CHAPTER 17 |
122
GETTING THE SOUND YOU WANT
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Adjusting the
Multiband AGC Targets
can have a very significant effect on the spectral balance of your
sound as well but there are important factors to consider when adjusting these controls. For example:
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Raising the target of a particular band can make the audio within that band louder (providing
increased gain) but this can also slow down the release rate if Progressive Release is employed, as
Progressive Release is driven by the current amount of gain in that band.
The opposite is true when lowering a target. Doing so can make a particular band softer (providing
decreased gain) but can result in an accelerated release rate when Progressive Release is used.
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Since raising the target increases gain, doing so means that audio in a particular band may not be
increased sufficiently if the source material is lacking in that part of the spectrum. For example, if the
source material lacks brightness and the target of the top bands is raised too much, there may not be
enough “room” in those bands to sufficiently increase their output.
The result may be spectral inconsistencies from source-to-source. If creating a consistent spectral
signature is important, this may be problematic. If, on the other hand, your goals lean more toward
preserving the spectral balance of the original material, this could be advantageous.
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Making adjustments to the
Band Mix
will also influence the spectral balance, but since this is the final
point in the processing chain before the Final Clipper (AM core) or Final Limiter (HD and Streaming
cores), any peaks that result from adjustments made here will be dealt with only by these more aggressive
processing stages. While it is not always a bad idea to increase the output level of a particular band,
depending upon the sound you are trying to create, you may have better results by decreasing the output
of the rest of the bands by that amount instead. Or, you may instead wish to make the adjustments to suit
your tastes and then reduce the overall Band Mix level.
The Multiband AGC Target and Band Mix controls can be used together to help fine tune your sound.
For example, let’s say you are using a 5-band preset and you want to create a more dense-sounding mid-range. By
lowering the targets of bands 3 and 4, you will drive those bands further toward a state of gain reduction (and
increase their release rate when Progressive Release is utilized) but this can also cause them to become softer in the
mix if Progressive Release is not used or the source material doesn’t have significant content in those bands. You
can compensate for this loss by increasing the gain of those bands in the Band Mix.
Or, let’s say you want an open and dynamic low end, and have raised the targets of Bands 1 and 2 to achieve less
compression but now find that the bass seems too prominent in the mix. You can decrease the gain of these bands
in the Band Mix section to restore a more balanced sound.