KIrchhoff EQ one dynamic EQ to rule them all

Critically acclaimed jazz and prog rock mixing and mastering engineer Mark Wingfield gives a parameter walkthrough and demonstrates audio examples of the Kirchhoff EQ from Three Body Technology.
Mark has mixed or mastered three Downbeat Magazine Masterpiece Albums of the Year, two JazzWise Best Releases of the Year and three All About Jazz Best Albums of the Year. Jazz albums he has mixed or mastered have received more than 300 rave reviews worldwide. Mark mixes and masters at his UK based Heron Island Studio.
If you are interested in working with Mark on your next album you can contact him here:
heronislandstudio.co.uk

[@heronislandstudio8054]

They just added look ahead which was the only possible thing I could think of that this EQ didn't have.

[@bakharandi]

Amen ! "Onset", as they call it, is giving me the "Dynamic EQ" experience of my Dreams . . . With these comprehensive professional tools , I can actually bypass the need fore a dedicated compressor, on certain projects, and get results where no one will even "hear" the compression . . . Very discrete, Jedi type movements . . . ! . . . 🙂 (-;

[@garyembar4774]

This is by far, the most comprehensive, all encompassing, clear walk through on “Kirchhoff Eq” that I’ve seen on KZbin, to-date. Unlike most other walkthroughs (hyped, biased, rudimentary and opinionated), your walkthrough right here, has done Justice; both to Kirchhoff… and to people wanting to know the plain and simple truth about Kirchhoff. Good job there and thanks!

[@heronislandstudio8054]

Cheers!

[@moritzathaher]

Thanks, this eq is a lot of fun. You gave me a clear explanation of how it works and all of its features.

[@patricioo1419]

Excellent video. Personally, I've been trying it for a few days, and I've been really impressed with its sound (as well as all its tools). I have tried 99% of the equalizers and I was always left with some bad sensation, some resonance, a very hard sound, etc., etc., they did not convince me; instead this one, love at first sight; I hope they do a discount soon!!! To me this equalizer sounds amazing and does it all, then to add "color" etc there are other tools. Finally, after years, I can close the search for an Eq. I like how it sounds. Thanks for your video.

[@heronislandstudio8054]

Thanks. These days for clean EQ I only ever use Kirchhoff. I haven't opened Pro Q3 or Eiosis since I got Kirchhoff and they were my go-to for many years. I just find Kirchhoff quicker to get what I need, it sounds great and it does more of what I need than Pro Q3 or any other clean EQ I know can.

[@arthurmee]

I agree. I finally took the plunge a few days ago and verry quickly decided that this was something special.

[@maxdof]

It is as transparent as any stock Eq and dozens of others Eqs.

[@thepanicroommastering2062]

@@maxdofSure about that ? Better doublecheck on a good System. Sweep trough the Bands and tell me what you hear compared to other „Clean Eqs“ ✌️

[@Alej_915]

Appreciate the video, I have also explored many dynamic eqs and this one was very overwhelming at first. You really helped fill in the rest for me here, you earned my sub!

[@davidcamarda9973]

Excellent vid. Found this by searching 'kirkhoff dynmamic eq'. I've enjoyed your other vids so I knew I was going to get an experienced, real world review of the features I was looking for. Very exciting. Thank you for putting this together.

[@ThreeBodyTechnology]

Thank you so much for the amazing review!

[@francismcfadden3305]

God I told myself I wouldn't buy another eq after pro q 3... I can't help myself though. This thing is INSANE. As someone who is constantly dealing with locals that have done a real bad job at DIY recording this thing is a game changer for that ever so slight but necessary boost of tweakability.

[@heronislandstudio8054]

Yes it the best EQ I've seen for fixing problems. I've fixed problems with this that no other EQ I've ever seen could possibly do. And other problems that would normally take two or three other EQs to fix.

[@bakharandi]

@@heronislandstudio8054 This is definitely the EQ that I have been waiting for. The Eiosis Air Premium was able to give me Bass spread and definition like no other before and could get my mix in the ballpark. But This EQ can finish the job, and give me the full balanced mix and master of my Dreams.I I recently got it , and am diving in. I really appreciate your very detailed videos. I'd also really like to understand the "Free" bar functions better, as well. Your videos are always spot on and inspiring. Many Thanks. (-;

[@heronislandstudio8054]

@@bakharandi Cheers!

[@photicsonar]

Thanks for this wonderful tip! Instant buy!!

[@heronislandstudio8054]

Glad it was helpful.

[@carl_47]

All ready subscribed , thank for your didactic content. Really helpful.

[@murraywebster1228]

Nice one Mark!

[@MrTunes333]

While this EQ is certainty very good, the one thing that is so fantastic in ProQ is how little cpu it takes up. My reading in Reaper shows that Pro EQ is on 00.1% with 4 eq bands and 0.02% with a dynamic band on. With Kirchhoff I had the EQ bands at 0.02% and with one dynamic on it was 0.04%. Also the Kirchhoff jumps up about 0.04% when changing the bands while the Pro Q is much more consistent when changing its bands. Now, these differences are very small and Kirchhoff still proves to be very CPU efficient, but if you plan on using these on most of your tracks than this difference can add up in large projects.

[@davidcamarda9973]

This is actually good to know, as I have been using this for all eq chores on the fly without realizing I could be more cpu efficient by making another choice.

[@entity9588]

The mix mode in this EQ was actually innovated by CraveDSP's CraveEQ. Their's is called "Transparent Mode". It also has minimum phase low frequencies and linear phase high frequencies.

[@ezrashanti]

Other way around I'd think.

[@francismcfadden3305]

@@ezrashanti No they're right. Linear phase causes preringing when eqing low frequencies.

[@MR_Cellarpop]

Thanks, gonna test this.

[@4low395]

amazing....

[@virtuoskommunizieren]

Agree in every point you mention. Really an outstanding Eq 👍

[@AuteriaWWinzerJr]

The filter type that is missing from Kirchhoff is the All-Pass Filter. I am surprised that has not been implemented.

[@robtherub]

This is a joke yes? Sorry i am not clever

[@compoundaudio]

wow ... so its proq3 and more .. going to defo check this out ... great video

[@heronislandstudio8054]

Cheers!

[@compoundaudio]

@@heronislandstudio8054 already bought it.. Used it for a few hours while mastering and just noticed how great it sounds Less phase. Less smear and lovely character colour from the other analog emulation in drop down menu..

[@DerickHoward]

No, it’s missing the frequency collision detection.

[@marceloribeirosimoes8959]

WOW, what more can we say about that Dynamic EQ plugin? Great! Hope for a huge sale...

[@Rhythmattica]

Noice insight! Subbed

[@heronislandstudio8054]

Cheers!

[@lawinter1949]

2 perfect world features that are missing that I have seen in other eq plugins are global tuning knob for in case you change the key of the track or song mid mixing, and a pitch follow/dynamic frequency follow. Again these are perfect world type features but it would be cool if this eq had them. 😬

[@ucproductions1491]

Really incredible eq! Unfortunally the peak level from Cubase was to high and the encoding conversion from KZbin introduced a lot of distorsion into the track listening.

[@heronislandstudio8054]

Apologies for any distortion.The level was -1 dbFS (true peak) so that should not distort. Perhaps it's my video editing program that is causing disotortion.

[@ucproductions1491]

@@heronislandstudio8054 maybe you were too low with the voice and you got 2/3db boost from KZbin and lately limited in the track listening parts. You can try to increase the voice loudness to match the track listening volume. Anyway, I bought the eq, I really love it! I hope those guys will get more success, they really made a masterpiece plugin.

[@Shane-zo4mg]

Yes

[@Mrbambony]

Just to say TDR Nova GE has had Detect settings for years as you describe. However Kirchoff does look like amazingly powerful tool

[@theweaz9975]

Yeah this eq is it .. FabFilter 4 has to top.. it if not ....

[@robtherub]

Wowzerz

[@arktikism]

Best EQ out there🔥

[@kromanoidx]

25:10 Isn't "Relative" affecting only the bell at 1.4kHz?

[@randyranson84]

Plugin Alliance has a BX Style Creator Mastering app that they refuse to sell, and yet everyone wants it, I'd like to see a comparison between the Kirchhoff EQ and the BX Style Creator if possible.

[@denismmoulin]

Great, now how do you fix the piano tuning 😂?

[@DerickHoward]

If it just had a frequency collision detection it would be ultimate but that is why I chose pro-q instead..

[@oinkooink]

Imagine if The Beatles never had this plugin!

[@haflamorocco]

They will sound like crap

[@nichttuntun3364]

Hey Mark, you are really raving about this one. Feature set is something between Q3, Equilibrium, BigFreQ and Crave EQ. Really great. But what's about sound? You didn't show or say much about the actual sound quality. Most digital EQ dull out material when cutting and especially Q3 can't handle low frequency transient content (smears it) and additionally does sound nasty in the high frequency spectrum. As amazing the feature set is, what do you say, how true is this EQ to the original audio signal concerning stereo field, depths positioning and preserving transient energy? After all that's the most important thing for an EQ imo after all. How lively does it act when used on more tracks cumulatively? I'm so disappointed by so many EQ plugins in that regard. Thank you in advance. PS. I demoed the Kirchhoff and I'm not at all pleased about how it handles low content transients energy. Even in highest settings it's just clouding the transients and adds boxiness. Yes the features are fantastic and it's a good problem solver. But I compared with Frequency 2 which comes with Cubase 11. This one can have multiple internal and external SC routings per band. And also different EQ algo per band as well as attack, radio and release. Up-and downward compression, SM and start positions, also per Band. The only thing which it is stripped down are the numbers of given curve shapes. It's limited to bell, shelves and notches and that's it. Hopefully they add more in future updates. But coming with the DAW, it's extremely usable and good.

[@heronislandstudio8054]

I was thinking of doing a video demonstrating it on drums. When you say it's clouding transients I haven't noticed that. Is this using as a static EQ or dynamic? Which phase mode are you using? If it's in dynamic how are you setting the transient detection control? Are you compressing or expanding?

[@nichttuntun3364]

@@heronislandstudio8054 I just used it around an hour or so. I used all modes and with and without 2x and high precision activated. The best "transparent" results I made with the mixed mode for the low end. To test its trueness for the bottom end I used bells with various Q. But even with only 1 or 2 dB of boost it does something too much. I also used low shelf with various Q and chased bass frequencies with the HPF. If used in dynamic mode it is less obvious and that works quite well, especially as a trouble solver. And that's where it shines as mainly cutting with it sounds quite good. It doesn't add air around the filters like the MDWEQ6 but it's far less dulling out material as other EQ. In fact I think it's really good at this. Currently the only 2 plugins I know which are true to original transient- and tonal energy - when boosting - are P42 (only shelf boosts without saturation used for comparison) and MDWEQ6. I would have bought the Kirchhoff EQ without any second thought if it would be at least somewhere in that region in that discipline, but it's far away here imo.

[@heronislandstudio8054]

​@@nichttuntun3364 I often think if EQs in two categories, problem fixer and enhancer. P42 I think of as an enhancer. With an enhancing EQ I'm looking for punch, tone and texture. The P42 is great for that. For fixing problems usually I use clean dynamic EQs. I'll use them in static mode if I don't need the dynamics, but I like to have dynamic ability there if I decide I need it. For this kind of work I used to use Pro Q3, F6, McDSP 4000, and others because each had something the others didn't. Kirchhoff EQ has everything all of those have and more. The more I use it, the better I realise it is. I've managed to do things with it I'd never get close to with any other dynamic EQ. I've fixed problems which would have been impossible even with a combination of other plugins. So for problem fixing, for me Kirchhoff is second to none. But I almost never use clean EQs for boosting or enhancement, I almost always go to analog emulations for that. That's where I love the P42.

[@ABC1MCE2]

@@heronislandstudio8054 What is and who makes P42? I want to try it now.

[@Baphometrix]

@@ABC1MCE2 P42 Climax Line Amp (by Pulsar Modular) Don't let the "line amp" part of the name fool you. This is far more than a simple line amp saturator. It's in a class of its own for saturation and EQ enhancement.

[@BenedictRoffMarsh]

I tried Kirchoff EQ just as it launched and while in some ways I found it rather interesting, has a real workflow character, it was also a bit scruffy in a few things that worried me. I have seen an update that seems to indicate work done on those things. In the meantime tho, a couple of reviews I did with Kilohearts netted me NFRs for their whole range. Slice EQ doesn't have Dynamic functionality but in Reason (or their Multipass) these sorts of things are not so hard to do. Curve EQ is just a different feel altogether. If I hadn't scored all of that, I would have tried this again. Thanks for the walkthrough :-)

[@kawinsomen]

Pro Q4 is on the way

[@DavidKfilmmaker]

And twice as much. At least

[@TheReal_E.IRIZARRY]

How does SplitEQ acquiesce to Kirchhoff EQ or does Kirchhoff [Law] EQ acquiesce to SplitEQ?

[@francismcfadden3305]

As far as I understand they are totally different. Kirtchoff doesn't seperate the transients from the sustain. That's totally unique to split eq. I own split eq. It's definitely cool but it needs an update imo. The cpu useage is to extreme. It can also creates noticeable artifacts but if you're conservative with the settings it's fine. I've never tried kirtchoff but damn it looks cool. If I didn't have pro q 3 or it was cheaper, I'd pick it up in a heartbeat. Edit: nahhhh I'm buyin it lmao. It's features are just to insane. If you had to get split EQ or Kirchhoff I'd go with Kirchhoff. Split EQ is unique but I'd say it's use case is more specific where as Kirchhoff is a work horse to replace all other eqs that don't do a specific niche thing and adds it's own specific niche things as well.

[@TheReal_E.IRIZARRY]

@@francismcfadden3305 Excellent f##kin' answer. Bravo! :)

[@georgezorbas6422]

does it have match eq...if not I will be very disappointed!! Everyone now works with match eq.. I wish it hassssssss

[@francismcfadden3305]

Just use a different eq to eq match. The other features on this thing destroy other eqs. It'd be a silly reason to pass it up. Also it looks like from what other people are saying that they update it alot and add new features so I'm sure they'll get to that.

[@georgezorbas6422]

@@francismcfadden3305 😊 thanks

[@bluematrix5001]

If the Dynamic section of this EQ has the audio quality of the EQ dynamics of Tokyo Dawn Nova EQ I am sold! it is light in CPU?

[@jackc8120]

The vst3 is not light at all, heavy in ableton but the vst is i am not sure why that is

[@bakharandi]

The audio quality is definitely as good as the Nova EQ. Kirchhoff also boasts "Extreme CPU Optimization", and they are not joking around. It does incredible things , very quickly and smoothly, without any hiccups. I actually started shopping around and found this gem, because I was having cpu usage issues with 2 of my other EQs . . . KIrchhoff for the Win ! (-;

[@bakharandi]

@@jackc8120 Hmmn . . . I have encountered that issue with other plugins,, where their VST2 version was fine, but the VST3 version was different. Yet, the Kirchhoff EQ works amzingly well on my system, either way.

[@jackc8120]

@@bakharandi Try this and you'll see that KIrchhoff EQ VST3 is poorly written. Load 100 instances of VST2 on a track and note the CPU usage and then delete them and load 100 instances of VST3 and you'll see it's gonna consume significantly more CPU.

[@bakharandi]

@@jackc8120 I will trust you on that. Yet the simple fact that 100 instances can even be open at the same time is, in itself leaps and bounds beyond what I was dealing with , with other dynamic EQs . . . I don't know how much a PACE subscription has to do with it all . . . Well , I do know know that they add quite a drag to operations . . . Mais but . . . The whole reason why I went shopping for for a 3rd party dynamic eq, was because Samplitude's recently added "Dynamic EQ" would freeze and crash the program, if you opened more than One instance . . . They have improved it greatly, but I would now rarely use it anyway . . . It's nice, but it is more of a Character EQ . . . So, the Infinity EQ was a big improvement, but that one also doesn't like when you have more that one or two instances open , (well at at least with the iLok PACE subscription) . . . So, with the Kirchhoff EQ, I am Celebrating , much more than complaining . . . Yet, I do appreciate Your feedback . . . What's also encouraging is how quickly the developers of the Kirchhoff EQ seem to respond to requests and feedback . . . People . . . Heron Island Studios got them to improve and add some things already . . . I also saw on the forums how quickly they improved their Demo format, after just a few suggestions . . . So, maybe they will read Your comments , and look into the whole VST3 thing, as You have noted. Cheers ! (-;

[@iam-music]

Nice vid. It just needs a transient/body split added (ie spliteq) and I would buy it.

[@JohanDoornenbal]

I think in fact it has a similar function: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j37bZoyFrr-ehrs

[@Crossfire2003]

Great video. Great EQ. But I did not see the matching EQ feature. If the Kirchhoff EQ does not have that, then FabFilter's Pro-Q3 is still the better choice between the two.

[@foxytv4896]

It's a nice EQ for sure, but the quality is very 'normal' to my ears, meaning not better than the stock (still good) Cubase Eq, and sure below the quality of the Weiss MP EQ - which is less expensive (but I hate the Weiss GUI). My judgement goes by cutting out resonances in guitar-amp-sim tracks, where you always have these nasty resonances. No better material out there to judge an eq when it comes to surgical but musical eq-ing. Ah, it would have been too good (regarding all other features of the kirchhoff)...

[@jackc8120]

They are approaching all youtube channels to advertise it this is the reason why you see it so much of it. They offered my studio team $1000 to review but we declined it, so they gave us all free compies to keep. It's definitely not as somooth as fab eq3.

[@heronislandstudio8054]

I didn't get paid to do this video. They did give me the plugin. I actually find it smoother to use than Fab filter but but obviously that's subjective.

[@bakharandi]

I actually demoed the Infinity EQ and the Fab Pro Q3 at the same time, and I chose the infinity EQ over the Q3. Then I tried the Kirchhoff EQ , and I am Hooked on it, and will use it as one of my main EQs, for Life. ! I just really , really enjoy working with the Kirchhoff EQ !

[@tk-zh3dd]

ORLY