Your Favorite Mastering Eqs in 2014

[Turello]

@electro: maybe because not everyone can afford an UAD Card???

[AC222]

I used Pro-Q for mastering before I got Equilibrium; it is still worthy.

I picked up IK's EQ 432 in the sale, along with those gorgeous Neve emulations. The 432 is phenomenal.

I recently got Mellowmuse's EQ3V, which has some nice qualities, but I miss that it doesn't have a mid/side mode.

SlickEQ GE is also worthy of consideration; it is certainly one of the most flexible EQs out there.

If I could only pick one clean and one character for mastering, it'd be Equilibrium and the 432.

Awesome. Thanks for the post. Would you describe Mellowmuse EQ3V as a Neve sounding eq that is suitable for mastering with extra bands and fully parametric? Interesting concept but I wouldn't have thought of something as colored as a Neve for mastering.

By the way, thanks for the heads up. I contacted Gary and he got back to me. He said he's reissuing the installers for the Vintage Series so I guess something was up with the installers not working.

Cheers,

AC

[AC222]

Hi Everyone,

Curious to know what your favorite mastering eqs are in 2014. I'm thinking of adding to the collection. My favorite by far is Nice Eq by Cdsoundmaster. However, that is for broad strokes and I only use it for boosting highs. The cpu hit is enormous on that but it sounds fantastic for boosting. I also have MD3 but I don't find the eq section to the most convenient, having to change back and forth between bell and shelf filters and going through different menus all the time.

Would love to see your list and any comments on why you like them. I hear the IK Sontec emulation and the Elysia MuseEq are pretty sweet. Any thoughts on these or other recommendations?

Hm the Museq is very wide sounding very clean eq but i guess is not for every master sometimes sounds way too gentle.The Sontec for me doesn't sounds good on everything..If u use Nebula there are plenty of eqs the Analog in the box Massive Passive for example.

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. By the way, how do you use that Mammoth EQ program? I'm still learning more how to use these passive eqs effectively. I have had good luck with adding presence by boosting vocals at 3k with the Cooltec (Pultec eq) but on the master bus, unless I'm using the whole boost/attenuate trick I end up muddying up my mix. Any particular frequencies you boost or attenuate with the passive eq?

[AC222]

I didn't get as good a deal as AC222 but I've got a few thing laying around (including the passive tube from NI) and I think the IK is great. Frankly I don't "master" very much but for around 70 or 80 usd it has something you can't put your finger on. It's clear and clean and you pretty much know what freqs you want to boost/cut anyways. I like to pull down around 400, boost the air and maybe boost the lows a little. Nothing major, I also don't really "know" what I'm doing other than just listening to take out a bit of the box.

Hey, that's exactly how I was using it! And why I bought. Basically, I almost always end up cutting somewhere between 250 and 450, depending on the track and usually around 400. When I sweep, I can often hear some kind of boxiness that can be done without. I might also sweep another band or two at the higher frequencies to remove any excess ringing or unwanted frequencies. This IK beauty is just perfect for that. I mean that could be done obviously with a parametric eq but for the master bus I think you'd want something high resolution or maybe minimum phase for best results.

But at the end of the day, I just find it more inspiring to see all the bands up there and just grab the ones I want or do a quick sweep through where I can see exactly where all the values there. When you do all that work on individual tracks with a digital eq, for me it's just more inspiring to use this with the optimal layout and nice GUI on the stereo bus to finish off the mix. Plus, I am getting faster results this way.

It's amazing how universally loved DMG Equilibrium and Equality are. Same for Fab Filter's Pro Q. Never owned either as I am currently happy with my eqs but great to hear so many are more than satisfied with these.

By the way, I am going to go off on a tangent but for boosting highs, I am still in love with CDsoundmaster's NiceEq based on the Millennia NSEQ-2. For those that don't know the Millenia is known for pristine highs and it's ability to add "air" to the mix with changing the balance. Kind of in the same vein as the Sontec (probably a bit silkier).

Anyhow, I don't find this NiceEq to be the most flexible. I really only use for boosting an individual band (usually around 10k kind of like the fixed 10k on the Sontec shelf) but for $60 it's a one trick pony but boy does this sound great. What sets this apart is that it is an acqua vst plugin that utilizes Nebula technology but has a real GUI. A lot of mastering guys are saying that it is indistinguishable from the hardware, just a bit less flexible due to fewer controls.

http://cdsoundmaster.com/site/NICE-EQ-ACQUA.html

Michael Angel is generous to offer a free limited version of the tube version with limited bands. I much prefer the solid state as it is a lot more transparent but I love the whole plugin package.

Going off on a rant here but I'm using some of those Nebula libraries less and less these days (the compressors aren't particular useful because they don't respond how you expect) and aside from a few of the coloring programs (Gemini Neve 1073, AlexB SSL 9k console, Cupwise 33609 tone), I find the workflow to get in the way since loading libraries in a sampler is much slower and more awkward than pulling up a vst plugin (not to mention the massive cpu hit).

Therefore, I'm finding that out of the Nebula-related stuff, the NiceEQ and Ampex Collection acqua vst are two of my workhorses as I find working with a vst that loads instantly and has a nice GUI a lot more efficient and inspiring even with the added latency and cpu hit. Maybe one day all of these Nebula libraries will be ported over to acqua vsts

[Doug1978]

A few years old, but still up there with the best.

Precise and easy to use (but not a character EQ).
The M/S features, plus the bass and presence EQ shift features are excellent.

[Mace404]

I really like the sound of NI's(/Softube) Passive EQ on master.

[hibidy]

^^^
it's not bad at all, but considering the price you might want to treat yourself to trying the IK 432. I found a more fluid/cleaner sound and w/o the weird inverted 16/27k pots.

[AC222]

A few years old, but still up there with the best.

Precise and easy to use (but not a character EQ).
The M/S features, plus the bass and presence EQ shift features are excellent.

I really LOVE the filters on the bx digital. They are so much smoother than almost all the other eqs I have tried. I don't know if they are custom curves or something but they just sounded the most natural of any the ones I've tried.

I have to admit though I am a bit intimidated by all the controls. I wish there were better/more tutorials on m/s processing that explains why, where, and when you want to use all those extra controls.

By the way, I really like the GUI on that NI/Softube Massive Passive. It looks really sweet.

[sonicpowa]

DMG EQuality with linear phase.

[djscorb]

I rarely use the Linear phase modes in the DMG EQs. Digital Mode with compensation works for me 99% of the time.

Dave also did a lot of work for Brainworx including the bx-DynEQ so I wouldn't be surprised if the DMG filters are an improvement over the Brainworx ones, especially when you consider that Equilibrium was a culmination of a lot of his previous work.

Cheers

Scorb

[meloco_go]

Don't get the distinction.
In analog mastering gear is different from tracking/mixing because it is stereo (which may bump the price because the components must be matched) and has detented knobs for recall. In digital these demands are fullfilled by default.
So any EQ with the sound/ergonomics one likes can be used for any task.
As for me I mostly use Slick GE and ReaEQ. Sometimes I go for Nebula and PSP ones I own for a different flavor.

[djscorb]

Hey meloco_go

I'm totally with you on that.

The IK master EQ has "detented controls" and fixed frequencies which is full retard if you ask me.

The fixed frequency values don't even reflect musical notes. Want to boost or reduce middle A a touch in mastering? Well tough s**t because you can only choose 400, 420, 450 or 500 hz. Stoopid or what?!

I actually intend to build a sontec 250 "clone" or BP Net EQ at some point but will be ensuring I change the frequencies to musically useful values, especially in the low to midrange.

There's little point in copying the hardware's limitations in software and I think people buying lots of different software EQs (even if only at $60 a pop) would be better served getting a modern flexible EQ such as Pro-Q or DMG Equilibrium etc.

Cheers

Scorb

[sonicpowa]

I rarely use the Linear phase modes in the DMG EQs. Digital Mode with compensation works for me 99% of the time.

Yep.. I´m also using Digital Mode but for that 1% job (mastering) in Linear Phase Mode.

[Mace404]

^^^
it's not bad at all, but considering the price you might want to treat yourself to trying the IK 432. I found a more fluid/cleaner sound and w/o the weird inverted 16/27k pots.

What do you mean with the inverted 16/27k pots? Couldn't find anything related to that.

[djscorb]

I rarely use the Linear phase modes in the DMG EQs. Digital Mode with compensation works for me 99% of the time.

Yep.. I´m also using Digital Mode but for that 1% job (mastering) in Linear Phase Mode.

Fair enough

I almost never use linear phase in mastering except for parallel processing. All analog hardware mastering EQs are obviously minimum phase (including the Sontec on which the IK 432 Master EQ is based).

Whatever works well for you is all good though

Cheers

Scorb