's the only way that makes sense to me, but nobody really ever mentions it.
|
|
|
04-28-2017, 10:54 AM
|
#12
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 7,568
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashcat_lt
When you use ReaEQ for this, are you also EQing the signal that Parameter Modulation follows? It's the only way that makes sense to me, but nobody really ever mentions it.
|
+1
dynamic EQs use a band-limited sidechain for each 'compressor'. If you use the full spectrum to trigger the dynamics it will be a lot less flexible than a proper dynamic EQ.
Really situation dependent, sometimes that's fine, sometimes you need a real dynamic eq (TDR Nova is awesome for this), sometimes you need something like Surfer EQ.
Here's an example of using the audio control signal to move a filter cutoff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAhxNJxomSs
|
|
|
04-28-2017, 06:37 PM
|
#13
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada
Posts: 6,551
|
I never use parameter modulation for this; TDR Nova just makes too easy to do whatever I need. However, a basic parameter modulation setup wouldn't involve any processing of the sidechain signal - unless you want to, Reaper will just look at the overall signal level for its control value.
A dynamic EQ detects the signal similarly to how a multiband comp does it - for each dynamic band you add, it filters the signal down to just that region. The advantage is that, unlike a multiband comp, the main signal is never touched and so there are never any phase issues, etc.
Because a dynamic band is only looking at the area you specify, there's no real need to process the sidechain signal. For instance, using my kick -> bass example above:
- Put TDR Nova on the bass track
- Set one of the bands to:
- High Shelf
- 100Hz or so
- Q of... I don't know, 2?
- Click the "Threshold" button
- Set the Attack as low as it'll go
- Set the Release to... maybe 50ms? Longer will make the kick stand out more.
- Above the frequency analyzer, change "INT SC" to "EXT SC", and set the Analyzer to "SC".
- Create a send from the kick to the bass track, using channels 3+4 on the bass track.
- If you press Play, you should see (but not hear) each kick hit on Nova's analyzer.
- Adjust the EQ band's Threshold knob so that each kick ducks the level by, say, 3db.
You certainly COULD process the sidechain signal, maybe if the particular content you want to detect doesn't stand out enough. I've done it a few times so that I could have a dynamic EQ on my guitars that gets controlled by both the kick and snare - the kick in the low end and the snare in the highs. The two sidechain sends ran through some EQ just to remove the kick's click and the snare's boom.
Ended up being more effort than it was worth IMO though.
|
|
|
04-29-2017, 11:44 AM
|
#14
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 12,557
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashcat_lt
When you use ReaEQ for this, are you also EQing the signal that Parameter Modulation follows? It's the only way that makes sense to me, but nobody really ever mentions it.
|
Yep usually. Either from an earlier instance of reaeq on the same track (output set to unused track channels) or from another track.
That's the beauty of parameter modulation. You have as much control as you want over the entire triggering signal chain. You not only get dynamic eq ability but dynamic everything with any plugin.
Unless you're looking to do "character eq" with boosts instead of cuts (for unintended saturation and phasing if you're into that), ReaEQ is a great channel eq and parameter modulation turns it into a very flexible dynamic eq.
|
|
|
04-29-2017, 11:48 AM
|
#15
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 29,260
|
Melda's Dynamic EQ seems to be one of the best. Just throw it inline and go. It adds two additional handles to each band (Q and reduction/boost in addition to frequency, Q and boost/cut) so you can have regular EQ, dynamic EQ or whatever amount of both per band.
__________________
Music is what feelings sound like.
|
|
|
04-29-2017, 04:50 PM
|
#16
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lokasenna
I never use parameter modulation for this; TDR Nova just makes too easy to do whatever I need. However, a basic parameter modulation setup wouldn't involve any processing of the sidechain signal - unless you want to, Reaper will just look at the overall signal level for its control value.
A dynamic EQ detects the signal similarly to how a multiband comp does it - for each dynamic band you add, it filters the signal down to just that region. The advantage is that, unlike a multiband comp, the main signal is never touched and so there are never any phase issues, etc.
Because a dynamic band is only looking at the area you specify, there's no real need to process the sidechain signal. For instance, using my kick -> bass example above:
- Put TDR Nova on the bass track
- Set one of the bands to:
- High Shelf
- 100Hz or so
- Q of... I don't know, 2?
- Click the "Threshold" button
- Set the Attack as low as it'll go
- Set the Release to... maybe 50ms? Longer will make the kick stand out more.
- Above the frequency analyzer, change "INT SC" to "EXT SC", and set the Analyzer to "SC".
- Create a send from the kick to the bass track, using channels 3+4 on the bass track.
- If you press Play, you should see (but not hear) each kick hit on Nova's analyzer.
- Adjust the EQ band's Threshold knob so that each kick ducks the level by, say, 3db.
You certainly COULD process the sidechain signal, maybe if the particular content you want to detect doesn't stand out enough. I've done it a few times so that I could have a dynamic EQ on my guitars that gets controlled by both the kick and snare - the kick in the low end and the snare in the highs. The two sidechain sends ran through some EQ just to remove the kick's click and the snare's boom.
Ended up being more effort than it was worth IMO though.
|
Nice sharing these steps! I was trying them but I must be doing something wrong somewhere
I was still hearing the kick also the analyzer doesn't move when I have it set to "SC"
Anyway when I have some peace and quiet I'll try it again, I must be doing something wrong
|
|
|
04-29-2017, 04:57 PM
|
#17
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by karbomusic
Melda's Dynamic EQ seems to be one of the best. Just throw it inline and go. It adds two additional handles to each band (Q and reduction/boost in addition to frequency, Q and boost/cut) so you can have regular EQ, dynamic EQ or whatever amount of both per band.
|
I was also wondering about this one! Glad to hear you recommend this one too!
Might even get this along with the "GE"
version of Nova,different flavors
So far I'm really liking NOVA but I have only been messing with the parametric EQ aspect of it, I just like how it feels,I guess it's the layout or GUI...can't really say it just feels nice to me.
I'll check Melda's site again and see if there's a demo version, I don't remember
|
|
|
04-29-2017, 05:32 PM
|
#18
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada
Posts: 6,551
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by reapermusic
Nice sharing these steps! I was trying them but I must be doing something wrong somewhere
I was still hearing the kick also the analyzer doesn't move when I have it set to "SC"
Anyway when I have some peace and quiet I'll try it again, I must be doing something wrong
|
You've got the kick going to channels 1/2 on the bass - it needs to be sent to 3/4.
|
|
|
04-29-2017, 05:49 PM
|
#19
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lokasenna
You've got the kick going to channels 1/2 on the bass - it needs to be sent to 3/4.
|
Thank you Lokasenna,
I'll try it out again in a bit.
The first couple of attempts I had it sent to 1/2 and then realized I missed the 3/4 instruction. I had also corrected it by sending it to 3/4 but I still had the same result. It's def user error on my part I'm sure.
I'll give it a try later thanks man!!
|
|
|
04-29-2017, 06:38 PM
|
#20
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada
Posts: 6,551
|
Oh, maybe check Nova's I/O pins - if it was already on the track when you added the sidechain send, it might not have automatically added input pins for 3 and 4.
|
|
|
04-29-2017, 08:02 PM
|
#21
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lokasenna
Oh, maybe check Nova's I/O pins - if it was already on the track when you added the sidechain send, it might not have automatically added input pins for 3 and 4.
|
Lokasenna, can this be done on any instrument track?
I have been sending the kick to one of the guitar rhythm tracks because we don't have a bass track yet just to mess around.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get it working.
I can see the kick hits on the guitar track's analyzer and hear them as well, (they are much lower however)I also checked the i/o pins. Am I supposed to not hear the kick at all?
sorry for my inexperience and for driving you nuts with this!
It's cool I'm gonna try it again and I'll post exactly what I'm doing and what I'm clicking,thanks much!
|
|
|
04-29-2017, 09:36 PM
|
#22
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada
Posts: 6,551
|
Yes, it can be done with any combination of source/destination material.
Maybe a visual example will help:
(Sorry for embedding such a giant image; Dropbox won't play the .gif if I link it normally)
|
|
|
04-30-2017, 06:03 AM
|
#23
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New York
Posts: 73
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lokasenna
Yes, it can be done with any combination of source/destination material.
Maybe a visual example will help:
(Sorry for embedding such a giant image; Dropbox won't play the .gif if I link it normally)
|
Lokasenna,
Thank you so much for going through all that trouble to explain this to me!!
The visuals really helped a lot! Awesome
Also I should add like an idiot I had the "kick" track channel solo'd lol
All is good,thanks again for your tutorial man!!
Much appreciated
|
|
|
04-30-2017, 08:32 AM
|
#24
|
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: It changes
Posts: 1,425
|
I also sometimes use dynamic eq to tame area where pain frequencies (e.g. 1-2K) get too annoying.
I agree that TDR does a quick job on De-essing for those who like to keep things simple (also perhaps it helps those who are more visual minded).
However, I'd like to mention that TDR NOVA is somewhat CPU hungry. If you add it to many tracks you may end up with issues... This is my case, having a rather cheap laptop.
This is why I've been learning how to use ReaCOMP more effciently (there's a high pass and low pass filter sliders that can help dedicate freq area to compress). There is also automation of parameters that can focus when and how compression is added, etc.
|
|
|
04-30-2017, 08:56 AM
|
#25
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada
Posts: 6,551
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by RDBOIS
However, I'd like to mention that TDR NOVA is somewhat CPU hungry. If you add it to many tracks you may end up with issues... This is my case, having a rather cheap laptop.
|
True. If you switch it to Eco mode (one of the buttons at the top) and disable all of the bands except what you're using, it does lighten the load considerably.
Quote:
This is why I've been learning how to use ReaCOMP more effciently (there's a high pass and low pass filter sliders that can help dedicate freq area to compress).
|
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Those sliders only affect the DETECTOR - it still compresses the entire signal.
Sorry, that's just a really frustrating myth about compressors and a personal pet peeve.
|
|
|
04-30-2017, 09:34 AM
|
#26
|
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: It changes
Posts: 1,425
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lokasenna
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Those sliders only affect the DETECTOR - it still compresses the entire signal.
Sorry, that's just a really frustrating myth about compressors and a personal pet peeve.
|
Ok thanks for mentioning that. I guess I though it produced a similar outcome. Any link that explains this better?
Note: my pet peeve is when I spread peanut butter on toast, the peanut butter always creeps up to the top of the knife and gets on my fingers...
Last edited by RDBOIS; 04-30-2017 at 09:40 AM.
|
|
|
04-30-2017, 09:40 AM
|
#27
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 11,044
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by RDBOIS
Ok thanks for mentioning that. I guess I though it produced a similar outcome. Any link that explains this better?
|
Filtering the internal sidechain key can have similar results to dynamic EQ, in some simple cases, but the action is quite different.
When you use a single band compressor with a filtered internal sidechain, the compressor is still attenuating the entire frequency range when gain reduction kicks in. The internal sidechain filter only changes the signal that the compressor's detection circuit responds to.
Dynamic EQ only change the gain within the frequency range determined by the filters you set.
|
|
|
04-30-2017, 11:52 AM
|
#28
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada
Posts: 6,551
|
If you sidechained the kick to the bass with ReaComp, and then used the filter sliders to roll off everything above 200Hz, the compressor would only hear and react to the content below that in the kick signal.
However, it would still compress the ENTIRE bass track. If you had a lot of midrange fuzz to help it cut through the guitars, that fuzz would be ducked just as much as the low frequencies on each kick hit.
If the compressor were doing any significant amount of reduction, you would probably hear the bass "pumping" in and out.
Now, try the same with a multiband compressor, activating only one band and setting the crossover at 200Hz, or with a low shelf on a dynamic EQ. It would react to the kick's <200Hz content exactly the same as ReaComp BUT it would duck ONLY that range as well, leaving the midrange fuzz untouched.
In this example, you wouldn't hear the bass pumping because the compression is just clearing out some room in the low end for the meat of the kick, keeping the overall amount of lows from piling up.
|
|
|
05-15-2017, 04:31 PM
|
#29
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Kitsap County, Washington
Posts: 51
|
Does anyone have any thoughts about the Brainworx bx_dynEQ V2 Plug-in? Is it really worth the $300? Or can you get the same results with the Reaper plug-ins and some practice?
|
|
|
05-15-2017, 06:02 PM
|
#30
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 5,205
|
I demo'd it, and in my opinion, it is not worth it when tools like TDR Nova exist. Btw you can also turn ReaEQ into a dynamic EQ with parameter modulation.
Think of dynamic EQ like a softer edged multiband compressor. And you have more control over those 'edges'.
|
|
|
05-16-2017, 09:36 AM
|
#31
|
Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Finland, Kuopio
Posts: 911
|
I use reaxcomp with some heavy guitar bass booming freqs, one band active around 100-300hz
|
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:29 AM.
|