Beginner, How to approach the Curves series plugins?

Music Production
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Being a somewhat newer engineer, I’m curious how other producers are using the Curves plugins. After watching the tutorials and experimenting, I really think I am going to lean heavily on these plugins. As a general approach, I’m thinking: Curves AQ first, on individual tracks, and possibly on bus tracks here and there. Then Resolve on any competing tracks or sections that still need a tune up.

Equator is still kind of an outlier to me, but it seems like if I have AQ and Resolve running well throughout the mix, I should only need to slap Equator on Group Bus or the Mix Bus/Master Bus to find the right color for the whole track.

And a specific question, could AQ and Equator both be used on mix/master bus? Or would that be over-processing things? Highly appreciate any input :slight_smile:

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It seems to me a pretty solid way to approach it. Though you have to be mindful that these plugins tend to incur a lot of latency, so you don’t want to be using them while recording as there will be obvious delays between striking the note and hearing it.

Another thing you want to look out for is they can be a bit processor intensive. Well, more intensive than a regular eq, but Equator is definitely high on the CPU. So you may want to tale advantage of “freezing” tracks if your processor is starting to struggle.

Concerning Equator, that kind of does a bit of what Resolve does in that it helps deal with clashing frequencies and it can be sidechained (linked) to another track so that it only triggers when the other track is playing. But it gives you more sound sharing control. Kind of like the AQ, but the AQ doesn’t allow you to deal with resonances in the same way.

So really, the Equator kind of sits between the AQ and Resolve. So you can use it in place of one of those two if you want a bit more control and access to resonance control which they don’t have.

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These are great questions and you’re right to ask them. In the end, you’ll have to answer them yourself though because ultimately it will be up to your own aesthetic.

Some people scoff at these kind of plugins and point at all the great music that was made without any ‘auto-anything.’ But then someone points out, “Yeah, but if they had these tools back then they would have used them!”

It is definitely possible to go overboard with auto-processing. And I can tell you how you know when you’ve hit that point! When you think, “This technically sounds really good, but it somehow lost the feel or vibe I had before, and I miss it.”

I personally think these plugins work best when you get your song sounding as good as you possibly can, on your own, and then use them to take your mix that final step further.

And that answers your question – can you use Curves AQ and Curves Equator on the mix bus? Sure, absolutely. (For comparison, a well-known competing product known for their ‘Mastering Assistant’ has similar tools and it always uses them together unless you turn it off.)

What makes Curves AQ special, though, is you get like 5 variations to choose from! So it doesn’t do all the work for you. It gives you a starting recommendation and then usually 4 other angles to consider. That is brilliant.

Curves AQ eqs toward a target… And you can actually dial how much you want it to be a static vs dynamic/changing EQ.

Curves Equator is more of a resonance suppressor, I believe, so it has more of a flattening effect – it smooths your mix toward a pink noise slope (usually a brightening effect) or a warmer -4.5dB per octave slope (which is a common average.)

The key is not doing too much… And you should use the “delta” to get an idea of what these plugins are actually doing! The dynamic modes have a sort of ‘whoosh’ sound as the EQ filters are moving all over the place.

But Curves AQ can also be used as static EQ! It’s actually quite versatile. For example, you get separate controls for the boosts and cuts, and of course you can dial between 100% dynamic and 100% static. I think it’s 50/50 by default.

Definitely read the manual for these plugins! In fact, read the manuals for ALL your Waves plugins! Waves has some of the best manuals in the entire plugin industry, and sometimes there are little (or big) details you miss if you don’t read. Reading the manual will help you get more out of your Waves plugins.

As far as Waves AQ on tracks goes… You can certainly use it as a starting point. Let it make a decision and then use that to build your mix around. However, EQing for a good starting point and EQing for an aesthetic are two different things. Sometimes being heavy handed with the EQ is a way to get a sound to fit perfectly in a dense mix, or to have a more unique style…

But don’t forget that AQ isn’t just an auto EQ!!! You can also set your own filters, and they designed them to be very easy to use! You can get real narrow and detailed if you need to, or use the shelving filters for wide, gentle adjustments.

It also has lowpass and highpass filters which are really useful for extreme shaping, like giving a sound a telephone effect or rolling off all the highs or lows, etc.

It’s an incredibly powerful tool… And the more you use it, the more it will become second nature to you.

Eventually the questions you have now will just become intuitive. On audio forums people often say, “Use your ears” which is annoying except in the end – it really is all that matters… And when they say that, it means “It’s ultimately up to you. You are the one who determines the aesthetic of your mix. You have to make a decision, and that decision is yours.”

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I’m not sure if it’s a well enough known detail, but it’s possible you can use Equator like an EQ also. It’s not immediately obvious, but you can double click on the centre line in the main display to create a node. I think you can add up to around 8.

Of course it doesn’t behave exactly like an eq since it’s also doing its resonance processing, but it can be used in a very similar way.

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