Hit me with the best 'color' EQs and why you love and recommend them

[Mind Riot]

I have a lot of clean EQs but I'd like to expand my palate a bit. Don't have nearly as much experience with so called 'color' EQs and I'd like to learn more about them. If you would be so kind, please indulge me with some info about your favorites and perhaps some recommendations.

I also have only recently gotten some use experience with some Neve designed EQs and I really enjoy their smoothness and forgiving nature, so if you have any faves to recommend there I'd appreciate that as well; I know there's a lot of Neve EQ emulations out there from various developers.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts gentlemen!

[robindrieghe]

if u have " a lot of " eq's i would just use some saturation before or after the eq.

[plexuss]

... because distortion is just like EQ ... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A good one to play with is Waves RS56 or Plugin Alliance TE-100 (there are other emus of this out there as well worth looking at). Also Waves Abbey Road TG12345 and REDD.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

UAD Hitsville Mastering EQ. C'est magnifique!

[Mind Riot]

if u have " a lot of " eq's i would just use some saturation before or after the eq.

A good pragmatic suggestion but less fun than the addictive satisfaction of getting to buy a new plugin.

[Mind Riot]

... because distortion is just like EQ ... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A good one to play with is Waves RS56 or Plugin Alliance TE-100 (there are other emus of this out there as well worth looking at). Also Waves Abbey Road TG12345 and REDD.

And I'm off to do some investigating!

[Mind Riot]

UAD Hitsville Mastering EQ. C'est magnifique!

I'm sure it's great, but I'm not looking to invest in the whole UAD ecosystem. Native plugs only please.

[Mind Riot]

I will say that I've been impressed with the Acustica free plugs I've gotten, so if there's some amazing EQ that won't completely take over my CPU I'd like to know about it.

I've been reading about Softube's Curve Bender and I've downloaded the demo and it seems nice, but I think I need to get to know it really well before I'll get really good results out of it. What do you guys think?

[jamcat]

... because distortion is just like EQ ... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well a “colour” EQ is just a regular EQ that adds distortion and lies about its frequency range.

[Aiynzahev]

I don't know what a color EQ is to be honest. That said I am very fond of Elysia Museq and the API 560, the one that looks like a graphic EQ.

The Elysia makes sense to me, when I do boosts and cuts I tend to get the results I expect but don't usually get doing it with a regular parametric EQ. The 560 is just tweak all the sliders and make it sound better and the result is usually more drastic on bypass than I'd expect, almost always for the better (though you want to compensate for loudness gain). Then there's the SPL EQ ranger which is basically the same thing but somehow less brutal.

The Softube Trident EQ is pretty good in this sense too, the A-range.

But for me I think the single "nicest" sounding EQ I've tried is the Vertigo one. VSE-2.

The SSL Channel Strip is certainly drastic and will push me into areas I wouldn't normally go with a paramedic. I also have to commend the SSL X-EQ for being just a really solid tool box.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

UAD Hitsville Mastering EQ. C'est magnifique!

I'm sure it's great, but I'm not looking to invest in the whole UAD ecosystem. Native plugs only please.

I mean...it is native now. If you subscribe to UA Spark. Or invest in the whole UAD ecosystem.

I was just using the native version in Reaper last night.

[AGIGA]

Lindell Audio TE-100

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/prod ... e-100.html

[jamcat]

The problem with “colour” EQ and saturation is most people use them out of context as just another effect, which comes out heavy handed and gimmicky, and ruins the production value.

Instead, try to replicate a legitimate signal path with subtle layers at different stages, and not just a big oversaturated mess tacked on to the end of your master buss.

[kritikon]

A legitimate signal path is trying to get rid of all extraneous noise, distortion and added anything. I think too many forget that when we were all hw, we spent money upgrading mixers etc not only to get more channels but to get pristine clean and noiseless ones. The golden aim was clean. And the obsession with saturation is a bit misguided too IMO. Yes, tape saturates but only when it's run hot. And generally it was run as close to hot as possible to reduce the noise floor and...make it clean. Some will have run it hot for the saturation specifically, but back in the day I simply never came across people trying to deliberately distort their precious 8 track recordings. In fact there was lots of angst and blurb when it came in comparing DAT to quality reel-to-reels, and the really good ones compared favourably to DAT. Which means...clean. Now, the internet hype is to f**k your sound up by giving it the qualities of bad tape recordings.

Same applies to Eq. Nobody bought expensive Eqs because they were dirty.
Probably about the only thing anyone deliberately bought for distortion was distortion and valves. And really, no not everyone used valves. The big buzz about digital when it came in was LACK of distortion.

[jamcat]

The aim was clean, but that was an ideal, not the reality. And people were using saturation to get “the sound” of rock ‘n’ roll since the ‘60s. Whether it was overdriving guitar amps, overcooking a vocal preamp, or slamming drums to tape.

Just don’t do too much at once. Do several subtle layers on individual tracks that are just enough to give an impression.