User:Jdayton/British EQ

British EQ
The term "British EQ" is more of a marketing ploy than an actual set of qualities. In the 1960s and 1970s most of the best audio mixing consoles were made in the UK. Later on as other manufacturers started to market their products British companies such as Amek, Neve and Soundcraft began touting their equalization as being a cut above. Today many companies such as Behringer which is based in Germany advertise British EQ on their equipment.

Misconceptions
Some think that because many British consoles had "dual sweep" mid-range controls (controls for both high and low mids with variable frequencies) that any EQ having this feature was a "British EQ". Another misconception is that because some makers used center frequencies that were common musical tones, such as A440, that an EQ with a similar setup was "British". The term "musical EQ" is often used in tandem with the British moniker which may refer to filters with a higher Q (see Bandwidth (signal processing)) that would have a more subtle effect on the sound than a smaller notch filter.

Quality
While there is no actual set of qualifications for an EQ to be British, and in fact any manufacturer can say that they produce one, it might be best to say that a true "British EQ" is one that emulates the sound achieved on an expensive British console. In the 1970s large consoles were custom designed, carefully thought out, and tremendously expensive. Careful attention was paid to how each component affected the sound. Such qualities make for good equipment and at the time such equipment came almost solely from the UK.

With the ever falling cost of engineering and manufacturing it is now possible to find less expensive equipment that performs very well. However audio production is a highly subjective realm where many decisions are based on feel and intuition. (Audio engineers have often pressed broken equipment into service because of the special qualities it can lend to the work.) Saying an EQ "sounds British" is akin to saying a car "feels German". It is an area that is widely open to interpretation and argument abounds.