New Music Gear Monday: Fabfilter Pro-Q 3 Equalizer Plugin

Fabfilter’s Pro-Q 2 EQ plugin is one of the great joys of mixing. Clean, easy to use, great visual feedback – it’s difficult to believe that it could get any better. But it has! The new Pro-Q 3 update adds a number of features that you probably didn’t realize that you needed to make the plugin the go-to EQ plugin for any engineer.

Pro-Q 3 adds to Pro-Q 2’s multitude of filter types with the all-new Flat Tilt shape, applying a flat tilting correction curve to the entire audible spectrum. Plus, for those occasions when even the super-steep 96dB/ octave roll-off slope isn’t precise enough, the Low and High Cut filter types can now be set to the new Brickwall mode for the ultimate in top/bottom attenuation.

Not only that, the Pro-Q 3’s spectrum analyzer now makes it even easier than ever to find and correct problem frequencies in the mix. Activate the new collision detection to view clashes between the source signal and the spectrum of any other Pro-Q 3 plugin in the session, then get an instant handle on the most important peaks in Spectrum Grab mode complete with frequency/note labels.

What’s most exciting for me though is that Pro-Q 3 now adds the ability to switch any of its 24 bands into a Dynamic EQ mode. Just raise or lower the Dynamic Range ring around the Gain knob to apply smooth compression or expansion to that band. An intelligent algorithm automatically chooses program-dependent attack, release, and knee settings, while the Threshold can be set either automatically according to the input signal level or manually. The dynamic EQ bands still continue to operate with perfect analog matching and support Linear Phase mode.

For those working in immersive audio, Pro-Q 3 now also works with all major surround formats all the way up to Dolby Atmos 7.1.2. The plugin automatically configures itself to the multichannel format of the hosting surround track, and an intuitive selection panel enables EQ adjustment of multiple channels together.

FabFilter Pro-Q 3 is now available for EUR 149, USD 179 or GBP 134, supporting both Windows and macOS in VST and VST 3, Audio Units, AAX, and AudioSuite plug-in formats. Existing FabFilter customers can purchase or upgrade to FabFilter Pro-Q 3 with very attractive discounts by logging into their online user account at: www.fabfilter.com/myaccount.

Find out more on the Pro-Q 3 dedicated webpage and check out the video below for the details.