32C Channel Plugin

[madmaxmiller]

Ok peeps, day 2 of testing - this time with the goal of nulling by hook or crook


Same arrangement as yesterday but different aim: I do a setting in 32C and then I try to match it as good as possible in ReaEQ. I'm confident that it must be possible, given enough time and as many fully parametric EQ bands as needed, to null out any other EQ

Experiment, driving a bit harder this time:

- stick with around -6db input - we don't want under any circumstances have any "drive" here!
- using only bell characteristics in the most "linear" part of the Fletcher-Munson curve
- set 32C upper mid to 2.44 kHz (neutral position) and +10.7 dB gain
- starting from the same values in ReaEQ tweak for greatest cancellation
- then add bands and see if you can tweak the result further
- then change one dial (frequency or band gain) on the 32C and try to follow with ReaEQ
- I will use 1 band ReaEQ, 4 bands ReaEQ (the default) and 6 bands ReaEQ

Results:

1-band on ReaEQ
- it took me a while to fiddle with freq/gain/Q but at 2484Hz / +10.3dB / 2.36 oct I reached a rest noise in a band of 800Hz-8000Hz with a peak of -63 dB at 2500Hz

- not bad but still well audible
   

4-band on ReaEQ
- I ended up with:
- Band 1: 1994.5 / 0.1 / 1.61
- Band 2: 2226.2 / 0.1 / 0.58
- Band 3: 2484.0 / 10.3 / 2.36
- Band 4: 3407.6 / -0.2 / 0.61

- and got:
- some very low dithering between 250Hz and 2000Hz
- a little "bell" from 2500Hz to 8000 Hz with a peak of around -66dB at 4000 hz
- this was very good however still audible because the human hearing is most sensitive at 4kHz haha
- also, it took four bands of EQ with 3 parameters each to get there which took a considerable amount of time to dial in
   

6-band ReaEQ:
- here we go beyond the number of bands we usually have in a channel EQ, let's see how that works out
-this resulted as follows:
- band 1-4: unchanged
- band 5: 5019.6 / -0.1 / 0.32 this contributed most
- band 6: 7037.7 / -0.3 / 0.13 this took just 1 db at 4000Hz away
- overall: dithering below -68 dB from 400 Hz to 6300 Hz with a peak of -68 dB at 3150 Hz and a tad lower at 4000Hz, hiss still audible at normal monitor settings
   

In all setting I was checking if i can improve the result by varying the 32C input gain in increments/decrements of 0.1 dB - in all cases I ended up having it back at 0.0 as the best result

Final test for today:
- I changed the gain on the Harrison to +4.7 dB (-6dB from the previous)
- I left all 6 bands of the ReaEQ engaged and changed only band 3 which is the "matching" band to the 32C

Result: playing only with band 3 (2469.3 / 5.2 / 2.58) I achieved a reasonable result of 2000Hz - 8000Hz "leftovers" with a peak at -67 dB at 3150Hz. This all while the other 5 bands still did their part.
   

SURPRISE: switching off bands 2,4,5,6 and having only 1 and 3 intact with these settings - it NULLED!
   


Conclusions:

Does this proof the claim "all EQs are the same"?

In my opinion: certainly not!
It took a considerable effort to match both EQs close enough, taking 6 bands of fully parametric EQ. Changing a single setting in the 32C EQ required some meticulous matching again in the other EQ - just look at the settings of band 3 alone at the ReaEQ:
- at +10.7dB: Band 3: 2484.0 / 10.3 / 2.36
- at + 4.7dB: Band 3: 2469.3 / 5.2 / 2.58
This can be seen as an indicator that the Harrison EQ indeed slightly changes center frequencies and width and steepness of EQ bands depending on gain for the respective band.
Again: this is only ONE single settings change in ONE band - it will vary more dramatically if you change more frequencies and gains in other bands.

Is it possible to match the Harrison EQ with stock EQ of other DAWs?

Certainly YES. It even occasionally nulls.
But the effort to do so is enormous as you would have to change multiple bands in all parameters to match a single setting - change one setting at the 32C and you have to change multiple settings at the other EQ to match again - you will need a Harrison EQ to do so (for comparison) as the correct settings can't be worked out in your brain alone.

What does that mean for practical mixing? Is Harrison "snake oil"?

Certainly NOT snake oil. While it is possible to achieve the same overall curve with another EQ it can't be genuinely done. You can only achieve equality for one certain setting at a time and then maybe replace the 32C in that track with your tweaked ReaEQ or such.

The claim of the user "bachstudies" was that Harrison's modelling is a lie and the 32C EQ is no different to any other stock EQ, namely the ReaEQ. My tests have shown that Harrisons 32C-EQ is distinct from the ReaEQ and shows the characteristics Harrison Consoles are advertising.

Again, peer reviews are welcome and encouraged, the tools are freely available and if someone finds a flaw in my method - please prove me wrong. That's how science works.

MMM