EQ shootout

[AHawley]

Russell,

To my understanding, the L2 has sort of been the standard as far as digital limiters. I will say that hearing that next to all of these other limiters, the L2 has one of the more unique colorations on the sound compared to the others. It definitely has it's own distinct qualities.

As far as the EQs, i was also very surprised to hear what an audible difference there was between them all. Some of the analog emulations especially have more personality. I would guess because the filters and curves all naturally have a different shape to them, depending on the kind of filter that EQ uses. Even visually looking at the different plugins, with the same exact parameters applied (Q included), the curves were unique to each other. Very cool stuff! I'm sure these results would vary depending on range and genre of course, but it is interesting to keep in mind that one EQ may sound great for one job, while another EQ will be right for another!

-Alex

[Len911]

There's no shortage of gear shootouts on youtube, magazines, forums...

What seems to matter possibly, beyond features, is there any inherent characteristic that is noticeable on all presets and settings unique to the individual plugin? Can be a good thing or a bad thing, though mainly to the user. It's sort of like shampoo, rarely does anyone ask anyone what shampoo they are using,lol! Maybe they should??

Hypothetically, perhaps not so, what if there was a piece of gear that had one preset or setting that was to die for, and the rest was junk, as compared to the overall higher quality, transparency and pristine specs of other plugins? Would you forego the purchase in favor of the better quality plugins? Well, of course you buy the die for preset and a higher quality plugin,lol, though for perspective.
I suppose that contradicts the inherent characteristic across all presets.

Life is complex.

[2lane]

I too was surprised by Ozone dropping from 1st to last, but -12 is hitting it pretty hard. If you need that much comp, you better rethink your mic techniques.
All in all very interesting data.
Now if you say the students in the class were, CLA, Andy Sneap, Steven Slate,
Quincy Jones....blah blah blah, then the variables in the current data would not
trouble as much
Thanks for the thread AH

Steve