Novel designs for the parametric peaking EQ user interface for single channel corrective EQ tasks

This paper evaluates the suitability of existing parametric peaking EQ interfaces of analogue and digital mixing desks and audio plugins for single channel corrective EQ tasks. It proposes novel alternatives based upon displaying FFT bin maximums for the full audio duration behind the EQ curve, automatically detecting and displaying the top five FFT bin maximum peaks to assist the engineer, an alternative numerical list display of top five FFT bin maximum peaks and an interface that allows direct manipulation of the displayed FFT bin maximums. All interfaces were evaluated based on the time taken to perform a corrective EQ task, preference ranking and qualitative comments. Results indicate that the novel EQ interfaces presented have potential over existing EQ interfaces.