Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

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bram2000
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Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by bram2000 »

Hi All,

Does anyone have any recommendations for EQ's that work well for boosting low bass frequencies? Steve V has recommended Stillwell's VibeEQ, which I've been demoing and sounds great, however I thought I'd ask around for any other recommendations of things worth trying before parting with my cash.

Cheers!

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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Esh »

I remember using Waves RBass quite allot to add allot of low end harmonics. Its not an eq however. But you could always just wack whatever eq you want after an instance of Rbass

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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by rktic »

I'd recommend you to check out a good EQ for cutting the low crap using an elliptic filter first before boosting. Eventhough it sounds like it doesn't make any sense at first, using certain EQs to cut the crap around 25-30hz give the impression of actually boosting stuff.

So far i can recommend rs-met's engineers EQ. It's no good for automations cause it clicks a lot but it's a very surgical tool to add and remove certain areas. http://www.rs-met.com/freebies.html

Plus you won't find many EQs with elliptic algos.

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Mattias
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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Mattias »

Yes what Ronny says is very true, boosting bass is usually not about actually boosting bass. The full frequency spectrum should be seems as a whole entity. If you change anything in the spectrum you change everything. Basically.

I can recommend several different EQ:s good for bass boost, are you on PC or MAC? For PC I recommend the old Nasty LF from Boostie for example. Also the new ThrillseekerXTC is massive.
Try some Pulltec emus, also 6144 from DDMF is nice. I know it said plugin but if you go hardware you cant go wrong with a Massive Passive!
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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Faust »

Two post's above are bang on the money.

But yeah, a Pulltec emulation will do you well. Softube do an excellent one http://www.softube.com/tubetech_pe1c.php as do Waves http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=7672

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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Mono-xID »

you should avoid boostin low's too much but if you can`t let it go then i'd recommend you to demo the ENHANCED EQ from Native Instruments PREMIUM TUBE SERIES Plug-In bundle. It's very good for boosting bass because it boosts above and lowers below your frequency setting. So it's basically a combined bell/shelving filter and you can sculpt your lows very good if used subtle.
There is also a PASSIVE EQ in this bundle which is way more than just "inspired" by the Manley Massive-Passive EQ. Although i really don't like ANY of Native Instruments Products,i must admit that this Plug-In bundle sounds superb and i'll spend some cash on this next week or so (if the numbers on the coming paycheck
are correct :lol: )

Another EQ to watch out for boosting low-end is EPure from FLUX which is soooooo damn smooth (it's basically a very good mastering-EQ) that you nearly can't "overboost " your lows...
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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by mjudge »

For $5 you can get the digital version of Computer Music magazine and downloadd CM suite. Among other things, it comes with DDMF IIEQ Pro and LP10, plus eaReckon's CM-EQUA 87. No sense breaking the bank -- these sound pretty good to me.

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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by bram2000 »

Thanks for all of the input so far guys!
Mattias wrote: are you on PC or MAC?
I'm on Mac, so unfortunately the Variety of Sound stuff is not an option.

rktic wrote:I'd recommend you to check out a good EQ for cutting the low crap using an elliptic filter first before boosting. Eventhough it sounds like it doesn't make any sense at first, using certain EQs to cut the crap around 25-30hz give the impression of actually boosting stuff.
Any chance you can explain the process here, am I just looking for a very steep filter to cut out lows beyond 25-30Hz before I then boost? Also; I can't use the EngineersFilter as it's PC only, do you have any Mac suggestions for this task?

Thanks!

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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Mattias »

Ah I see. No Variety Of Sound stuff then.

As far as I know you can use Brainworx M/S EQ, Equality, Pro Q and other good EQs with M/S function for the same use of elliptic filters since elliptic filters essentially are a filter type that will summarize your side channel / phase information below the set frequency into a mono sum. Kind of. You can replicate the effect by use a high-pass (usually the best option) / hi-shelf filter on the side channel and set it around say 100 Hz then take the mid channel and use a gentle bell cut around where your frequencies are problematic, guessing around 30-35 Hz. All this should be done with an MP setting since Linear Phase causes pre-ringing distortion very audible in the low end register.

Edit: Someone mentioned the Softube Pultec emu, thats a good one for boost / attenuation at the same time.
Also check the Enhanced EQ by NI (also developed by Softube).
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bram2000
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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by bram2000 »

Thanks for the info again Mattias. Gonna have to digest that...

Excuse my ignorance but does MP mean (Massive) Passive?

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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Mattias »

Ah sorry man, MP means Minimum Phase (infinite impulse response IIR) which is the analog EQ filter type. The IIR type filtering is to prefer when you work with low frequencies and it also "mimics" the nature of how sounds behave in the real world.

Edit: MP is very good for putting areas in the frequencies spectrum back or forth in a mix. You will distort the phase up / down as much as you boost / attenuate the frequencies. The whole phase thing in these types of EQs (nearly all of them) is also what creates a certain "EQ sound". For digital filtering based on IIR dont really dont have a "sound" and shitloads of these types of EQs can sound identical to each-other. They are ofetn just referred to as "digital".
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bram2000
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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by bram2000 »

Cool thanks again for all of that info. Sounds like you could do that in Live with EQ8; something like this:

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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by chrisso »

FWIW I agree about the dangers of bass.
A couple of free tools I use (on a mac)....
Sonimus has a great sounding free eq.
http://sonimus.com/site/page/downloads/

Also Elysia has a free plug-in called the Niveau filter.
http://www.elysia.com/software/niveau-f ... s/snippets

It's not a synth filter, more like a channel strip filter, usually used for reducing problematic noise in the old days of recording with mics (low end rumble, or high end hiss).
The Niveau filter is capable of controlling errant frequencies, but also it can majorly boost the low end if it's set to boost.

Both are very high quality plug-ins I use a lot. Both free!

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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Lost to the Void »

First recommendation.
Don`t boost bass.
Cut highs and mids, and maybe use compression to increase density.
If you absolutely must then do so with caution.

Stillwells Vibe EQ is nice for kicks, I never use it for boosting bass except with kicks.
I would try TiltEQ from Softube as it does nothing too harsh.
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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Mattias »

chrisso wrote: Also Elysia has a free plug-in called the Niveau filter.
http://www.elysia.com/software/niveau-f ... s/snippets
Lost to the Void wrote:First recommendation.
I would try TiltEQ from Softube as it does nothing too harsh.
How could I forget about tilt EQs since I use this so much myself? These two recommendations are very good.
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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Mslwte »

Technoist wrote:I remember using Waves RBass quite allot to add allot of low end harmonics. Its not an eq however. But you could always just wack whatever eq you want after an instance of Rbass
Most of the time that I have tried using rbass it just turns bass into mush. I use less of these types of enhancers now days
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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Faust »

Lost to the Void wrote:I would try TiltEQ from Softube as it does nothing too harsh.
This!

I think Softube are actually my favorite plug-in developers.

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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by ste »

tilt EQ and SonEQ!

SonEQ boost and attenuate bass while run it through the drive/wow stage can really make basses up. use this free baby a lot

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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by Mattias »

Great Ste, I never knew about SonEQ before, I like it! Good Drive section as well.
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Re: Good EQ plugin for boosting bass?

Post by ste »

yes. i don't really understand what the wow switch in the drive section does (technically) but it makes it more round. love this one! also the pultec like bass sculpting possibities really stand out for me. since i switched to mac and cannot use the bootsy plugs anymore i use the sonEQ on most low end channels.


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