Mastering The Mix has announced CARBON Q, a plugin that treats EQ as a whole-mix concern rather than a per-track one. Instead of opening separate EQ instances across your session, CARBON Q puts vocals, music, drums, bass, and a master output channel in a single window, with each channel’s settings informed by what the others are doing.

The plugin includes context-aware presets that analyze your song and suggest a starting point for every channel simultaneously, setting both EQ curves and relative levels in one pass. There is also a reference track feature that splits an imported song into its core stems, measures the tonal balance and volume relationships of each part, and converts that analysis into a usable preset for your own mix.

Additional features include level-matched monitoring so EQ moves are not skewed by volume differences, a mid-side mode for controlling stereo width, a dynamic mode that targets tonal balance by managing peaks, and linear phase filters across every band.

CARBON Q is going to be available on 6 October 2026 at $80 USD (£59.00 GBP / €70.95 EUR), with a 15-day free trial on offer. An introductory 30% discount runs through until November 6th, 2026, and applies to both new and existing Mastering The Mix customers, with existing users receiving an additional loyalty discount on top.

Read the full Mastering The Mix CARBON Q review!