15
4.
Increase the
Drive
to the clipper sections.
5.
A combination of all of the ab
ove (yes, it sounds crazy but it’s true)!
Always resist the temptation to make too many changes at once because it then becomes difficult to determine why,
or why not, an adjustment made the change you hear. It is better to make small adjustments to a small number of
controls at a time, and then listen to the result with a wide variety of program material. Once you have satisfactory
results in one area (like overall density) you can then move the focus to the next area that you feel needs more
tweaking.
D
on’t be afraid to experiment with different styles of processing! Our presets are good starting points and are not
restricted to any particular format because of their name!
Adding More Detail
— When Loudness Isn’t the Last Word
Now that we’ve “squashed
the grape,”
let’s look at what it takes to undo a heavily processed signal. Basically, just
reversing the procedures listed above will do the trick:
1.
Reduce the
Drive
to the Clipper sections.
2.
Back off on the influence of the Limiter stages:
• Red
uce the
Overall Limiter Drive
in the
Xover
.
• Reduce the
Release
times to slow down recovery.
• Raise the threshold of the
Hold
function.
3.
Ease up on the AGC sections:
• Reduce the
AGC Drive
to the Wideband AGC and the
Overall AGC Drive
in the Xover
.
• Reduce the
Release
times to operate slower.
Backing off the clipping sections first will allow the processing to retain a level of competitive loudness while
enhancing quality, and the overall dynamic texture will be affected less.
Start with reducing the
Clipper
amount in 0.5 dB steps. It’s surprising how much detail can be restored from just a
small change of 0.5 dB. Continue to reduce it until the loudness just falls off too much and then bring it back up a
little from there.
Generally, changes in the
Clipper
drives will have the most noticeable effect on quality, but it will also affect the
relative loudness level, too. You’ll need to find a “happy medium” that’s right for you.
Air-Sound Equalization Changes
Tailoring the shape of the overall audio spectrum can be done in three different sections:
1.
The relative
drive
settings in the multiband AGC
Xover
menu.
2.
The relative
Drive
settings in the individual multiband Limiter menus.
3.
The settings of the multiband limiter
Mixer
controls.
All three options will provide noticeable change in EQ. We suggest you use the first two listed options.
In either case, an EQ change is still followed by a
dynamically
controlled stage. Therefore any excessive EQ change
can be 'undone' by the subsequent AGC or Limiter.
