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.