The central area of the Channel EQ window includes the graphic display and parameters for shaping each EQ band. The master Gain slider is shown at the right. The Analyzer and Q-Couple controls are shown at the lower left.
Band 1 On/Off button: Switch on a highpass filter that allows high frequencies to pass and reduces the level of low frequencies near the cutoff (set) frequency. When active, you can change band parameters directly in the graphic display.
Band 1 background: Drag the red shaded area horizontally to change the frequency value.
Band 1 dot: Drag the red dot to change the frequency and Q values.
Band 1 horizontal line: Drag vertically to change the Q value.
Band 1 vertical line: Drag horizontally to change the slope.
Band 1 vertical/horizontal lines: Drag to change the slope and Q value.
Band 2 On/Off button: Switch on a low shelving filter that adjusts the level of low frequencies and has a minimal impact on frequencies above the cutoff (set) frequency. When active, you can change band parameters directly in the graphic display.
Band 2 background or dot: Drag the orange shaded area or dot to change the frequency and gain values.
Band 2 horizontal line: Drag vertically to change the gain value.
Band 2 vertical line: Drag horizontally to change the Q value.
Band 2 vertical/horizontal lines: Drag to change the gain and Q values.
Band 3 On/Off button: Switch on a parametric filter with three controls. Frequency sets a center frequency. Q sets the width of the frequency band around the center frequency. Gain sets the level of the band. When active, you can change band parameters directly in the graphic display.
Band 3 background or dot: Drag the yellow shaded area or dot to change the frequency and gain values.
Band 3 horizontal line: Drag vertically to change the gain value.
Band 3 vertical line: Drag horizontally to change the Q value.
Band 3 vertical/horizontal lines: Drag to change the gain and Q values.
Band 4 On/Off button: Switch on a parametric filter with three controls. Frequency sets a center frequency. Q sets the width of the frequency band around the center frequency. Gain sets the level of the band. When active, you can change band parameters directly in the graphic display.
Band 4 background or dot: Drag the green shaded area or dot to change the frequency and gain values.
Band 4 horizontal line: Drag vertically to change the gain value.
Band 4 vertical line: Drag horizontally to change the Q value.
Band 4 vertical/horizontal lines: Drag to change the gain and Q values.
Band 5 On/Off button: Switch on a parametric filter with three controls. Frequency sets a center frequency. Q sets the width of the frequency band around the center frequency. Gain sets the level of the band. When active, you can change band parameters directly in the graphic display.
Band 5 background or dot: Drag the aqua shaded area or dot to change the frequency and gain values.
Band 5 horizontal line: Drag vertically to change the gain value.
Band 5 vertical line: Drag horizontally to change the Q value.
Band 5 vertical/horizontal lines: Drag to change the gain and Q values.
Band 6 On/Off button: Switch on a parametric filter with three controls. Frequency sets a center frequency. Q sets the width of the frequency band around the center frequency. Gain sets the level of the band. When active, you can change band parameters directly in the graphic display.
Band 6 background or dot: Drag the blue shaded area or dot to change the frequency and gain values.
Band 6 horizontal line: Drag vertically to change the gain value.
Band 6 vertical line: Drag horizontally to change the Q value.
Band 6 vertical/horizontal lines: Drag to change the gain and Q values.
Band 7 On/Off button: Switch on a high shelving filter that adjusts the level of high frequencies and has a minimal impact on frequencies below the cutoff (set) frequency. When active, you can change band parameters directly in the graphic display.
Band 7 background or dot: Drag the purple shaded area or dot to change the frequency and gain values.
Band 7 horizontal line: Drag vertically to change the gain value.
Band 7 vertical line: Drag horizontally to change the Q value.
Band 7 vertical/horizontal lines: Drag to change the gain and Q values.
Band 8 On/Off button: Switch on a lowpass filter that allows low frequencies to pass and reduces the level of high frequencies near the cutoff (set) frequency. When active, you can change band parameters directly in the graphic display.
Band 8 background: Drag the pink shaded area horizontally to change the frequency value.
Band 8 dot: Drag the pink dot to change the frequency and Q value.
Band 8 horizontal line: Drag vertically to change the Q value.
Band 8 vertical line: Drag horizontally to change the slope.
Band 8 vertical/horizontal lines: Drag to change the slope and Q value.
Graphic display: Shows the current curve of each EQ band. The scale is shown in dB. The color of each band matches the corresponding button above the display. Each colored band (and corresponding Frequency, Gain, and Q field) is highlighted as you move the pointer across it. Click a curve line segment, the (center frequency) handle, or in the colored space between the zero line and EQ curve to select a band for editing.
Tip: Hold down Command while performing any of the operations below to limit dragging to vertical or horizontal movement.
Drag anywhere in the colored band to adjust gain and the center frequency.
Drag the vertical lines that encompass the band to adjust the Q (bandwidth) only. Two arrow icons are shown.
Drag the horizontal line in the band to adjust the gain only. If Q-Coupling is enabled, both the gain and bandwidth are adjusted. Two arrow icons are shown.
Drag the intersection of vertical and horizontal lines to adjust the gain and Q simultaneously. Four arrow icons are shown.
Drag the handle to adjust the center frequency only.
Note: Horizontally dragging the frequency handle in band 1 and band 8 adjusts both the frequency and Q.
Hold down Option-Command to adjust the Q and center frequency simultaneously. A “Q” icon is shown at the pointer position.
Frequency field: Adjust the frequency of the selected band.
Gain/Slope field: Set the amount of gain for the selected band. For bands 1 and 8, this changes the slope of the filter.
Q field: Adjust the Q factor or resonance of the effected range around the center frequency in the selected band.
Note: The Q parameter of band 1 and band 8 has no effect when the slope is set to 6 dB/Oct. When the Q parameter is set to an extremely high value, such as 100, these filters affect only a very narrow frequency band and can be used as notch filters.
Scale display: Drag vertically to adjust the scaling of the overall EQ curve.
Master Gain slider and field: Set the overall output level of the signal. Use it after boosting or cutting individual frequency bands.
Analyzer button: Turn the Analyzer on or off. Play the audio signal and watch the graphic display to identify peaks and low level parts of the frequency spectrum.
Analyzer (Pre/Post) button: Set to display the frequency curve before or after EQ is applied, when Analyzer mode is active. See Channel EQ Analyzer.
Q-Couple button: Turn on Gain-Q coupling, which automatically adjusts the Q (bandwidth) when you raise or lower the gain on any EQ band. This preserves the perceived bandwidth of the bell curve. See Channel EQ extended parameters.
Processing pop-up menu: Choose to process both sides of a stereo signal, or the Left Only, Right Only, Mid Only, or Side Only signal. See Channel EQ use tips for information on using Channel EQ with Middle-Side recordings.