Tilt EQ

Name: Tilt EQ
Author: Techivation

by Techivation · EQ · Tilt EQ with drive

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Tilt EQ is a free tone-shaping EQ that tilts the balance between brightness and warmth, with a Drive control that turns removed energy into saturation.

It adds cut filters, mid/side mode and gain compensation, and it is free.

Best for: Mix Bus, Mastering, Vocals, Keys & Synths. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: bright, free, warm, auto-gain, full mix, mid/side, sound design, bus processing, clean, experimental, mastering, mix bus, mixing, musical, oversampling, spectral, static, vocals.

What it does

Tilt EQ is a free tone-shaping plugin that brightens or warms a sound with one broad tilt. Its Drive control is the unusual part: it turns the energy the EQ removes into harmonics, for correction without a "thin, dull, or lifeless" result.

Tilt Band Gain: sets the amount of spectral tilt, toward brighter or warmer.
Tilt Band Range: moves the transition point and sets the slope of the tilt.
Tilt Band Drive: adds harmonic saturation in the attenuated range, with Standard (1x), Good (2x), Great (4x) and Ultra (8x) oversampling.
Stereo: LR or MS processing, and a Stereo Balance control that pans the effect between channels.
Filters: a low cut for subsonic rumble and a high cut for harshness.
Level and display: automatic gain compensation, a clean output gain and an EQ curve display.

It is free. The product page gives no version number.

Source: Techivation product page

When to use it

Tilt EQ is the better pick for one quick, broad tone move, especially when a cut would otherwise leave a sound thin. Compared with TDR VOS SlickEQ, it has only a single tilt band but adds the Drive saturation and a movable, adjustable-slope range. Unlike TDR Nova or Pro-Q 4, it can't fix a specific problem frequency, but it gets the overall balance right faster. Its mid-side mode and stereo balance also let it tilt the centre and sides separately. Being free, it costs nothing to keep on hand next to a full parametric.

Best for: quick brightness or warmth changes on tracks, buses and masters, and fast tonal moves in sound design.
Genres: any.
Look elsewhere if: you need several parametric bands or dynamic EQ; TDR Nova (also free) or Pro-Q 4 suit better.
Tip: Bedroom Producers Blog suggests it for quickly brightening or darkening sounds in sound design, instead of opening a full parametric EQ.

What producers say

Early press coverage is positive, mainly about the Drive control and the flexible range.

Bedroom Producers Blog found it worked "really well" in a quick test, liked the Drive's "musical color" and called the Range control one it hadn't seen in other free tilt EQs; it describes the plugin as linear phase.
Gearnews called it "quite a bit more versatile than most tilt EQs", citing the M/S mode, cut filters and Drive.

Where to buy

Techivation: Free
Plugin Boutique: Free

Tutorials and reviews

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