Equaliser design, 2 equaliser design – Sonnox Oxford EQ including GML User Manual
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2 EQUALISER DESIGN
2 Equaliser Design
Programme equalisers have expanded beyond their original use as distance correction
devices for film and vision, into highly creative tools that represent a leading part of the
sound engineer’s artistic palette. A great many EQ designs have been developed over the
years that have been attributed with qualities that lend themselves to particular uses and
sounds. The Oxford EQ plug-in is designed to be flexible enough to address as many of
these generic types as possible from a single application, by presenting a variety of types
to the user. The following pages are presented as a general explanation of many of the
factors that affect EQ performance, and to illustrate how we have addressed these issues
with the Oxford EQ plug in.
Many types of EQ exist with many differences. One of the most important areas is the
issue of control ranges and interaction. Whilst it is true that with a parametric unit with
continuous controls (ie. not quantised) any response could be obtained by matching their
curves, many of the popular EQs have control dependencies that err towards specific
application. One of the main areas where EQs differ is Gain / Q dependency. Most
analogue EQs have Gain / Q dependency as a result of the circuits used. This factor can
greatly affect the artistic style that an EQ presents by facilitating certain parameter
settings and encouraging particular uses when the unit is operated.
In the Oxford EQ plug-in we have covered this situation by providing three different styles
of EQ that take account of Gain / Q dependency as well as overall control ranges.