Here’s what you didn’t know about Logic’s vintage EQ collection

Our last look into Logic’s stock collection of effects saw the Compressor broken down into its many functions. Today I wish to show you the depth of Logic Pro X’s Vintage EQ Collection, and why you should hold off on buying a new EQ plugin.

If you have tried Logic Pro in the past, you would be forgiven for still thinking that it doesn’t offer a lot in the way of analogue “colour” or character, not past Logic’s Compressor at least. 

To get around this you would have needed vintage hardware or expensive plugins to solve the digital “sterility” of recording within the programme. With the introduction of Logic’s Vintage EQ Collection, this is no longer the case!

Logic Pro X’s 10.4 update (introduced in January 2018) was substantial, and with its inclusion of the Vintage EQ Collection it saw three accurately modelled analogue EQs from the 50s, 60s, and 70s added to the programme.

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In classic Logic style, as well as closely mirroring the sounds and functionality of the originals, the EQs boast features and flexibility not entirely possible on the originals in the analogue domain.

Despite this, in the two years since their introduction I’ve found that these plugins have slipped completely under the radar for many Logic users.

This is understandable since stock plugins are easy to dismiss; third-party manufacturers have trained us to believe that their products are some of the best on offer and that DAW developers simply cannot compete.

Or, if a user has already bought into a plugin eco-system, they may not feel the need to check for updates or use yet another emulation.

So what makes these EQs so special? Let’s take a look.

Vintage Console EQ

Anybody familiar with this console will recognise this layout as that of the Neve 1073 channel strip EQ. 

Designed in 1970 by Rupert Neve, this channel strip is a favourite of many engineers on just about any instrument you throw it at. 

This is largely due to the character of its transformer that is often described as “big, fat, and coloured”. 

This EQ features the same controls as the original: a switchable high pass filter, a switchable low shelving filter and mids bell filter, and a fixed shelving filter at 12 kHz.

Where this differs from the original however, is the ability to set the controls to frequencies between the original stepped EQ points, allowing significantly greater control over sonic balance.

Like the original, it also features a drive control which allows you to control just how much of the unique saturation this unit offers is applied. Try it on bass, drum shells, and vocals to add size and life!

Vintage Graphic EQ

The tell-tale knob and colours tells us this plugin is based on the API 560 Graphic EQ.

Introduced in 1969, this EQ has a lot of headroom thanks to the combination of their proprietary components and transformers which results in what API states as better low frequency reproduction and tighter imaging, which gives you that legendary API “punch in your gut” sound.

Where this plugin differs from the original is the “Tune” feature. This allows the user to globally adjust the frequency centre-points of the EQ’s sliders. It also features a drive knob not found on the original. 

Tip: When set to +12 the top filter’s centre-point is doubled to 32 kHz which allows for some really nice subtle boosting of that ever-elusive “expensive airiness”! 

This classic and unique sound makes it an especially appropriate choice for drums and guitars and voice. Not outrightly transparent, it’s best to think of this EQ as putting forward only the best bits of a sound.

Vintage Tube EQ

Last but not least, this emulation is based on a legendary pairing of not one but two EQ units, which can also both be bypassed independently within the plugin.

The top unit is based on the “PulTec” EQP-1A which has filters for the Lows and Highs, while the bottom unit is based on the MEQ-5 which allows for filtering of the Midrange. 

Originally, the EQP-1 was a bespoke design by Eugene Shenk of Pulse Techniques (PulTec, aay!) for a Capitol Records mastering studio, and it was then introduced to the wider studio industry in 1953 as the EQP-1A, following the addition of a tube amplifier section.

Later another tube-amp EQ, the MEQ-5, was introduced and both units became the ideal combination and now tend to live on most mixers’ Master Bus. 

Unless you have thousands and thousands in spare change the original units and even reproductions are virtually inaccessible, so having the sounds and characteristics available to you in as many instances as your CPU allows is a fair tradeoff. 

Not just for the master bus, this pairing is well suited to submixes like a Drum, Cymbals, or Bass bus, with its ability to add excellent beefy lows or super silky highs and mids.

Think of it as adding broad, yet final and subtle strokes of paint to a canvas, the kind that make the sweetest difference.

Tip: If you increase the low boost and cut by similar amounts, the result is not a cancellation as you might think, but a more controlled and focused low end owing to the fact that both filters are of different orders. This is the famous Pultec trick for adding and controlling some serious low end on your tracks!

Output Section

You may have noticed that each EQ has a different setting under the Drive knob and are so named to associate their sound with each particular emulation: Smooth for Neve, Punchy for API, Silky for Pultec. 

Thanks to the magic of plugins, we can actually swap these around in each of the EQs, or even disable them altogether.

Add that to the already increased flexibility of the plugins, we now have the opportunity to process our source material in truly unique ways.

At the end of the Output section we have a gain knob to adjust for any difference in level (handy for A/Bing any processing), as well as the option to switch between Linear or Natural Phase. 

Natural Phase mode allows the signal processing to replicate the phase/time shift to the sound that the original units would impart.

These phase shifts are actually usually desirable and those familiar with the units are used to hearing these shifts as part of the units’ sound! 

For those that argue that these shifts are detrimental however, Linear Phase mode compensates for these phase/time shifts.

However it’s generally recommended to limit use of Linear Phase processing to your sub groups and Mix bus, for minimal global processing and minimal to no “pre-ringing”, which can be even more obviously detrimental in some cases, especially across many individual tracks. 

Closing Thoughts

Hopefully you can now see that Logic does in fact have some great tone shaping options that will help you to bring your tracks that extra bit closer to “alive” and away from what can sometimes be a somewhat sterile experience, it’s a bit of a shame I haven’t heard more people raving about them. 

I suggest you start experimenting with these across your projects, familiarise yourself with them and see what they can do for your music.

The Vintage EQ Collection provides tonnes of variety, flexibility, and it’s absolutely free with Logic Pro X, and who doesn’t love free?

This article was written by Seàn Frost of Frozen Sounds Audio

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