Meet 3 Hardware-Inspired Musical EQs
Three new musical EQs have come to Bitwig. Sculpt, Focus, and Tilt are inspired by beloved hardware EQ designs, offering classic interfaces and sound along with some handy modern extras. Each EQ excels at particular tasks, helping you to make quick, confident EQing decisions and get great-sounding results.
To understand how they work, it’s worth exploring the hardware EQs that inspired them. Read on for some helpful context – and a few tips on how to get the best out of the new EQs.
Sculpt and the EQP-1
Sculpt is based on the Pultec EQP-1. The first ever passive equalizer, this unit was introduced in the early 1950s and has been a beloved fixture in studios ever since.
Passive EQs shape the tone of a signal without using any powered components. They tend to feature much simpler circuitry than their Active counterparts and are less likely to introduce unwanted distortion or transient smearing into a signal. Passive EQs like the EQP-1 shape tone in a smooth, musical way, making them good for both subtle sweetening and radical EQ moves that still sound musical.
Sculpt was component-modeled on an EQP-1 to capture these qualities in the software realm. On the light-touch end, simply running audio through Sculpt with the “Tube” color control engaged will already add pleasing saturation to your signal. If you want to be bolder, go ahead: big boosts made with Sculpt are likely to sound smoother than they might with other software EQs.
Sculpt’s dual boost and attenuation controls in the lower frequencies allow for a special mixing trick, beloved among EQP-1 users. Turning up both knobs creates a distinctive EQ curve (visible in the graphic display). This can be used to tighten up low-end in a controlled way. Use it to beef up kicks and bass without muddying the low-mids.
Sculpt’s upper frequency controls can be used to boost hard without compromising on sound quality. When brightening a dull sound, turn the boost control up high and flick through the frequency zones to find the sweet spot. You can apply the high frequency attenuation at a higher position to tame unwanted frequencies.
These two tricks can be combined to add weight and liveliness to a thin kick drum. First, apply both boost and attenuation to the low end for bass weight with controlled midrange. Then apply a high frequency boost at 8 or 10 kHz for high-end impact. Finally, engage Tube color mode for some authentic saturation. Your lifeless kick drum will sound so much better.
Focus and the MEQ-5
Focus is modeled on the MEQ-5, another beloved passive EQ from Pultec – this time designed to address the midrange. The MEQ-5 offers two boost bands, one focussed on the lower frequencies (200Hz to 1 kHz) and one on the highs (1.5kHz to 5kHz), complementing a “dip” filter focussed in the midrange. It is often used to quickly find and shape the “power regions” of instruments such as vocal, guitar, synth, and piano.
The component-modeled Focus brings the MEQ-5’s features to Bitwig Studio, delivering the benefits of passive circuitry to the digital realm. And like Sculpt, its predetermined frequency positions make it quick and easy to use. Just turn up the control you want to work with, then flick through the available frequency bands until your sound starts to slot into place.
Focus can add clarity and punch to a dull bass part. Start by dialing in a small dip at 200Hz or 300Hz to clear out midrange mud. This can be complemented by a boost in the upper mids (using the lower Boost control set at its highest band, 1000Hz) to bring the part forward and help it to carry on smaller listening setups. Don’t forget to add color too – Focus offers the same three modes as Sculpt. This comes in handy if you’re working with a soft synth or DI’ed bass guitar.
Focus is also effective at taming a shrill midrange part such as a guitar or synth lead. Start by turning up the dip control and flicking through the frequency bands until it addresses the offending frequency. Then use the two peak filters to gently boost on either side of this zone, enhancing midrange warmth and sparkly presence – all in a smooth, musical way.
Tilt
Tilt brings the ultra fast sound-shaping possibilities of a tilt EQ to Bitwig. While it’s not modeled on any specific hardware unit, Tilt is closest to the Tonelux Tilt, a popular EQ among engineers and producers who need to shape sound quickly without getting bogged down in tweaking.
As the name suggests, Tilt can be used to tip the frequency profile of a sound towards either the higher or lower frequencies. By twisting its main Gain control, you can boost all the frequencies above a set point and cut the frequencies below it – or vice versa.
This can be used to rebalance a muddy or shrill part in seconds, tweak a group or master bus to tame fatiguing highs or overwhelming lows, or radically reshape audio for sound design purposes. Two further controls allow you to set the tilt frequency and adjust its slope (from a gradual ramp to an S curve).
Tilt can be used in some mixing and mastering applications. It’s all too easy to lose perspective while mixing, overemphasizing either the highs or lows. Try applying Tilt with a tiny boost (or cut) of just a couple of dB to quickly rebalance groups or your master bus.
But the real power of Tilt lies in more radical applications. The ability to transform a sound by twisting a single knob makes it great for sound design. Add Tilt before a distortion effect and mess with the Gain amount to unlock a whole new range of flavors. Or throw Tilt into a signal chain with modulators (like Random) assigned to Gain and Frequency to turn a static sound into a shape-shifting texture.
Focus, Sculpt, and Tilt join four other equalizers in Bitwig Studio, each of which is specially suited for specific tasks in your workflow. Read more about Bitwig Studio's EQs here.
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