Newfangled Audio Equivocate Like You've Never Seen Before (special trick)

[@patrickalphenaar]

Its a nice concept!. Once i build a masterbuss chain that 100% followed pink noise. And whatever you did it couldn’t exceed pink noise curve and dynamically reduced all frequencies above pinknoise. All mixes had near perfect pink noise curves. so all sounded very warm and smooth but i lost the feel of “Music” itself………. So now i am mixing in the best interest of music itself again😊 cheers

[@MonstarMk3]

I agree with you. On paper, the pink noise trick is perfect. But you heard the exact same thing I did as do others. it kills any mojo. For now, the current state of "match eq", the best thing, is to use a match eq, and a mastering eq. Then use the match eq as a reference for the mastering eq. Then eq the song using the match as a reference.

[@GloveBunniesVideos]

Results don't lie! Very interesting, thanks so much.

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

You got it, it’s a fun plugin and trick to experiment with.

[@g.o.9513]

Wow, it's so subtle... damn.. that's what mastering is? Wow.

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

I’m planning to show another use case where it’s a lot more noticeable. This mix was already complete, and since it was my own version of the mix, I knew it wouldn’t be stuck down. Next I want to showcase the technique with a few pro mixes already mastered just to show how well it works.

[@g.o.9513]

@@thinkinsidethebox411 please reply with the link to video, thanks.

[@meddub6722]

Thanks a lot. Tried it and found it very useful. Keep up the good work.

[@Mixedbyjojo355]

Ozone match eq is better at this! Load the pink noise preset, then learn the curve of your music! Preferred at points where most of the elemnts are playing, usually chorus! Wait till it stabilizes and hit match! Now here comes the simple trick: set the smoothing slider at 75-80 percent, and Start setting the match until you dont surpass 3-4db at the highest boost! Limit the very highs at 16khz(the range where most consumer playback systmes wont give information!) and limit the lower band to 30hz for the same reason! My sliders go 75% smooth and 25% Match! Thank me later

[@erictourangeau3651]

Very interesting presentation sir. I do have that plugin, I know that this is possible but always forget to try it. I'm trying it the next session. Thank of the inspiration 🙂

[@mando3022]

Thanks for sharing this! Learned something new and very useful today. 🙏

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

You’re welcome glad I could help!

[@KLOVOrecords]

thank you for sharing this very interesting tip, I've took this EQ as a part of a bundle but since haven't used much, I will need to check it on, it's a great feature you explained.

[@Viktor-wf9lk]

Great method! Thank you! The same can be done with a compressor. Try the free multi-band Spectral Compressor, it already has a pink noise mode built in.

[@mando3022]

Which one are you referring to?

[@bontempo1271]

That sounded really good !

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Thanks Bon, hope you found it useful!

[@kapitbanda]

I should really try this. Thanks !

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Go for it and let me know how it works out!

[@adithyasatheesh127]

Wow. Some Quality stuff here.

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Thanks man! I appreciate it and glad you found some use out of it.

[@kayzweller_dj]

wow, amazing tricks!

[@mitekillem]

Gulfoss is cool, but it kills transients and will often drastically change things when there it's quieter and very few instruments are playing. Same with Ozone's Stabilzer. While this takes some extra work, I think it's a good way to get an initial idea of what the mix needs more of. Rather than throwing it my mix buss and leaving it. I'd probably look at what it's telling me, and then go back to the mix and make those tweaks. You can't always trust your ears after a while, so this could be useful. Btw...this really didn't need to take 12 minutes to explain. The going back and forth and over-explaining just made it seem more confusing and technical than it really is. This could've been a 3 minute video.

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Gullfoss on a mix buss doesn’t seem to work for me much either as it tends to take away transients as you mentioned. Usually I roll off the bottom to 300Hz and the top down to right where the sibilance is. And yes, after I published, I realized I could have made a shorter video. This is my first so I’m sure I’ll get better with time.

[@FreeDooMusic]

With ozone stabilizer you can try boosting what the EQ does and reduce the amount of the stabilizer equally. but you can lose some of your mixes integrity that way. i use stabilizer quite sparingly anyway. it if tries to change much i go back into the mix. usually i build my own chain though. starting with Vinai VTT default preset and dial it down to 20% and lower the upwards compression. it brings some added dynamic stability while sculpting the transients to be a bit tighter and pronounced. then i slap on bx masterdesk, dial that in to taste but won't push it hard so that it limiting the dynamics. that plugin has some mojo to it. after that i add a little bit of clarity from ozone 11. then i try to see what the stabilizer does. if its enough to use it subtly i leave it there, otherwise i go to fix what seem to need fixing in the mix. and try again. if im happy with the stereo field i usually don't touch it. but quite often it can be good to dial back the sides with a low shelf a little bit unless its only a select few sounds in the mix that need that treatment. then i slap on the ozone vintage limiter to work on the strongest transients before i turn to the maximizer with level compensation turned on -1db output and true peak on. check with tonal balance control, and youlean loudness meter to see how much i can push the tracks level before it starts sounding bad in anyway. if i can't get within the ballpark of the level i usually target with my mixes it shows i have more work to do in the mix. perhaps i missed some separation, polarity switch or having transient buildups i can adjust with delaying a channel or panning something a smidge. then i go through the mastering chain again to adjust to any changes i may have made to the mix. then back to the maximizer while monitoring the metering. also using psyscope pro to check for buildups when summing sounds. i usually run with with a slower attack/release setting on the maximizer, comparing IRC2, Balanced and modern algorithms, adjusting the stereo link controls to either make the transients or the sustain more stereo indipendet. depens on the track ofc. then i set the upward compression to 1.7db which i find to be the sweetspot every time for my mixes. then i push the gain of the maximizer, checking with the delta mode on to make sure i only limit inharmonic content. then i dial in the soft clipper on medium setting while listening to cymbals or other sustained inharmonic noises since those are the quickest to reveal distortion from the softclipper. my aim with the soft clipper there is to make the sound a little more upfront and enhancing the energy of the track a bit. if medium setting is too much i try the low setting. if that is too much aswell i just disable the soft clipper. but often i can push it quite a bit before any distortion becomes audible. i can usually push my tracks to around -6lufs short term. that sometimes bring the loudest parts of the track to a momentary max of about 3,7-4db and about a -7 to -7.5 lufs integrated. i recently pulled the trigger on soothe so i sometimes put that later at the start of the chain and set it to hard mode with a flat curve and let it work a little bit over the entire track which sort of serves to dial back the input level into the whole chain while taming some potential harshness and low end mud, before rather than after most of the chain. Not sure this is the ultimate way to master a track but it works well for me in most cases. but every mix is different and integrating some smarter plugins makes the same chain work on most tracks. The frequency curve shown in the video here is similar to what i end up with without setting up this kind of eq matching but i do tend to leave a bit more of the highest highs which i probably should be more careful with doing.

[@ProdDJD]

Pro-Q 3 has more precision and also as another comment mentioned, Ozone's match EQ does this very well too. one other comment mentioned the linear phase mode of EQuivocate and Pro-Q 3 has zero latency mode and natural phase mode to prevent that transient smearing from happening

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

There are other ways to do the same thing I’m doing here, but this tutorial is just for those who already have Equivocate and looking to use it as a tonal shaper to match an eq profile for broad strokes. In my opinion, the match eq from other plugins have very narrow cuts and boosts that can also cause more problems whereas the Equivocate has broader cuts and boosts comparatively since all the frequencies are pre selected.

[@ProdDJD]

@@thinkinsidethebox411 that's also true, and fair I was just mentioning it because you sounded like you thought most other good EQ plugins didn't have this feature, when quite a few of them do

[@bigheartsmolpen]

​@@ProdDJDNope. He sounded like a person who's enthusiastic enough to share something intuitive. That's all. Appreciate the effort and move on.

[@ProdDJD]

@@bigheartsmolpen that's just what it sounded like to me at least 🤷sorry for feeling that way

[@stringbeanuniversity]

Cool video! In my opinion I recommend using this process to make changes in the mix, EQuivocate is a good EQ but it's linear phase which smears the transients and clarity. If you use the gain match function it will be more apparent, especially with lots of boosts and cuts. Some amount of phase shift is completely fine in mastering, I like to use DMG Audio EQuilibrium for its mixed phase opinion so I can rotate phase per filter.

[@ostrol1590]

It really only matters in low end

[@prodbydramatic]

cool thanks

[@moriqconlaq9264]

EQuivocate's linear phase filters are very good, I rarely hear unpleasant artifacts. Only downside is high latency, which makes it unusable for multiple istances while mixing

[@ProfessorSaibertin]

Good stuff, thx man! I'm just thinking about getting this EQ.

[@mikelo303]

Any chances to get Equivocate setting saved on your google drive? Better, whole PINK chain in Studio One - Shared - FX chains? Under your name? I am that lazy :D

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

I will try to make this happen! If I can, I'll add it to the description in the video. Good idea!

[@Barncore]

Oh that's cool. I'm gonna try that now. Glad i stumbled across this vid. Thanks for sharing! Only thing i have hesitation about is that there's a huge gap in the Equivocate bands between 0hz and and 102hz. There's a looot of varying information between there. I feel like there should be an extra band at say 60hz. If 26 bands is the max then just remove the 17k one or something, and move the 15k one to 17k

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

You can change the bands to however you want them to be. There's a setting that makes all the bands at 1/3 octave which is more what you're probably used to. This setting however is based on the human hearing frequency bands so that's why they're divided this way.

[@andyisacsson7503]

Great idea , I’ve never got much use out of this plug before … can you share your settings please ?

[@DL-1]

I make music in reason Studios 12. But i haven't started recording yet. I have the free version of studio one artist, free version of uad Luna, and the lowest tier of Harrison Mixbus. Which one should i be using to record vocals and learn how to mix in for the best sounding results? Thank you.

[@pulsarstar]

Do you have the custom pink noise as wav?

[@realraven2000]

4:20 interesting curve. Very technical. I just use tonal balance control 2, listen for imbalances and find the lacking or overloaded frequency area, just one step and i can do my corrections.

[@DayBeforeTomorrow]

Seems like a lot of extra work!

[@theweaz9975]

I tried this out.Sounds nIce

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Good deal! I’m glad it’s working out. I use it all the time.

[@KozmykJ]

Interest way to use Equivocate matching. I've long used the pink slope as a rule-of-thumb target shape for EQ'ing but I'll be giving your method a try for sure. 👍

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Let me know it works for you!

[@NikolausBrocke]

Great tipp. I will check it out. Btw. I listened to the official mix here on youtube. I find it has a real problem with the vocal sound. It sounds distorted and unnatural. Not so with this mix here. It sounds much better, more even.

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Thanks sir! Great compliment. I love using Equivocate to even things out. The mix buss isn’t the only way I use it, but it definitely helps for checking the final balance.

[@gregormarini]

I can hear the distorsion here also ...

[@Peter-gu9ph]

Could you please share your EQ'd version of the pink noise as a high quality WAV or AIFF file? That would be much easier than trying to replicate how you EQ'd it.

[@masterofreality230]

try matching the volume in the video, huge difference with you talking and the track

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

I tried to make it sound the same so it wouldn’t blow you away with either my voice or the track. Maybe I failed lol

[@masterofreality230]

@@thinkinsidethebox411 I dont know, could be me not setting my monitors optimally, but I was getting a big difference. I dont even make videos, what do I know? lol

[@nrg242]

@@thinkinsidethebox411 yeah, the sample track that you use at 6:51 is really loud compared to the everything in the first half of the video.

[@JohanDoornenbal]

Ceilings of sound use this concept as well. (They call it hyper-eq)

[@Rhythmattica]

As does some TDR plug ins..... Nothing new or exclusive....... But as for Equivocate... New fangled are as good in their digital voodoo. Thats why I bought all the plugs.. As also all the TDR GE Editions. I must admit.. MM looks like its a time saver though...

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

I’ve been looking at getting COS Pro, as I already have Mix Monolith. It’s been very helpful with establishing a good baseline balance and keeping everything from mixing too loud.

[@johnplainsong9769]

A must-have plug-in!

[@gregrodrigueziii8075]

Just want to know where did you based your custom curve from? maybe I just missed it.

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

I don’t think I mentioned how I came up with the customized pink noise profile, but after analyzing dozens if not hundreds of songs on various analyzers, I was able to start hearing where some professional mixes sounded off balance to a point I knew I could improve with just eq. Once I was able to find a pink noise profile that worked for 95%+ of music, I knew I was on to something. This match eq is more for finding out where in your mix needs adjustment rather than always relying on this final eq to “fix” balance issues, although when used in the right amount, certainly adds a lot in the mastering process.

[@gregrodrigueziii8075]

@@thinkinsidethebox411 yup I understand the process, as Ive used sort of the same process before. Really just wanted to know if the curve was based on something. So now I understand that its a curve based on your preference and how you hear it in your speakers and room. Thanks for clarification.

[@DL-1]

The mix sounds good. Are you going to make more videos? We're you still going to make a more complex video based on this one like you said in the comments? Try to keep it at 5 minutes. Isn't that the sweet spot to monetize your videos? Thank you. Have a good day. Your mic sounds too good to just have 1 video for your channel. Thanks again.

[@fredrikstennabba]

I'd love to copy the numbers but I can't seem to get the google drive link to work, it just goes to show google search results when I paste the link.

[@meistudiony]

I dont get it... If your mix is out of whack (eq wise) this is supposed to some how make a bad mix translate across platforms? Interesting concept, but wouldn't everything start to take on the same characteristics mix after mix? Is there a reason that you can't just save the learned curve after youve done this once and skip the whole match eq thing? End of the day, if it gets you to where you need to be, cool, i've just never run across something thats a one size fits all solution. For a mix that should (or shouldn't) be pushing the bottom end more (EDM, Hip Hop/Rap etc.) wouldn't this kind of take the energy out of those area in lieu of a more "tame" (for lack of a better word) profile?

[@joakimjocka8022]

Can you provide the link to the pink noise you tuned?

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

For now, until I’m verified, just type in the link in the description without the spaces around “google”. Once I’m verified, then that link will turn blue and you’ll be able to click on it and download the screenshot.

[@JAMPROSOUND]

I've done this for years and most people don't understand how this works. You were supposed to keep this one a secret. Just kidding. It is pretty handy. This is also a great way to learn some EQ fixes you might not be able to hear yet.

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Haha yeah, this is a technique I picked up awhile ago on my own, but didn’t realize it was a common practice. And fixing eq you can’t hear well is one of the benefits of this technique. It can definitely show you where your mix needs help, or to just simply enhance the mix buss.

[@Dune]

Hey, can I have the pink noise preset.

[@DjXCENTRiC]

Cool idea, but with that pink noise EQ curve you created, the track now sounds hollow in the midrange, just my opinion.

[@bigfuzzztv787]

It's all about making HITS,... AND all this technical jargon is too much. BUT,... this page and video is excellent.

[@prodbydramatic]

agree

[@p.k.8504]

how can I get your profile?

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

For now, until I’m verified, just type in the link in the description without the spaces around “google”. Once I’m verified, then that link will turn blue and you’ll be able to click on it and download the screenshot.

[@Audiomishran]

Sounds better with bypass.

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Probably because I already used this trick before exporting it and this was basically doubling the effect.

[@playOLDmusic]

Its brown noise for anyone who is wondering what special pink noise this is

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Well, not exactly although maybe the curve leans towards brown noise, it's still a custom tailored EQ designed by myself to match the overall sonic profiles of most of the popular music or what generally sounds good on most systems.

[@CJWagh]

I m dumb so revision= Pick mixer track Add 1) pink noise 2) put your custom eq Pick mixer track 2 (mixbus) Add 1) eq 2) sidechain with 1st mixer track 3) match eq 4) lower it to -9 db as 24 db is exaggerated.. Correct 😢..

[@pablobarra297]

I match the eq curve of the pink noise with the Izotope Tonal Balance Control and I get a better results IMHO.

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

That’s not a bad idea. I don’t have iZotope so I did this one by ear and by analyzing overall tonal balances of many of my reference tracks to get a good idea of how it should generally look.

[@blabla-vk4qu]

A tutorial video about audio should at least be able to volume balance voice and music imo. Here music gives quite a blast compared to the voice.

[@rallzam]

nice trick but jesus how can people know such stuff but dont know how too loudness match stuff. when you started the song my freaking ears just popped. its mind boggling that people still cant sound match the simplest stuff.

[@alfredgrupstra]

OK, I rather EQ match music I can hear instead of pink noise that is not level matched and blows your ears off!

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

The level of the pink noise doesn't matter. You can turn it down however much you need so you can keep your ears on your head. Plus, once you route it correctly, the buss is muted so that doesn't even matter anyways.

[@JenoJavoriMusic]

Wow Great Channel, Video - how can I contact you?

[@Mio-fu1sr]

Very nice

[@thinkinsidethebox411]

Thanks! I’m glad you found it useful.