3 EQs 3 compressors same settings

[samsome]

i want to finally understand why i would reach over one EQ over another EQ

and why i would reach for a compressor over another compressor


can you please provide me with

3 EQs that with the same exact cut give different sound

also 3 compressors that with the same settings give different sound

Thank you

[Jackjackdaw]

This sounds like an experiment you need to do for yourself .

[Kalm]

This sounds like an experiment you need to do for yourself .

Yes you need to do it yourself,

BUT ON THE OFF CHANCE, here's my video similar to that

[soroc sosta]

The responses above are correct.
Its all about your preference, your taste in sound and tools to arrive there.
I had the same question about reverbs.
Experiment with what you have and make note of your findings
... you may discover the next "sound" that everyone is after.

Thanks to all the responses. This music journey really is a 'labor of love'

[selig]

i want to finally understand why i would reach over one EQ over another EQ

and why i would reach for a compressor over another compressor


can you please provide me with

3 EQs that with the same exact cut give different sound

also 3 compressors that with the same settings give different sound

Thank you

Almost any EQ and compressor CAN give different results with the "same settings" because the values can be interpreted differently by different developers. That's why two devices that CAN sound identical are sometimes thought to not be able to do so. The way to know is to use test software that allows you to accurately "align" the two accurately.
Even two devices emulating the same hardware can sound different until you align them properly, such as two Pultec emulations, which I've seen myself. You CAN align them but NOT by matching the settings on the front panel. But hey, this is also true with actual hardware, fwiw!

[C//AZM]

IF they all Nulled, I wouldn't want but one EQ. The idea is to have different ones. Some have different slope factors. I don't buy as many EQs as Compressors, but the ones I use, like the Selig Coloring EQ, have lots of saturation and color. Qome are precision eqs, while others are more musical like the API550s and the Neves 1073.

Take an example of the Tonelux Tilt. it basically lifts the high as it lowers the lows and vice versa. it's for overall polish and sheen as opposed to the SSL eq which is a surgical tool.
When I was young engineer, I worked exclusively on an API console which was in the leftover studio of things retired from the main room. The "good" engineers worked on the new SSL.(1985). With the API 550 EQs, it's almost impossible to get a bad sound no matter how you crank it. The SSL however, was extremely easy to screw something up. The first time I worked on the SSL, it sounded like crap...actually, I sounded like crap because I didn't know how to be subtle. SSLs are great EQs to fix problems and the APIs work more like an instrument tone knob. That's the good thing about each.

The same goes with compressors. some have very slow attacks which work well on drums etc. The dbx 160 is a great drum comp because of its slow attack. Check out the differences between optical, VCA, Variable MU and FET types of compressors. you pick them because of their characteristics, and because of their different sounds.

[chaosroyale]

I was a bit of a dick in another thread so I am gonna try to pay it back with some good advice.

At the current state-of-the-art in digital EQ and compression, all of the top players can do anything their rivals can do*. Especially for non-coloring EQs and general purpose Comps. Most of these plugins go way beyond the range of settings that their original inspirations used to, and can be used for a much wider variety of jobs.

So why not use 1 effect for everything? The answer is almost entirely about workflow.

Let's take the specific example of -say- the Synapse GEQ compared to Fabfilters Pro-Q. (Ignore the dynamic EQ part for now.)

The GEQ can make (almost) any curve the Fabfilter can, and you would not be able to hear the difference.

However, I personally found the GEQ interface to be ugly and clunky, and really hard to quickly dial in the curves I wanted (Synapse were working within the limitations of Rack Extensions, it's not really their fault). On the other hand, Pro-Q takes me literally a couple of seconds to make any curve I can think of. It also costs a lot. But the result is much faster and smoother workflow. You might find Equilibrium or Tokyo Dawn or whatever clicks with your way of working.

On the other hand, sometimes I like to have a really simple 2 or 3 knob retro type thing that just lets me add or subtract a gentle bit of sheen or bass or whatever, and that "feels" nicer when working, so I might use something like that awesome free Pultec from Ignite.

All musical tools only have one purpose in the end - do they help you get the result you want smoothly? Or do they waste your time?

So my advice is; take advantage of free trials and actually get your hands on 2 or 3 different comps, run them on your drums, bass, vocals, etc, and pay attention to which one gives you the results you wanted on which kinds of material. If you find that Comp A was easy to get a sweet drum sound, but Comp B was easy to get a sweet vocal sound, and Comp C was a confusing mess, that's your answer. Doesn't matter that they all have the same specs in theory.

Likewise EQ, actually use a few and don't think about "can I set them up the same" just see which one reacts to your input in the way you expect and feel happy with. Chances are all of them could do anything, but if it takes twice as long with a certain EQ, that's not for you.

*(Ignoring edge cases - Fabfilter has less pinch than most other EQs at the far top end of the EQ for example, and some comps limit their ballistics to a very particular style, but even this comes down to "what you can work with" in the end)

**I should add, any "coloring" will be particular to that model, and often that is what people are hearing as the "difference" between EQs or comps. Again, test them and choose the color you like.

i want to finally understand why i would reach over one EQ over another EQ

and why i would reach for a compressor over another compressor


can you please provide me with

3 EQs that with the same exact cut give different sound

also 3 compressors that with the same settings give different sound

Thank you

[WarStar]

I agree, you need to experiment your self.. but here are a couple things to think about..

Compressors:
So without talking about a compressors sound or coloring, which will take your own experimentation with the compressors you have, there a few things to take note of.

Attack:
essentially this a measurement of how quickly a compressor will react to it's input signal or sound. Many comps will have a wide range of attack times.. some very quick, low milliseconds, attack times. Quick attack times can be used to tame sharp transients, spikes in your sound like the front end of kick drum hit. However if you need impact you want some of that initial spike of a kick drum to poke through your mix so a quick attack time that also lets the initial kick drum hit come through is a very typical application of compression. So depending on what your shooting for you can either clamp down on it, ie decreasing the spike or let some of that spike through for impact. Now using a longer attack time, ie the length of time it takes before the compressor attacks the sound, is a setting often used for a more gentle compression in combination with minor adjustments of the other settings. Some comps won't have an attack setting because they have their own built-in signature attack time and curve. Many classic hardware comps are known for their built in attacks which is one reason why you hear that different comps are best used for certain situations.

Release:
Release is exactly that, the comp is releasing its attack on the input sound. The Longer the release the longer the attack will be engaged, the longer it will be compressing the sound.

Now the other settings, input, ratio, and threshold:
input settings determine how much signal is going into the comp, think of it as volume level going into your comp either up or down. Important to understand not all comps have this setting which means you have to control input via what ever device or effect goes into the comp. Now if you want to crush a sound with a compressor you'll want to turn up that input level.

Ratio is the amount you want the comp to turn down what ever it is compressing. Lower numbers mean less compressing and higher numbers mean more compression. So gentle compression compared to hard compression.

Now threshold is basically the volume level you set to activate the compressor, activating the attack essentially. Higher thresholds means the compressor will only activate at a higher volume level of the sound going into the compressor. Which means the comp won't compress until a certain volume level is reached from the sound going into the comp. Lower the threshold will mean it will take a lower level of volume going into the comp to activate it. So lower the threshold means it will take the higher volume areas of your sound, the height or amplitude of the sound wave going into the comp, to activate the comp and a higher threshold means it will take less input volume to activate the comp. And usually threshold will translate to how often the compressor will be activated, meaning if its a high threshold it will only be reacting to the highest peaks of the sound wave and lower threshold means the compressor will be activated more often than a higher threshold because it will take less volume to activate the comp. So low threshold means the comp will be reacting to lower volumes of the sound going into the comp.

Hope I'm not being to redundant. Just trying to simply the explanation.

Obviously there's alot more to this but these are the basics of compression. Now you need to think about why you might need to use a compressor and which situations make sense to use one or not. This takes practice..

[WarStar]

Now EQs...

I think EQs are fairly easy to understand. Of course some have their own "sound" but let's talk basics.

Now why do you use them and when?

Here are a few things to think about when trying to decide if an eq is needed and let me add the eq will be your most used device.

EQs are a tool to shape sound. They are essential to mixing music. It's said that you can mix a record only using eq.

The most common application is to make adjustments to the frequency spectrum of a sound so it doesn't interfere sonically with another sound. So let's say you have synth sound that's interfering with another instrument, meaning there's frequency overlap with the two different sounds. Basically they're clashing together. An EQ will help solve this. Determine what frequencies are clashing between the two sounds. Then decide which sound of the two you're going to cut frequencies on, ie the frequencies that clash. And when I say cut I mean using the EQ to lower a certain area or set of frequencies of a sound. You might need cut both sounds using an EQ to make them fit together so they're not clashing anymore.

The other most common application, maybe more common than what I already mentioned, is the use of Low Cut (aka High Pass Filter) and the High Cut (aka Low Pass Filter) Basically these filters or EQ curves apply to the very ends of the EQ spectrum. So a low cut, aka HPF, is always located at the very lowest end of the spectrum and high cut, aka LPF, at the other. These two filters are also essential to mixing music. The reason is when you look at a sound and it's sound Spectrum you cAn see where the "meat" or fundamental portion of that sound. Let's take a kick drum for example. Your kicks most important area is the low-end. But let's say there's some high end sound in kick sound that's not essential to it being heard in your mix, well you cut it out because it's not needed and it can potentially clash with another sound in that high frequency area. Now let's take a snare drum. Let's say the snare you're using has some low end that might clash with your kick drum or some other sound. The low end of the snare is not essential to that snare being heard in your mix so you cut those low frequencies out. Now this applies to both ends of the spectrum. Let's say you have a synth sound that takes up most of it's space in the mid frequency area. Well Chances are you don't need too much of the high end or low end of that synth sound so cut those out. Of course do this to taste because a little presence in those areas you cut might be needed in the mix just not at the original volume levels of the sound.

Also important to add that the extreme ends of the spectrum, 40hz and below on the low end of the spectrum and something like 18-20khz on the high end, can't be heard by the human ear so best thing to do is cut those frequencies as well.

All these eq uses will help you maintain a reasonable headroom level by reducing frequency clashes and frequencies that can't be heard by human ear. These methods will also help create impact because you've EQed all the different sounds in their own places in the frequency spectrum.

[chaosroyale]

I often hear this kind of thing repeated online but it is not true. Plenty of music requires frequencies below 40Hz, and cutting there can seriously reduce the impact of your basslines or kick drums. UK Drill, and "chopped and screwed" remixes usually have basslines hovering around sub-A to sub-D, so around 27-37 Hz. A classical recording might contain frequencies all the way down to sub-sub C (16Hz) for something like Bach's organ works.

40hz and below on the low end of the spectrum .....can't be heard by the human ear so best thing to do is cut those frequencies as well.

[WarStar]

I often hear this kind of thing repeated online but it is not true. Plenty of music requires frequencies below 40Hz, and cutting there can seriously reduce the impact of your basslines or kick drums. UK Drill, and "chopped and screwed" remixes usually have basslines hovering around sub-A to sub-D, so around 27-37 Hz. A classical recording might contain frequencies all the way down to sub-sub C (16Hz) for something like Bach's organ works.

40hz and below on the low end of the spectrum .....can't be heard by the human ear so best thing to do is cut those frequencies as well.

You're right, that's why I said "to taste" and basically said the same as you. I was just trying to simply things in terms of the basics.. but you're totally right..

[WarStar]

Now EQs...

Of course do this to taste because a little presence in those areas you cut might be needed in the mix just not at the original volume levels of the sound.

Also important to add that the extreme ends of the spectrum, 40hz and below on the low end of the spectrum and something like 18-20khz on the high end, can't be heard by the human ear so best thing to do is cut those frequencies as well.

I guess I should have mentioned that more about the sub freq too..