7.1.3 EQ

A four-band EQ you shape by dragging points on a curve. Warm up the lows, clear out mud, bring forward presence and add air to any track.

An EQ turns particular frequencies up or down: more low end, less boom, a clearer voice, a brighter top. The Lite EQ has four bands, each shown as a point on a curve. Drag a point to shape the sound, and watch the curve show exactly what you are doing.

7.1.3.1 Adding the EQ

Select the track.
Right-click the Plugin Editor and choose Add Lite Plugin ▸ EQ.
Make sure its power button is on (orange).
Play the track and drag the points on the curve (see Quick start).

See Lite effects for how the rack works.

A new EQ does nothing until you move a band. Every band starts at 0 dB, so the curve is flat and the sound is unchanged until you boost or cut something.

7.1.3.2 The four bands

Band	Starts as	Starts at	Use it for
LO	Low shelf	90 Hz, Q 0.71	Turning everything below the frequency up or down: weight, warmth, boom.
LM	Bell	450 Hz, Q 1.00	The low mids: body, or mud and boxiness.
HM	Bell	2.40 kHz, Q 1.00	The high mids: presence and clarity, or harshness.
HI	High shelf	8.00 kHz, Q 0.71	Turning everything above the frequency up or down: brightness and air.

Any band can be given a different shape (see Band shapes).

7.1.3.3 Band shapes

To change a band’s shape, right-click its point, its button (LO, LM, HM or HI) or one of its knobs. The menu starts with that band’s shapes, with the current one ticked. Choose another and the curve changes straight away.

Shape	Shown as	What it does
Bell	Bell	Boosts or cuts a range around the frequency. Q sets how wide.
Low shelf	L.Shf	Boosts or cuts everything below the frequency, like a bass control.
High shelf	H.Shf	Boosts or cuts everything above the frequency, like a treble control.
Low cut	HP	Removes everything below the frequency: rumble, handling noise, low-end build-up.
High cut	LP	Removes everything above the frequency: hiss, harsh top end, or a darker, distant sound.
Notch	Notch	Removes a narrow slice around the frequency, such as hum or a single ringing tone. Q sets how narrow.
Band pass	BP	Keeps only a range around the frequency and removes the rest, for a thin telephone or radio effect.

“Shown as” is the short name under the display. Low cut, High cut, Notch and Band pass don’t use GAIN: they always remove, so only FREQ and Q change them.

7.1.3.4 The window

Title bar: the drag dots (to move the EQ in the rack), the power button and the name. It reads OFF on the right when the power is off.
Display: frequency runs from 20 Hz on the left to 20 kHz on the right (marked 100, 1k and 10k), and boost or cut from −18 dB at the bottom to +18 dB at the top. The middle line is 0 dB, no change.
- The orange line is the overall curve: what the EQ is doing to your sound.
- The points labelled LO, LM, HM and HI are the four bands. The selected band has a larger, filled point.
- While the track plays, the shaded area behind the curve shows the sound coming out of the EQ, so you can see where its energy sits.
Under the display: the selected band and its shape on the left (for example LM · Bell), its frequency and gain on the right.
Band buttons: LO, LM, HM and HI. The selected band is highlighted.
Knobs: FREQ, GAIN and Q for the selected band.

7.1.3.5 Working with bands

Select a band: click its button, or click its point on the curve. The knobs then show that band.
Move a band: drag its point. Left and right changes the frequency; up and down boosts or cuts.
Fine-tune: use the FREQ, GAIN and Q knobs.
Switch a band off: double-click its button. The button is crossed out, the band’s point turns grey and the band stops affecting the sound. Double-click again to switch it back on. Its settings are kept.

7.1.3.6 Controls

Control	Range	What it does
FREQ	20 Hz to 20 kHz	Where the band works. For a bell or notch, the centre of the range it changes; for a shelf or cut, where it starts.
GAIN	−18 to +18 dB	How much the band boosts (up) or cuts (down). 0 dB leaves the sound unchanged. Not used by Low cut, High cut, Notch or Band pass.
Q	0.10 to 10.00	How wide the band is. For a bell, a low Q is broad and gentle and a high Q is narrow and focused. For a shelf, low cut or high cut, 0.71 gives a smooth slope; higher values make the corner sharper, with a small bump around it.

Double-click a knob to reset it to that band’s starting value.

7.1.3.7 Quick start

Play the track and listen for what you want to change: too boomy, too dull, too harsh?
Pick the band for that area (LO for bass, LM for low mids, HM for high mids, HI for treble).
Drag its point up to boost or down to cut, and left or right until it sounds right.
Adjust Q: wider for gentle tone shaping, narrower to target one problem.
Switch the power off and on to compare. If a boost made the track louder overall, remember that louder can sound “better” without being better.

Cut before you boost. Removing what is in the way often sounds more natural than boosting what you want more of, and keeps the level under control.

7.1.3.8 Good to know

Smooth sweeps. Moving the frequency while the track plays glides smoothly, with no clicks or zipper noise.
Stereo stays put. Both sides get the same EQ.
No delay. The EQ adds no latency to your track.
Off means locked. While the power is off, the points, buttons and knobs don’t respond. Turn the power on to make changes.
Knobs. Drag up or down to turn a knob, and hold Shift as you start the drag for fine steps.
Automation. Right-click a knob to automate it. Right-click a band’s point to automate its gain, or a band button to automate switching that band on and off.

7.1.3.9 Recipes

Find and remove a problem frequency

Pick LM or HM, set Q to 4–6 and GAIN to about +10 dB. Sweep the point left and right until the ringing or boxy sound is at its worst, then pull GAIN down to −3 to −6 dB.

Clearer vocal

LM: −2 to −4 dB around 250–400 Hz, Q 1–1.5, to remove mud. HM: +1 to +3 dB around 2.5–4 kHz for presence. HI: +2 dB at 8–10 kHz for air.

Kick drum

LO: +2 to +4 dB at 60–80 Hz for weight. LM: −3 dB around 300–400 Hz, Q 1.5, to remove the cardboard sound. HM: +2 dB at 3–4 kHz for the click of the beater.

Tame a harsh guitar or cymbals

HM: −2 to −4 dB somewhere between 2.5 and 5 kHz, Q 1.5–2. Sweep to find the harshest spot first.

Less boom

LO: −3 to −6 dB at 100–150 Hz. Good for acoustic guitar, piano and anything recorded close to the microphone.

Remove rumble

Change LO to Low cut and set FREQ to 60–100 Hz (up to 120 Hz on vocals). Most tracks other than kick and bass don’t need anything down there, and the mix gets cleaner.

Hum

Change LM to Notch, set Q to 8–10 and FREQ to 50 or 60 Hz, depending on where the recording was made. If the hum has higher tones too, notch those with HM.

Telephone or radio voice

Change LM to Band pass at about 1.5 kHz with Q around 1, and switch the other bands off.

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