How and When to Use

Dynamic EQ
May 24, 2017

Learn what dynamic equalizers do, how they

work, which problems they can solve, and
how they’re different from both regular EQs
and multiband compressors.

You’ve got a problem: Sometimes, when

you go outside, you get wet.

You identify the cause: Rain, falling from the sky.

You devise a solution: Use an umbrella. Not all the

time, of course – there’s no need when the weather
is clear, and besides, you enjoy the warm sun on
your face, the breeze blowing through your hair.
And even on the days when it is raining, you might
not open the umbrella when it’s just drizzling, or if
you do, you might only use it for brief periods of
time.

You’re mixing, and you’ve got a problem:

The kick drum isn’t coming through with
enough punch.

You identify the cause: There are similar

frequencies in the bass which are masking the snap
of the kick drum beater.

You devise a solution: After trying standard

compression on the kick drum track (which just
makes things worse) and on the bass (which does
nothing to help the kick), you turn to equalization.
That doesn’t work either, since cutting a notch in the
bass to allow the snap of the kick drum to come
through more clearly affects the sound of the bass
all the time, not just when the kick is heard.

But then you plug in a dynamic equalizer. Problem

solved! Cut that same notch in the bass sound, but
use the kick drum signal as a sidechain trigger and
set extremely fast attack and release times so that
the frequency content of the bass is altered only
during the split second that the kick drum is played.
With the masking frequencies of the bass
momentarily reduced through compression,
listeners are better able to hear the kick drum.

For this kind of application – and so many others –

dynamic equalization provides a better solution than
traditional, ‘static’ EQ. Whereas regular EQ is
applied to the sound from start to finish, dynamic
EQ combines precision equalization with selective
compression/expansion and sidechain triggers,
kicking in only when the signal you’re EQing goes
above a certain threshold at the frequency you’ve
selected.

Why ‘Static’ EQ May Not Be

Enough
Just as you don’t need that umbrella all the time,
you don’t need equalization all the time. After all,
music, like the weather, changes. Songs consist of
multiple sections, each eliciting different moods and
emotions. Some sections are loud, others are soft.
Some notes are played legato, others staccato. The
drummer pulls and pushes the beat. Instrumentation
may vary, as well as the registers the instruments
play in, which in turn affects their timbre. The singer
attacks the choruses differently from the verses,
emphasizing certain words (or even certain
syllables), backing off on others. And even the most
perfectly set-up instruments, played by the most
skilled musicians, tend to produce certain notes
louder than others (a common problem with bass in
particular).

So the reason why traditional equalization alone is

sometimes not enough comes down to this: One
size does not fit all. Apply ‘regular’ EQ during
mastering, and boosting some upper midrange (say,
around 3.5 kHz) will add bite to the guitar but will
also make the vocal shrill whenever it strays into
that area. Apply some low frequency shelving at 60
Hz, and it will reduce the boom of the kick drum –
but it will also affect the fundamental of the bass
when low notes are played. Applying EQ to
individual instruments during recording or mixing
does not solve the problem, either. A good setting
for a vocalist singing softly rarely works when they
begin attacking the chorus at a louder volume.
Rolling off high frequencies to reduce the harshness
of cymbal crashes will dull their sound even when
they are tapped gently.

F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ

When to Use Dynamic EQ

In essence, a dynamic equalizer allows you to EQ
the louder parts of a track (or, more precisely, the
louder parts of a particular frequency in the track)
differently than the quieter layer just under it. Here
are some common use cases:

1. You can rein in the shrillness in a singer’s

voice when he or she begins belting out the
chorus, while still retaining vital presence
during the quieter verses.

2. Let’s say a hi-hat is too bright in a mix, but

you’re happy with the snare sound. If you try
and compress (or apply traditional
equalization to) the hats, you’ll end up also
dulling the snare sound. With a dynamic
equalizer, you can use the snare hits as a
sidechain input to the high-hat track so that
you only roll off top end whenever the snare
isn’t being hit. You can even EQ the
transient of a sound one way, and the
sustain portion a different way – scoop out
the “boxiness” of a sound without affecting
its attack at all.

3. You can tame harsh cymbal crashes when

the drummer starts getting carried away, but
leave the cymbals untouched when the
drummer is playing with a bit more restraint.

4. You can control bass guitar nodes only at

certain times and not statically throughout
the whole song.

5. You can reduce or eliminate snare or tom

resonance problems, as well as that
annoying boominess that sometimes occurs
when certain notes are played on acoustic
guitar – especially important when the
problem frequencies sit close to those of
other instruments in the arrangement.

Here’s a more detailed example of how

you can use a dynamic EQ:

Let’s say that the instruments and the lead vocal are
competing with each other for the same space in a
mix. If your dynamic EQ has a mid-sides processing
option, you can use it to carve out a spot for the
lead vocal without affecting the rest of your mix. For
example, here’s how you can do it with the F6
Floating-Band Dynamic EQ:

1. Group the instruments to a stereo buss.

2. Insert the F6 stereo component on this buss.

3. Route the lead local to the F6 Dynamic EQ

as an external sidechain.

4. In this example, we’ll use Band 4 for

processing as follows:
(a) Switch the mode to MID
(b) Switch SC SOURCE (sidechain source)
to EXT (external)
(c) Set Frequency to 1600 Hz
(d) Widen the Q to 0.6
(e) Set Range to -2.5 dB

5. Now play your audio (the instruments and

the lead vocal together). The lead vocal’s
input level is indicated on the Threshold SC
meter. The positon indicator on the
Threshold knob indicates whether Band 4’s
Threshold is above or below the lead vocal’s
input level.

6. Slowly lower the Threshold level. When

Threshold falls below the level of the lead
singer, Band 4’s compressor will begin to
attenuate only the mid channel. From there
you can continue to tweak to your liking.

Learn more about mid-side dynamic

equalization in this video with mix engineer
Brad Divens (Kanye West):

Waves F6 Dynamic EQ …

The Difference between

Dynamic EQ and Multiband
Compression
Dynamic equalizers and multiband compressors are
similar in certain key respects: both compress and
expand selectively; both process your audio in a
way that link the dynamics of a track with its
frequency spectrum.

But whereas multiband compressors use crossover

filters, which affect fairly broad frequency areas, a
dynamic EQ allows you to specify the precise
frequencies you want to boost (through expansion)
or attenuate (through compression). The F6
Floating-Band Dynamic EQ offers six such
“floating,” or fully adjustable bands, each with full
control over width (“Q”), gain, range, threshold,
attack, and release. What’s more, internal and
external sidechain inputs are provided for each
band so that the specified frequency is compressed
or expanded only when the sidechain signal
exceeds a user-defined threshold. In addition, a
unique “split/wide” mode allows you to optionally
filter the audio being used as the sidechain trigger.

All these features make dynamic equalization a

powerful and extremely flexible tool that can be
applied during mixing or mastering, as well as in live
performance. By letting you surgically zero in on
trouble spots and then treat them only when trouble
arises, a dynamic EQ can serve as the ultimate
problem solver.

( Categories: Blog

) Tags: Dynamic EQ, Equalizers, Tricks of the Mix

Related Products
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F6 Floating-Band
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Dynamic EQ

$69.99

5 Comments Sort by Top

Add a comment...

James Mwangi
Lovly plugin, working magic, solves
delicate problems without affecting the
rest of the mix.... cool
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 1y

Zvone Kukec
Surgical monster!
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 1y

Danny Holland
my first try with this plugin as give me
surprising results , im not sure if i used
it the way it was designed but just
using my ears and tweeking it solved
the problem ...
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 1y

Dom Griese
"Applying EQ to individual instruments
during recording or mixing does not
solve the problem, either."
Explain that any further pls.
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 1y

Rupert Mighty
I believe what he was getting
at was: if you apply a static
EQ you're cuttung/booting
those freqs througout the
entirety of the performance, as
opposed to only
cutting/boosting freq at a
given instance which you
decide upon.
For example say a singer gets
closer to the mic midway
through tracking an now
certain freqs are affecting the
quality of the vocal. If you
were to apply a regular EQ to
fix it, it would then possibly
degrade or produce an
ndesired result on the first half
of the performance. However,
with dyn EQ, you could tailor it
to only "kick in" during those
trouble spots.
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 3·
1y

Youssef Eder
i have no idea how this thing works, i
tried installing it throught the wave
central.. didn't appear anywhere after
installing. this is the most confusing
products i have ever tried in my life.
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 2 · 1y

Georg Henrichs
Sorry, but this is the most
confusing comment I've ever
read in my life. You should
give this plugin a try and
understand how it actually
works. It's one of the best
problem solving plugins I've
ever tried!
Like · Reply · Mark as spam · 21w

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