Waves Audio F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ User Guide

Floating-Band Dynamic EQ

User Guide

Waves F6

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Introduction

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About the F6 Floating-Band Dynamic Equalizer

F6 is a dynamic equalizer that features six floating, fully-adjustable parametric filters with dynamics, as well as HP and

LP filters. It provides multiband compression, equalization, expansion, and de-essing in one interface.

Plugin highlights include:

• M/S band mode for mid/side processing

• Compression and expansion

• Split/Wide side chain modes for processing flexibility

• Internal and external side chain

• Low CPU consumption

• Zero latency

• Parallel processing

• Side chain solo

• Smooth: no artifacts when adjusting parameters

• Simple interface: well suited for touch displays

F6 Floating-Band Dynamic Equalizer / User Guide

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Waves F6 Real Time Analyzer (RTA)

To increase F6’s precision and ease of use, we added a simple-to-use, feature-rich Real Time Analyzer (RTA) that

creates a real-time visual map of your audio. This provides a fast and accurate way to interpret the signal and set F6

parameters. It also gives you immediate feedback about how your settings are affecting the sound. RTA is highly

adjustable and all of its controls are visible at all times on a toolbar; you can easily change how the sound is being

interpreted, in real time.

Why Use a Dynamic EQ?

EQs have been used for about a hundred years to change the color of a signal. They increase or decrease the gain at selected

frequencies. They can affect a wide range of frequencies or very specific ones, and they usually offer a choice of curves. EQs can

precisely boost or cut a sound, or smoothly color a track. While they work, the difficulty is that once you set the gain, Q, and

frequency, an EQ is “deaf” to what’s going on in the music and it affects everything at the selected frequency. So a high-frequency

notch intended to tame a screechy violin string will simultaneously remove the detail and overtones of the instrument when lower

notes are played.

Multiband compressors, such as Waves C4, address this problem by dividing the frequency spectrum into segments that are

defined by crossover points. Dynamic processing takes place between these crossovers and each includes the traditional dynamics

controls: threshold, gain, range, attack, and release. It’s like having a number of dynamics processors working on one signal at

designated frequencies. Because multiband processors are based on crossovers, rather than specific frequency bands, they are

smooth across all of the signal’s frequencies. Hence, they are useful in shaping a mix and coloring an instrument. But this

smoothness may not be what you want when carving an instrument out from a busy mix, or pushing it back so it blends better.

This is where a dynamic EQ, such as the Waves F6, comes in. Like a multiband EQ—say the classic Q10—it has free-floating

bands that can be set to any frequency, EQ type, gain, and Q. A dynamic EQ can do all of this, but it can also be set to act only

when the signal moves beyond a defined threshold at the chosen frequency. Specific instruments, or specific sounds of an

instrument, can be isolated and manipulated. Guitar plucks can be controlled with respect to the tonal sounds without dulling the

strings. A dark kick can be enhanced without affecting the rest of the mix. An inarticulate instrument can be made solid, without

making the mix brittle. Each band offers all of the standard controls of a dynamics processor.

F6 Floating-Band Dynamic Equalizer / User Guide

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Each band of the F6 can process a signal in left/right stereo or in M/S (mid/side). This lets you control EQ for the center of a mix—

the singer, for example—without affecting the color or shape of the overall stereo image. For further control, a side chain signal is

sent to each band, so you can choose if that band’s frequency and its dynamics processing are triggered internally or externally.

Dynamic EQs are precision tools that let you control specific instruments or an entire mix in a very precise manner; reach for them

when your static EQ is effective but is causing damage to the overall color of the sound. Use a dynamic EQ when compressors,

limiters, or de-essers step on too much of the sound. Use the F6 when you need to selectively control an instrument’s sound or its

place in the space of the mix.

F6 Floating-Band Dynamic Equalizer / User Guide

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Components

There are four F6 components:

(1) Mono
(2) Mono RTA (includes real-time analyzer)
(3) Stereo
(4) Stereo RTA (includes real-time analyzer)

Mono and stereo interfaces are identical, except that the mono component does not include the Band Mode switch.

F6 Interface

F6 Floating-Band Dynamic Equalizer / User Guide