Ever since the release of Sonimus’ SonEQ 2, there has been an application that I thought this plugin would be perfect for. And that is Mastering. 

With its innovative modular approach and analog sound now I wasn’t limited by the classic 4 bands from other mastering equalizers. I was able to add all the bands I needed to enhance, tame or clean the tracks to make them sound to their best. But at the same time retaining the analog vibe from a classic EQ unit. That’s why I thought SonEQ 2 could make wonders as a mastering tool.

Following “The Covid Diary EP”, the band Hawke reached out for mastering their new track “Pinch Me (Am I Dreaming?)” and I thought it was a great occasion to take SonEQ 2 for a spin and see what it was capable of. Let me walk you through the process that I went through for mastering this song. 

First Things First

The most important thing when you are mastering is not to forget the vision of the artist and the mix and always work at the service of the song. 

Mastering is all about putting the icing on the cake and not trying to solve mixing issues.

To find out what SonEQ 2 could do for the track, the first thing we need to do is listen to the song and try to understand what is the mix trying to achieve and if there is any clear problem that we must tackle. Let’s see what I found. 

As we saw in the video, I decided to remove some potential harshness produced by the cymbals in the loudest sections of the song. Also, I tamed some of the boxy frequencies to make the track clearer, helping to bring the vocals forward. To achieve all this I made very subtle reductions, of no more than 2dB, using the High-Mid band around 6kHz in Mid Q mode and the Low-Mid band at 325Hz in Hi-Q. Even by making these small changes, we can hear how SonEQ 2 is shaping and controlling the track. 

Make It Bigger Than Life

Once we have done the first approach over the tone of the song it is time to make adjustments to enhance the mix. As you have seen, it’s all about subtle movements and that’s where SonEQ 2 flexibility comes helpful. But, why not spice things up and also add some secret sauce to the equation?. In the next video, I´ll show you in detail how to do it.

What we did here was enhancing the best features of the song to make them shine a bit more. We took advantage of the modularity of SonEQ 2 and added one extra High-Mid band at 3kHz to bring forward the vocals and the attack of the percussion. Using the classic Pultec trick of boosting and cutting at the same time at 60Hz, I was able to give the song a bit more body. I relocated the preamp module to the beginning of the chain, adding some analog drive. I also pushed by 2dB at 8kHz with the High module, adding some air to the track. 

But I felt this track could benefit from the punch of an SSL console to make it more uplifting. That’s why I decided to use Satson Buss in the plugin chain after SonEQ 2. It infused color and extra analog character to the track. And with the FAT mode engaged, it helped to get the low end that was looking for. 

Final Result

The combination of Satson Buss and SonEQ 2 gave the tone, cohesion, and punch that I thought the song needed. On top of that, the oversampling of SonEQ 2 took care of any potential aliasing caused by the processing and saturation added by the plugin, making the track clearer while retaining the analog feeling. 

I also found that using SonEQ 2 allowed me to focus more on how things sounded rather than relying on visual cues or analyzers while doing EQ moves. A practice that I really think helps to get the tone right during Mastering.

What do you think about this workflow? Do you use any Sonimus plugin for mastering? Have you included SonEQ 2 in your bag of tools? Let us know in the comments below, we would love to hear your approach when mastering. 

Carlos Bricio, Music Producer & Sound Engineer