Understanding how EQ works and knowing when and how to apply it to a track or full mix are key to achieving great-sounding results. Without EQ we wouldn’t be able to shape the colour of sound, which is one of the fundamental processes we use to sit tracks together in a mix. EQ is also an essential corrective tool. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to correct things like annoying resonances that stick out in a track or low-end rumble on a dialog track.

EQ plug-ins come in all shapes and sizes. Many are surgical, parametric style EQ’s, others are emulations based on legendary analogue gear with a raft of cool EQ’s sitting somewhere between. No matter what is your go-to EQ plug-in, if you don’t know how to get the most from EQ your productions will suffer.

In this roundup, we have brought together several of our reviews, as well as free EQ tips and tutorial videos produced by The Production Expert Team. We take a tour of generic EQs, surgical EQs, EQ emulations, modern dynamic EQs and EQ matching tools that have the power to capture an EQ curve from one source and apply it to another.

Surgical EQs

Parametric EQ plug-ins are often the type of EQ tool you should be reaching for if you need to get surgical in a mix. These make it quick and easy to locate and decrease troublesome resonances as well as being great tools for overall tonal balancing. Every DAW ships with at least one free parametric EQ but if you feel you’ve outgrown your stock option then consider the following tools from third-party developers

Dynamic EQs

In recent years a new breed of EQ plug-in has become ever more popular. Dynamic EQs are based around the format of parametric EQ plug-ins but include dynamic processing per band. This can sound very much like multi-band compression, but they are different. Learn how in our article Multi-Band Compression And Dynamic EQ - Do You Know The Difference? Many People Don't

Here are three hypothetical audio issues. Because they only present themselves some of the time, regular compression or EQ often don’t fix them satisfactorily. Do you use a multi-band compressor or a dynamic EQ to fix them? Which of you choose depends largely on personal preference and experience. Multi-band compression and dynamic EQ are different but there’s also an awful lot of overlap between them. We know there is a difference but may not exactly what is it?

EQ Emulations

Back in the day, EQ used to mean analogue hardware. As the audio industry went digital people still wanted access to classic hardware. Enter the plugin emulation trend, which has seen the likes of nearly every notable channel strip EQ or outboard unit recreated in plugin form. Below are several very popular emulations of analogue EQ. These are typically used for adding colour, character and vibe over what surgical parametric EQs provide. This style of plugin, like the analogue versions that came before, force users to use their ears in their EQ decision-making process.

Pitch Tracking EQ

Pitch tracking EQ can be a difficult subject to get your head around, but it is easy to understand when you get to know EQ basics. Until now EQ bands have been static, the frequency is set. For example, if you have a band set at a steep and tight cut around 300Hz you may find an occasional note or two may dip in volume throughout the performance. This sort of dipping effect can easily be heard in bass guitar tracks with steep notches applied with EQ and is exactly what pitch tracking EQ sets out to remedy. Surfer EQ2 by Sound Radix enables users to shape the tone of instruments using static EQ bands in the traditional sense, but these bands move in relation to the performance ensuring the tone you stamp on your instruments won’t work against you or any of the notes in your performances.

EQ Based On Machine Learning Algorithms

Some plug-ins claim to make better EQ choices than those of audio engineers. While we know this won’t normally be the case, we do celebrate that there are some EQ plug-ins smart enough to provide us with some helpful starting point suggestions.

EQ Matching

A typical mastering challenge is getting the tone of two different mixes to sound together and unified in an album or playlist. This can, of course, be achieved with EQ and some skill, but is there an easier way to accomplish this? There is. These days there a handful of EQs available that listen and capture the tonal profile of one song and can simply apply an exact or similar curve to other tracks in a mastering project. Smart stuff…