Mixing & Mastering Tip #198 ·

How to draw your own groove with MAutoDynamicEQ's modulation

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I love tools that give you total control over dynamics, and MAutoDynamicEQ is one of them.

This one goes way deeper than your usual sidechain or envelope trickery: modulation lanes.

The hidden feature

Inside the plugin, there’s a modulation area you can toggle on.

MAutoDynamicEq with the Utilities panel highlighted, where the Mod 1 modulator is enabled

What does it do? It lets you modulate any parameter of the plugin: gain, frequency, filter slope, you name it. But the juicy part is that you get to draw your own rhythm directly into it.

This is gold when:

  • You want surgical control over bounce, movement and microdynamics
  • You’re bored of basic sidechain and want something more expressive

Step by step: drawing your first modulation

Here’s how I set it up:

  1. Open the modulation section.
  2. Pick a parameter. I used the Band 3 gain.
  3. Set your min/max range. I did 0 to +3 dB for a little lift.
  4. Draw the movement you want.
  5. Sync it to your BPM, and you have a custom groove ready to go.

MAutoDynamicEq Modulator 1 window with a sine shape and an empty parameter list

Modulator 1 assigned to band 3 gain with a range from 0 to +3 dB

And here’s the magic: you’re basically doing a reverse sidechain. Instead of ducking reactively, you’re creating dynamic shifts proactively.

Shape = bounce

Don’t sleep on the curvature tools. That little slope totally changes the feel:

  • Snappy attack: punchy, aggressive rhythm
  • Draggy rise: lazy, swaying groove

This isn’t just a “nice to have”. It affects the vibe of your whole track.

Editing the modulator signal shape curve by dragging a point to change the slope

Add stereo motion with mid/side

If you really want to spice it up, flip into mid/side mode and apply that movement to just the sides.

Modulating side-only gain or frequency with your custom shape creates stereo motion that feels alive. Perfect for pads, textures or wide FX.

Just don’t slap this on your master. It’s not built for that. But on individual elements, it’s a different story.

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