Instruments and Effects

86 Chapter 5 EQ
The Q parameter of band 1 and band 8 has no effect when the slope is set to 6 dB/
Oct. When the Q parameter of bands 3 through 6 is set to an extremely high value
(such as 100), these filters only affect a very narrow frequency band, and can be used
as notch filters.
 Link button: Activates Gain-Q coupling, which automatically adjusts the Q
(bandwidth) when you raise or lower the gain on any EQ band, to preserve the
perceived bandwidth of the bell curve.
Setting Gain-Q Couple to strong preserves the perceived bandwidth almost entirely,
while light and medium settings 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
than when you 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.
 Analyzer Mode pop-up menu (extended parameter): Choose Peak or RMS.
 Analyzer Decay slider and field (extended parameter): Adjust the decay rate (in dB per
second) of the Analyzer curve (peak decay in Peak mode or an averaged decay in
RMS mode).
 Gain-Q Couple Strength pop-up menu (extended parameter): Choose the amount of
Gain-Q coupling.
Using the Channel EQ
How you use the Channel EQ depends on your audio and what you intend to do, but a
useful workflow for many situations is as follows: with the Channel EQ set to a flat
response (no frequencies boosted or cut), turn on the Analyzer and play the audio,
observing the graphic display to see which parts of the frequency spectrum have
frequent peaks and which stay at a low level. Notice particularly any places where the
signal distorts or clips. Then, using the graphic display or the Parameter controls, adjust
the frequency bands as desired to obtain the sound you want.
You can attenuate those frequencies that experience clipping to reduce or eliminate
the distortion, and raise the quiet areas to make them sound more pronounced. You
can adjust the center frequency for 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), and narrow the Q so that only a narrow
range of frequencies are affected, or widen it to alter a broad area.