Linear phase vs minimum phase EQ for mastering? | Mastering Explained

When should you use linear phase EQ or minimum phase EQ? What are the differences in sound? Does pre-ringing matter? That's what this video is about!
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[@matrixate]

Brilliantly done my friend. I tend to use it on multi mic recordings, more often on the higher frequencies. I don't use it on lower frequencies. For years, I followed the advice of others to use on the master but I usually tend to use it on the upper frequency band because it does have a more transparent sound. Most of those changes are small but broad.

[@MasteringExplained]

👍 Thanks for sharing! /Thomas

[@michaeltablet8577]

Thank you so much! I always look forward to your videos! So helpful!

[@MasteringExplained]

You’re welcome! And thank you, that’s really nice to hear! /Thomas

[@ertugrullgul]

Lets say we master a stereo track and not using any parallel processing. Assuming (and believing) we can't understand phase shifts over a stereo file and also we know linear phase can cause audible pre-ringing at lower frequencies with high q and gain values, is there any point of using a linear phase eq? Theoretically there should be a phase difference between the channels if we process L&R or M/S channels seperately, but in my scenario I'm talking about only stereo processing and I know modern digital eq plugins can process L&R channels exactly the same, so there shouldn't be any difference in phase coherence. I can say that because I tried an all pass filter (as we know it only affects the phase response) with a stereo file and couldn't hear any difference. Also I'm curious about the same thing between minimum phase and natural phase eqs. Why should I prefer one over another if we can't perceive phase shifts in a single stereo file? Additionaly I think phase shifts shouldn't be so noticable at high frequencies near the nyquist and also I realized a little pre-ring in natural phase eq's at high frequencies in plugin doctor's IR analyzer. I think it shouldn't be noticable too but I still wonder is it worth it to choose it over a standard minimum phase eq? Thanks for the video by the way.

[@MasteringExplained]

That's a great question! It's actually quite simple to make all-pass filters audible by stacking a couple of them within a narrow frequency range at the right place. Enough phase shift will at some point become audible. If you follow the filter with some non-linear process, then the effect might be even larger. This can be quite useful at times. :) /Thomas

[@HuttyTheKid]

This is the best video on this

[@compoundaudio]

Thank you, as always, It's a real pleasure watching your videos :)

[@MasteringExplained]

Thanks! Glad you like them! :) /Thomas

[@briancase6180]

Great video, and it's unique in the KZbin realm. One question that you might address: some EQs have an explicit choice between linear and minimum. Are there EQs that make that choice "automatically" based on the frequency, Q, and frequency? Are there EQs that are only one or the other? What do we do then?

[@MasteringExplained]

Good question! I'm not aware of any EQ that does this automatically. Lots of EQs are min phase only, and some are lin phase only. I'd just use two EQs in series and do whatever sounds best in each kind in that case. Minimum phase will always work, so that would be my choice if I had to choose one or the other. /Thomas

[@ericzang]

Crave EQ in Transparent mode automatically adjusts the phase based on frequency and q.

[@briancase6180]

@@ericzang Thanks for the pointer; I did not know about this feature. I'll check it out.

[@suniso370]

I’m watching the later phase discussion video just now, and I saw your comment in the screenshot, Kirchoff eq has mixed phase mode which automatically switches between linear and minimum modes.

[@eranddroory9987]

Great channel. Just subbed.. Thanks 😃

[@logancasper9909]

This is great info, thanks so much!

[@MR_Cellarpop]

Welcome back Mastering Explained, i have missed you :). Thanks for a new great video. So what do you recomand using when doing hi-pass and low-pass in mastering, natural or linear phase or is it just a taste thing?.

[@MasteringExplained]

Thanks! :) It's a taste thing. For high-pass I mainly use minimum phase, but for first-order filters (6 dB/oct) the audible difference is usually quite small. /Thomas

[@kadiummusic]

The ironic thing is that although pre-ringing can make sounds seem "unnatural" we actually spend most of our time equing sounds with the actual intention of making them sound unnatural! Processed drum are not natural, processed vocals are not natural. So at the end of the day it is ALL about what we like and what we don't like. 😎

[@facubozzi7395]

🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@nesjeu882]

Your content is overly helpful 🙏🏼

[@MasteringExplained]

Happy to hear that! /Thomas