The audio examples available on this page accompany my review of the LANG PEQ-2 equaliser by Heritage Audio. This recreation of a lesser seen 1960s inductor-based EQ encourages a creative way of using EQ in the studio and I've provided a few examples of how I enjoyed using it during the review period. Included are before and after examples and what I was trying to achieve with each setting.
www.soundonsound.com/reviews/heritage-audio-lang-peq-2
01_Kick Drum_RAW
This is an example of a typical 'inside' kick drum mic to be used as part of a multi-track drum recording.
02_Kick Drum_LANG
The PEQ-2 works superbly for adding natural-sounding weight to low-end sources. For this example, I added a generous amount of 'boost' at 60Hz combined with a similar amount of 'droop' at 100Hz. I also added some 'boost' at 7.5kHz for some extra definition - with a narrow Q setting.
03_Snare 57_RAW
This is a typical sounding 'top' snare mic captured with an SM57.
04_Snare 57_LANG
Here I used the lang to add some weight and a little definition to the snare. a healthy boost at 120Hz combined with a droop at 100Hz added weight whilst a boost at 7.5kHz helped retain the 'point'. I also added a little 'droop' at 20Hz to reduce some cymbal bleed.
05_Bass Guitar_RAW
A bass guitar captured via direct input (DI).
06_Bass Guitar_LANG
I used the PEQ-2 to add more substance to the bass guitar and the combination of boosting at 80Hz combined with an equivalent cut (droop) at 100Hz ensured the bass kept its focus for the mix it was sitting in. Boosting around 2.5kHz seemed to generally work well at bringing out some articulation on bass instruments.
07_Female Vocal_RAW
An example of a vocal I recorded at my studio recently for an artist called Naomi Randall.
08_Female Vocal_LANG
On Naomi's voice, I set the 20kHz boost nearly all the way up to extract a sense of 'air' from her voice. I also liked how a boost at 80Hz combined with a 100Hz 'droop' helped shape the lower end of her voice.
09_Acoustic Guitar_RAW
A strummed acoustic guitar part recorded with a single condenser mic pointing at the 12th fret.
10_Acoustic Guitar_LANG
I liked how boosting at 15kHz brought out the 'airy' percussive part of the guitar sound in a natural way and I found adding 'droop' around 2.5kHz steered the boost away from the harsher sounding frequencies.