Fusion User Guide
Tutorial
12
HF Compressor (High Frequency Compressor)
This is a compressor circuit that only compresses high-frequencies. It helps to introduce a
‘tape-like’ top-end roll-off by taming unwanted brittleness or harshness that can sometimes
build up in a mix or individual stem sound. The cause might be due to over-use of plug-ins
with top-end ‘hype’. The front panel
THRESHOLD
determines at what point compression
starts to occur, whilst
X-OVER
determines the frequencies that are affected by the
compression. Other typical compressor parameters such as attack, release and ratio are
all fixed in the design, having been optimised for the best transparency.
A good starting point for full mix material is
THRESHOLD
at +2dB and
X-OVER
around
15kHz. The best approach is to move the controls until the accompanying HF Compressor
tri-colour LED just starts to flicker green occasionally. A sustained green, into orange will
likely be too heavy-handed for most mixes. It must be noted that there is no automatic
makeup gain, as commonly found on digital single-band compressors. This means you
will not be fooled by a flattering gain make-up. Another important thing to note is that if the
mix is already well balanced and mixed, you may not need to engage this circuit at all! However, when used subtly, it can smooth
harshness off in a very pleasing way. On individual stems, like bass guitars, you can be more aggressive with it.
TIP: A nice trick is to deliberately apply more high-end than you would normally in the preceding
VIOLET EQ
section
(apply more gain on your chosen
HIGH
frequency) and then use the
HF COMPRESSOR
to tame it back. This can
often help achieve a brighter top end, without the harshness.
Stereo Image
The
STEREO IMAGE
circuit allows for true mid-side processing within Fusion. Mid-Side
is a technique commonly used in mastering that separates a stereo signal into 2 channels
- one for the sounds in the centre (mid) of a stereo image and the other for the sounds on
the edges of the stereo image (side). The
WIDTH
allows you to increase the level of the
side signal only, to generally widen or narrow the stereo image. The
SPACE
control allows
you to experiment with a broad boost or cut of bass frequencies in the side signal and this
feature is based upon the often overlooked but quite brilliant ‘Stereo Shuffling’ processing
technique. Many people think of wanting to remove bass from the side signals but this
SPACE
control may have you re-thinking that approach as you can inject some really
interesting depth effects into the mix.
SPACE
settings 4dB on whole mixes may
be too extreme, so try b2dB and +4dB to start with.
