A "solo"-ing EQ?

I've been looking for an EQ that will actually "solo" the node when selected, if that makes any sense. It seems like I remember someone making such a plugin (I'd thought it was FabFilter, but I don't think their Pro-Q actually does this now that I've looked at their site again) ... in other words:

 

If looking at Logic's Channel EQ, and you were to select a band-node and raise the gain - I'm looking for something that will "solo" only what happens under that particular band-node when selected. Any ideas? Perhaps this is something that Logic "X" could implement?

You could do that with the multipressor, or with the channel EQ's low pass and hi pass.... depending on what you're trying to do: is that for an effect where you switch between different bands? To test the sound of that band while EQing something? Etc..?

Voxengo SPAN, chuck it on your master and solo the channel then in span hold down command while dragging the spectrum.

I know that the PSP Neon has this feature.

They call it frequency hunting.

DMG Audio's EQuick and EQuality have a solo function... Fabfilter's Pro-Q, too.

 

EQuick's the cheapest of the three, but it's great.

 

J.

DMG Audio's EQuick and EQuality have a solo function... Fabfilter's Pro-Q, too.

 

EQuick's the cheapest of the three, but it's great.

 

J.

 

Thanks for the adding the DMG equalizers but I'm not so sure about the Pro-Q!

 

In solo mode, you don't hear the effect of the EQ band itself, but instead you will hear the part of the frequency spectrum that is being affected by that band.

 

It seems that it can listen to the range that is selected but not to the process.

Thanks for the adding the DMG equalizers but I'm not so sure about the Pro-Q!

 

I guess I got it wrong, then...

 

...but maybe it does it in LION!

 

 

 

J.

...but maybe it does it in LION!

 

 

 

J.

 

RTFLMAO!

I saw a video recently where a mastering engineer was

in Pro Q. Check it out shortly after 4:30.

 

Melda Productions MAutoDynamic EQ has implemented this same feature in a brilliant way - you just click anywhere in the display that's not right on an EQ bell and that band region is soloed. Dragging up and down adjusts the Q. Totally intuitive and easy to zone into specific frequencies. It's a very cool EQ although there's a couple of other things that they could improve on in the interface department!

I saw a video recently where a mastering engineer was

in Pro Q. Check it out shortly after 4:30.

 

Yes but it does not listen to the process of the EQ, just the band.

 

Thanks for reminding me of the Melda Production plug-ins.

Yeah, they are an interesting company! In the case of the Melda plug, I'm glad it just listens to the band and not the process, since most of the time, I just want to hear what the track is doing before applying compensations.

Thanks, everyone! This has helped tremendously.

 

...depending on what you're trying to do: is that for an effect where you switch between different bands? To test the sound of that band while EQing something? Etc..?

 

Actually, I've been wrestling with an acoustic guitar track that was recorded using an SM-57 (not the best, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do) - and it has a bit of a boxy/nasally sound to it. I've been really struggling to narrow that frequency down - or several frequencies as I'm sure the case will be.

 

Here is where I am right now (this is EQ'd with a Channel EQ; the bass rolled off up to about 80hz, about 8db taken out around 300-400hz, and about 6db pulled out right at 1kz. No compression) ... and while it sounds passable on this recording, it still bothers me on that second 'hammer-on' in the beginning you can really get a sense of the boxy-ness. *this is for a very stripped down recording: only guitar and vocals kind of like the old "Nebraska" record, if anyone wants a reference.

 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1241400/guitars.mp3

Voxengo SPAN, chuck it on your master and solo the channel then in span hold down command while dragging the spectrum.

 

I have Span and didn't know it could do that. But when I tried it out, Span crashed Logic! Back to my "old" tools.

 

EDIT: Tried this again and it crashed two more times. Being persistent, I tried again and discovered some interesting things about this plug. For one thing, if I didn't command-drag, it didn't crash. Instead, I just command-clicked in one area which drops a circle with a dot on the display that solos that area. I could then drag the dot around to solo different areas.

 

I also found that you can adjust the Q by Option-dragging although it's a bit easier to widen the Q than to narrow it.... it's kind of "sticky" when I try make it narrower.

 

Double click the dot to turn on or off the soloed EQ zone. AND you can raise or lower the volume of the soloed area just by dragging the dot up and down.

 

Ok, so this is a great tool considering it's free!

 

I still find that the MAutodynamic's way of doing this is far more intuitive, needing no modifier keys or double-clicking to do more or less the same thing. It doesn't do as narrow a Q as Span and you can't adjust the volume of the soloed area but it pretty much gets the job done quickly.

When using a free EQ like the http://www.voxengo.com/product/span/ or the http://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-nova/ does one need to worry about sound quality? Is the plugin likely to hold the same quality standards as Logics EQ's? Also, will the developer usually mention in the documentation whether/how it colours the sound? I am looking for a good free EQ where I can solo the bands. Would using a multiband compressor/EQ (Waves C6) on multiple channels of a mix be very CPU intensive?

I believe the Brainworx and iZotope EQs do this also.

"Oh dear ... a five-year old thread?!"  "Really?"

 

Obviously, if all you [now] have to work with is "a single audio-recording file," then most-likely your only option is to "try to do the best that you can with EQ."

 

But, it would probably be most helpful – to you, and to us – if you would kindly step-back and tell us ... both "where you are coming from" on this project, and, "where you would like to go."

No problems with quality in Nova which is great, lovely GUI too and very smooth on the boosts.

Can't solo the bands on the free version but I think their GE edition has band solo, not sure but it's not free either. 

"Oh dear ... a five-year old thread?!"  "Really?"

 

Obviously, if all you [now] have to work with is "a single audio-recording file," then most-likely your only option is to "try to do the best that you can with EQ."

 

But, it would probably be most helpful – to you, and to us – if you would kindly step-back and tell us ... both "where you are coming from" on this project, and, "where you would like to go."

Yeah unfortunately I didn't notice myself till after I responded to the new post.

Hi, you can solo EQ in the free version of Tokyo Dawn's NOVA. Just select a band and hold down shift-cmd to solo. It's a nice EQ, the fully featured Gentlemen's Edition is just £50.