Vintage EQ-V | A Free EQ Plugin Coming Soon
After a lot of reading, experimenting and testing, I have finally planned, designed and developed my first EQ VST3 plugin.
Compression, which mainly deals with signal amplitude, was easy to get my head around and plan, design and develop multiple plugins for the past 9 months.
But filters are another ballgame for me. It took me a while to grasp even the basic concepts. But finally I managed, and more.
The EQ is mainly aimed at vocal tone shaping because of the selected frequency bands. This allows very quick tonal adjustments, speeding up the workflow.
A Low Cut, set at 80 Hz, having 24dB per octave slope, to remove any low-frequency rumble from the recordings.
The Low Shelf is selectable between 110 Hz and 220 Hz, with plus or minus 12dB gain. Just like an analogue unit, if you push the gain too hard, it will add small harmonic distortion to the band’s signal. At these low frequencies, it will add some “warmth” to the vocal.
The Low Mid Band allows you to select between 360 Hz, 700 Hz and 1.6Khz as the band’s centre frequency. It does have a wide bandwidth, so it’s not surgical, but musical. Use it to remove some of the muddiness from the vocals. Again, if you push the gain too hard, it will introduce small harmonic saturation to the signal.
The High Mid Band has three selectable frequencies; 3.2Khz, 4.8Khz and 7.2Khz. Again, wide bandwidth to provide clarity and some brightness to the vocals. A small amount of saturation right at the end of the gain’s max level.
And finally, the High Shelf. Option between 10Khz or 12Khz to give some “air” to the vocals, or reduce harshness.
Even though most EQ units don’t have any VU metering, I took the opportunity to implement an analogue VU meter, written from scratch, including the graphics. It’s as accurate as any real analogue VU meter.
The Vintage EQ-V is not all that unique compared to many EQ plugins out there that can do a lot more. But the advantage is the speed: how quickly you can fix the tone of almost any vocal. Plus, it’s my first EQ plugin!
If interested in testing the plugin, please contact me.
