Automating EQ - getting clicks w/ EQ on/off

Cubase
#1

Hi - I’ve got some vocals with overemphasized frequencies on some notes, and I was trying to automate an EQ to kick in at those times.

What I did was have EQ “off” on the vocal track, automate it “on” at the right time to the EQ curves I wanted, then when the vocal note was done, the EQ was automated back to “off”.

The problem is that with each EQ on/off automation, there is an audible single click. The automation itself sounds fine, just the on/off doesn’t.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? Any suggestions please for how to avoid?

I thought maybe multing the track would be an alternative/workaround, but hopefully there’s a way to stay on one track and not have to add to the complexity of the project.

Thanks!

#2

I would say any time you instantaneously change the waveform, you will probably get a click or pop. One solution is to leave the EQ on but automate the parameters to MOVE (very quickly but not instantaneously) to the desired values.
HTH
J.L.

#3

Yes sir, thank you for the idea. I have confirmed that works, but it I soon realized that drawing 16 EQ parameters by hand for each note onset (4 EQ curves, each with its own frequency/gain/quality/type parameters) , and then doing that again for each EQ note offset, would make me lose my mind long before I was done.

Any other ideas to avoid clicks?

Thanks!

#4

This is a guess, but maybe the click comes from the slight change in total plugin latency from enabling/disabling the EQ?
What if you bypass the EQ bands instead of automating the on/off?

#5

Or

Copy the track and put the modified eq on the copy and cut between the two

#6

Thanks guys, hope to try this out this wknd, will report back.