In Summary

Although intelligent dynamic equalisers have many uses for post mixers, their soothing effects for music mixes are also good to have. Here we check out one of the latest to see how it does with complex musical dealings…

Going Deeper

Beyond Static EQ

Whether for restorative surgery, or creative sculpting to make sounds pop, engineers have been leaning on conventional equalisation for decades. The EQ as we know it can serve mixes well, however, things move on, including the mix itself. In the ever-changing swirl of spectra that make up any sound, sometimes static treatments can fall short.

More recent innovations have delivered dynamic equalisers. These can be set to apply cut or boost in any given band based upon the level of the audio. This can be useful for treating particular frequencies momentarily where a static move is too blunt an instrument.

Dynamic EQ For Music

Music mixers especially have access to tools that are designed specifically to make music sound ‘better’. These are often billed as being content aware or “intelligent”, where the user does little more than decide how much of the processor’s magic influence they want in the mix. While some engineers will prefer to dial in curves using a more conventional tool, others are prepared to let one of these helpers take over on complex sources such as entire mixes or other harmonically rich sources.

Using McDSP SA-3 Spectral Processor

One of the latest intelligent shapers is SA-3 Spectral Processor from McDSP. This audio plugin is designed to automatically turn down persistent resonant peaks in a wide variety of sources. It is also the successor to the well regarded SA-2 that has until know garnered a strong following among post mixers. Back in November 2023 Paul Maunder took in its dialogue-smoothing charms in this role. SA-3 can work on musical sources as well as on speech, and although there are other products out there that can perform a similar task for music, SA-3 does it in its own way.

In the video we use it to tame the source that has it all: piano. With a wide tonal and dynamic register, big transients, and tonnes of harmonics, we use SA-3 to make our keys easier on the ear. Simply by turning up the Detect control, we show how our particular instrument’s peakiness in the middle can be tamed in just a few moves thanks to SA-3’s dynamic shaping. We also show how its other controls work and how they can be used to get the perfect result.

With DNA traceable back to the original custom Sonic Assault box, SA-3 is a refinement of the SA-2 software incarnation that started life as a tool for post production mixers. Although its original speciality was dialogue, musical sources have a lot to gain with its use. In the video, the piano (as recorded, straight off the DI) was suffering from too much mid information. SA-3 can be a lot quicker and easier than some dynamic EQs to use, simply because it tracks where the problems are so you don’t have to. Whether it’s a bumpy piano, organ, snare drum, voice or just about anything else, these join dialogue on the list of things that SA-3 can knock into shape.