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• Gain-Q Couple Strength pop-up menu (Extended Parameters area): Choose the amount
of Gain-Q coupling.
• Choose “strong” to preserve most of the perceived bandwidth.
• Choose “light” or “medium” to allow some change as you raise or lower the gain.
• The asymmetric settings feature a stronger coupling for negative gain values than
for positive values, so the perceived bandwidth is more closely preserved when you
cut, rather than boost, gain.
Note: If you play back automation of the Q parameter with a different Gain-Q Couple
setting, the actual Q values will be different than when the automation was recorded.
Using the Channel EQ
The way you use the Channel EQ is obviously dependent on the audio material and what
you intend to do with it, but a useful workflow for many situations is as follows: Set the
Channel EQ to a flat response (no frequencies boosted or cut), turn on the Analyzer and
play the audio signal. Keep an eye on the graphic display to see which parts of the
frequency spectrum have frequent peaks and which parts of the spectrum stay at a low
level. Pay particular attention to sections where the signal distorts or clips. Use the graphic
display or parameter controls to adjust the frequency bands as desired.
You can reduce or eliminate unwanted frequencies, and you can raise quieter frequencies
to make them more pronounced. You can adjust the center frequencies of bands 2
through 7 to affect a specific frequency—either one you want to emphasize, such as the
root note of the music, or one you want to eliminate, such as hum or other noise. While
doing so, change the Q parameter(s) so that only a narrow range of frequencies are
affected, or widen it to alter a broad area.
Each EQ band has a different color in the graphic display. You can graphically adjust the
frequency of a band by dragging horizontally. Drag vertically to adjust the amount of
gain for the band. For bands 1 and 8, the slope values can be changed only in the
parameter area below the graphic display. Each band has a pivot point (a small circle on
the curve) at the location of the band’s frequency; you can adjust the Q or width of the
band by dragging the pivot point vertically.
You can also adjust the decibel scale of the graphic display by vertically dragging either
the left or right edge of the display, where the dB scale is shown, when the Analyzer is
not active. When the Analyzer is active, dragging the left edge adjusts the linear dB scale,
and dragging the right edge adjusts the Analyzer dB scale.
To increase the resolution of the EQ curve display in the most interesting area around
the zero line, drag the dB scale, on the left side of the graphic display, upward. Drag
downward to decrease the resolution.
116 Chapter 5 Equalizers