SOUND ON SOUND

[blinddrew]

Still working my way through the mag this month but there were a couple of things that popped up in the MR article that I was hoping MIke, or indeed anyone else, might be able to answer.
The first one is that he mentions using ReaEQ to apply a HPF but mentions that it's set at a first order filter. The work around for a steeper one being to add a second instance of it. But the HPF on ReaEQ also has a bandwidth controller that allows you to steepen the curve as if applying a higher order filter.
How are these two things different?
The second one is more practical. Like Mike, I use Reaper and have the Toneboosters plugin set, however I've all but stopped using them as every time I load a project all the TB settings have returned to their defaults. Am I missing a 'save' option somewhere or is this a feature that needs to be activated? (I'm still on the freebie versions).
Thank you. :)
Drew

[James Perrett]

If you steepen the filter in ReaEq you will notice that you start to get a boost around the filter frequency. Using more than one instance of ReaEq allows you to steepen the filter without that boost appearing.

[Hugh Robjohns]

The first one is that he mentions using ReaEQ to apply a HPF but mentions that it's set at a first order filter. The work around for a steeper one being to add a second instance of it. But the HPF on ReaEQ also has a bandwidth controller that allows you to steepen the curve as if applying a higher order filter.
How are these two things different?

Mike wrote about the ReaEQ a while back here: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/master-eq-plug

I think the high-pass filter actually has a second order (12dB/Oct) filter slope. If you set the frequency to 100Hz, you'll see the slope is -3dB at 100Hz, but around -12dB an octave lower at 50Hz.

As for the bandwidth control, while this does alter the slope -- and certainly the knee characteristic -- to a degree, it also adds a resonance peak at the higher settings. Although that effect may be useful in some situations, it's not usually why we want to use a steeper high-pass filter in most cases! generally, we're trying to reduce unwanted frequency components, not boost them!

So, as Mike says, if you want a fourth-order high-pass filter, concatenating two ReaEQ instances with a standard bandwidth setting would usually be preferable.

H

[blinddrew]

Ah right, it is just to control the attendant boost then. I've always just lobbed a parametric cut in to offset that. I'll have a play and see what that does to the phase side of things - I would guess that it would be cleaner with a simple layering of the two (second order! Sorry!) filters.
Thanks for the link Hugh, think that was a bit before I got involved in this hobby! :)

[Mike Senior]

Hi Drew,

Apologies for the delayed response on this -- didn't see your post until just now! Fortunately, Hugh has (as ever!) supplied a much clearer and more authoritative response than I ever could have about the ReaEQ filter issue -- thanks Hugh! :)

The second one is more practical. Like Mike, I use Reaper and have the Toneboosters plugin set, however I've all but stopped using them as every time I load a project all the TB settings have returned to their defaults. Am I missing a 'save' option somewhere or is this a feature that needs to be activated? (I'm still on the freebie versions).

Hm. That's wierd. This isn't something I've ever had with any of the Toneboosters plugs I've used, although I have occasionally had it with some Lexicon and Waves plug-ins. Admittedly, I do have the registered versions, so maybe that's the issue. Some plug-ins do have trial versions that don't save their settings, so you can hear how they sound to test them, but can't use them in earnest without buying them. If that's the case, then all I can suggest is shelling out for them, because they're one of the biggest steals on the market -- just TB_FlX is more than worth the €40 asking price of their entire Bus Essentials bundle, and you also get TB_Sibilance (my favourite de-esser at any price), Bus Compressor, Reel Buss, and a bunch of other things. It's insanely good value.

Mike S.

[blinddrew]

Thanks Mike, I'll dig through what's available online. Ironically the thing that stopped me lobbing some money at them last year was that the settings didn't save. If that's because I haven't read the license properly I won't be surprised but I will be kicking myself... :headbang:
Cheers
Drew