DARE 2 COMPARE
by Eddie Ciletti

NEVE 1064 EQ
Samples provided by Tom Garneau and Adam Krinsky

Immediately below you will find an audio comparison between an analog Neve 1064 Equalizer and a "generic" Soundscape Equalizer tweaked to emulate it.  Inspriation came when the Neve-specific URS plug-in failed to come close, using "identical" settings.  This is not a fair comparison for the URS plug because control settings on an analog NEVE Equalizer are not repeatable enough to be phase accurate across two channels.

FIGURE-1: Settings used to replicate the analog Neve equalizer used in the audio samples. 

The Soundscape graphics below show that two instances of their "generic" EQ plug-in were required to achieve a near-null condition.  A separate "equalizer" for each channel solved the channel-to-chanel discrepancies.  I believe this lack of accurate channel balance creates phase issues and is one of the reasons analog gear is considered to have more spatial depth. 

To exaggerate "depth" and tickle the stereo imaging, try using two separate mono equalizers on stereo tracks and purposely set them differently OR use sum and difference (mid-side) techniques to achieve a similar effect.  This will be explored later...

analogNEVEemulationLOOP(5MB): Alternate loop of Neve 1064 and Soundscape EQ shows that a respectable job can be done by any EQ.

Raw Drum Clip: Flat Reference
Neve EQ Clip: Analog Neve 1064 EQ
URS Plug-in Clip: Plug-in version of the above using "identical" settings
Soundscape EQ: Neve Emulation using the null method (see images below)