Hey Aleksey -

I'm playing with the demo of this eq, and my ears must be fooling me, because for the vocal tweaks I'm working with today, this EQ beats my GlissEQ, UAD-1 Cambridge and Pultec...

Just one thing I want to know is: what was and is your vision when you work on creating this EQ?

Not just "ease of use/quality of sound"...because you already have that in GlissEQ and CurveEQ.

What was sparked your inspiration to work on this new concept, and what do you feel it's signature characteristic is?

(never mind what I feel it is - what is it to you?)

Very Best,
Jeff

I wanted to create something 'new' in the field of EQ'ing, something which will follow the music and will emphasize the drawn EQ curve - unlike normal EQs which EQ strictly to your specifications.  Harmonic enhancement was also my goal - this is usually important.

From my experience, what is not very good in EQs is that they tend to mask frequency ranges (i.e.  you boost 5k, and sound around 5k becomes hidden while 5k is at max and thus harsh).  Boosts sound harsh (in higher areas) or dull (in lower), so something has to be done to unmask the surrounding sound.

I've been reading the comments here with interest and have been trying the demo.  I must say that the harmonic enhancement has led, to my ears, to a very sweet sounding EQ.  Congratulations.  This EQ interests me very much and I hope you don't mind a couple of questions about some points you made above.

Can you explain why an EQ which boosts or cuts strictly to my specifications does not "follow the music"?

Can you explain a little more what you mean by "emphasising the EQ curve"?

Now, I record acoustic instruments only, and these have their own nutarally occuring overtones which define the instruments sonic character.  Have you any reservations about HarmoniEQ masking these overtones by your harmonic enhancement?  Or, alternatively, do you envisage that these naturally occuring overtones will themselves be enhanced?

I agree that many (most) EQs sound harsh when boosting in the higher areas and congratulate you again on your success in avoiding this fault.  Can you say a little more about the causes of this harshness, in your view, and what you mean by these EQs "masking frequencies".

I must say that one of my initial impressions when using HarmoniEQ, is that a lot more boost is needed to achieve a perceived change than is the case with other EQs.  Is this a conscious design feature, or a psychoacoustic effect of other features of the EQ - eg.  lack of harshness?

Thanks for any illumination you can provide.

Best regards
Dave

Mainly because there is such thing as spectral masking and equal loudness countour exist.  In most cases it is counter-productive to just add some specific gain.  You need a specific gain only during mastering it seems.  During mixing this may not sound always optimal.  This is at least how I see it.

Sorry, I can't remember the context.  Please advise.

I think these overtones will be enhanced themselves.  I do not see a way for HarmoniEQ to affect them in any wrong way, or just too strongly.

In what context I have mentioned "masking frequencies"?

As for the harshness, it may be the result of overemphasising of some specific frequencies.  For example, if you EQ vocals with much 'esses', they will likely sound harsh if you boost 'esss' frequency even more.

This is a designed feature.  It should be also said that HarmoniEQ by design has some minor 'tempo' interrelation with the music.  This usually works OK, but with some types of music material this may bring some 'nervousness'.  I may add an additional control for this in the future HarmoniEQ version.

Hi Aleksey,

The context of the terms "emaphising the EQ curve" and "masking frequencies" were taken from your reply to Jeff's original post, above.  I apologise - I should have used quotes (my highlights):

I guess my query reflects my lack of knowledge about the workings of EQs, in general, rather than about your EQ, nevertheless if you could offer some insight I would be very grateful.

Thank you for your other explanations - they have helped a lot.

Cheers!

[edit: In light of your other answers to my original questions, the above is a little clearer to me anyway - but if you had any further clarification to offer, that would be a bonus.  Cheers again].

HarmoniEQ indeed 'emphasises' EQ curve which you have drawn.  I do not want to go into deep implementation details, but EQ curve you specify in HarmoniEQ is only a part of what you will be getting since HarmoniEQ uses non-linear processing that affects filter specification.  And I believe this makes HarmoniEQ 'follow' music being processed.

The same applies to 'masking' I've tried to overcome.

Of course, in practice, results achievable with HarmoniEQ may not be as ideal as I wanted them to be.