Eric Valentine's MPEQ1 Deep Dive + Audio Examples

Take a deep dive into the Undertone Audio MPEQ-1 Super-Parametric Saturation Equalizer Plugin — a new kind of EQ built to bring something truly unprecedented to the digital world. The legendary hardware MPEQ-1 does things that even most digital EQs can’t do. When we set out to bring it into the plugin world, simply recreating the hardware wasn’t enough. The plugin had to preserve everything that made the original iconic while pushing the concept even further. In this deep dive, explore the MPEQ-1’s approach to tone shaping, filtering, and saturation — from subtle mix moves to more creative applications across a full session. ▬▬▬ INSIDE THE MPEQ-1 ▬▬▬ • Variable Shape control • Exceptionally versatile filters • Wide-range Q control • Unique Vari-Phase mode • Dedicated saturation stage for every EQ band • Band-by-band harmonic coloration • Flexible control over frequency, shape, saturation, and character ▬▬▬ A NEW KIND OF EQ ▬▬▬ The MPEQ-1 plugin does everything the hardware does: the variable shape, the exceptionally versatile filters, the wide-range Q control, and the unique Vari-Phase mode. We painstakingly recreated everything that made the original iconic. But the plugin goes even further. Each EQ band has its own dedicated saturation stage, letting you add rich harmonic coloration on a band-by-band basis. Boost your highs into saturation while carving the low mids and leaving the low end clean. Push a snare’s fundamental until it sings while keeping the top end clean. This kind of control is truly unprecedented. ▬▬▬ TRY THE MPEQ-1 ▬▬▬ Try the MPEQ-1 free for 14 days: [TRIAL LINK] ▬▬▬ CHAPTERS ▬▬▬ 0:00 Intro – a new EQ plugin 0:28 Why neural-capture instead of algorithms 1:48 How the EQ filters work (TPT / Undertone EQ) 3:05 Interface tour + built-in spectrum analyzer 4:32 Standard controls: gain, bandwidth, frequency 5:11 The Shape control: blending peak into shelf 6:52 Building custom shelf shapes (Neve, API, linear) 8:20 Cut mode and the always-active Q 10:14 Notch mode: eliminating a frequency entirely 11:22 Phase control and how it interacts with other tracks 12:56 The harmonic distortion panel 13:24 Per-band distortion – the feature I always wanted 14:13 Measuring the harmonics in Plugin Doctor 16:00 Per-band distortion demo at 1k 17:14 Why distortion is independent of EQ amount 18:44 Distortion in cut and notch modes 21:15 The three models: RCA BC2B tube, Smooth, Orban 672A 25:00 Audio demo 1: one-mic drums and bass 26:45 Drum EQ + distortion breakdown 27:48 Gain staging: keeping it additive 30:55 Comparing tube vs solid state vs algorithmic 31:15 Extreme bass guitar notch-distortion example 36:00 Audio demo 2: full song mix (20 instances) 39:14 Snare drum: presence without the poke 41:04 Drum bus saturation 42:57 Taming bass resonance + low-end analyzer detail 44:52 Analyzer resolution modes + guitar harmonic trick 47:55 Acoustic guitar through the tube model 50:00 Lead vocal: smoothing the high mids 52:28 Wrap up There are a lot of powerful EQ plugins out there. The MPEQ-1 was built to do something different. It’s a new kind of EQ — and once you’ve worked with it, you’ll find it hard to go back. #MPEQ1 #UndertoneAudio #EQPlugin #Mixing #MusicProduction #AudioEngineering