When you select EQ bands in the interactive EQ display, the
floating band controls will automatically appear, right under the selected bands at the bottom of
the display. The band controls show the current settings of the selected EQ bands and enable you
to adjust them precisely.
From left to right, the following settings are available:
The bypass button at the left top lets you easily bypass the selected EQ
bands. Note that you can also bypass an EQ band by Alt-clicking its dot in the
display. While an EQ band is bypassed, it is dimmed in the display and a red light glows in the
bypass button.
The shape button selects the filter shape of the selected bands:
Bell, the traditional parametric EQ shape and probably the most versatile of them
all
Low Shelf, to boost or attenuate low frequencies
Low Cut, to cut all sound below the filter frequency
High Shelf, to boost or attenuate high frequencies
High Cut, to cut all sound above the filter frequency
Notch, to cut a small section of the spectrum
Band Pass, to isolate a section of the spectrum
Tilt Shelf, to tilt the spectrum around a certain frequency
Flat Tilt, to tilt the spectrum using a flat curve, around a certain frequency
Note: you also change the shape of an EQ band by Ctrl+Alt-clicking its dot
(Command+Alt on macOS) in the display.
The slope button below the shape parameter sets the steepness of the
filter from 6 dB/octave to 96 dB/octave (and even up to Brickwall for Low Cut and High Cut filters). In Pro-Q, the slope not only applies to the usual
Low Cut and High Cut filters, but to all filter shapes! This allows you to make highly surgical
adjustments if needed. So for example, you can make ultra-narrow Bell or Notch filters or very
steep Shelving filters.
The frequency knob sets the frequency of the selected band between 5 Hz
and 30 kHz. If multiple bands are selected, they are adjusted in parallel.
The gain knob sets the gain in dB of the selected bands between -30 and
+30 dB. This setting is only used for Bell and Shelving filter types.
The dynamic range ring sets the range of dynamic EQing in dB, ranging from -30 to 30 dB (possibly limited by the gain setting limits). Choosing a positive or negative dynamic range will make the band dynamic and expose additional dynamic controls. This setting is only available for Bell and Shelving filter types. See Dynamic EQ.
The Q knob sets the bandwidth of the selected bands, widening or
narrowing them. The Q cannot be adjusted when a 6 dB/octave slope is used.
Note: Because there are different interpretations of Q values in various EQ plug-ins and
scientific papers, we have chosen the value 1 to correspond to the default bandwidth. For the
shelf filters, the internal Q values are chosen such that they result in a good range of
shelf shapes. Keep this in mind when trying to reproduce the filter shapes of another EQ
plug-in in Pro-Q: the interpretation of the Q values might not be the same.
Using the Gain-Q interaction button, between the gain and Q knobs, you
can enable a subtle, analog-EQ-like gain-Q interaction. When enabled, Q and gain influence
each other in a pleasant way often found in analog mixing consoles. Essentially, this means
that the Q automatically gets a bit narrower when gain is increased, and the other way
around, a little gain is added when the Q gets very narrow.
Note: Gain-Q interaction only affects the Bell filter shape. Pro-Q remembers the last
Gain-Q interaction setting that you've chosen and will use this for new instances of the
plug-in.
The previous- and next band buttons let you step through the current
available bands in the display, in the order in which they currently appear in the display.
In between, the band number of the current band is shown to help you to identify this band in
the host when automating EQ parameters.
Note: When creating new bands, they will be numbered 1, 2, 3 and so on. But when you
delete a band, the others won't renumber, in order to ensure that currently written
automation in your host still controls the correct band.
The delete button at the right top removes the selected EQ bands. If you
have accidentally deleted some bands, you can easily restore them using the Undo button at the top of the plug-in interface.
The stereo placement button controls which channels are affected by the selected
bands. The split button (scissors icon) splits the selected bands into L and R (or M and S) bands. See Stereo options. When using Pro-Q on a surround/immersive audio channel, the stereo placement button will open a panel with more extensive stereo placement and speaker selection setting. See Surround and Dolby Atmos.
Tips
Double-click any knob to enter the value directly using the keyboard. See Knobs for more information. For the Frequency knob, you can enter values in
various ways, like "100" or "2k", but also "A4" or "C#2+13".
To hide the band controls, simply deselect all bands by clicking on the display
background.
Hold down the Alt key while changing the gain or dynamic range knobs in a reverse-linked way (i.e. to trade gain for dynamic range).