Ratio
Ratio tells the compressor how much to lower those
passages that are louder than the threshold. A ratio
of 1:1, for example, means that the sound comes out 1
to 1 - as it is - the compressor does not do anything.
At a ratio of 2:1, the loud passages will be lowered by
a factor of 2 — they will come out only half as loud as
they were when they came in. At a ratio of 4:1, they
will come out 4 times softer, and so on. So the Ra-
tio setting effectively decides how much the passages
above the threshold will be compressed.
Refer to the image below for a graphical representa-
tion of the compression input/output ratio. The image
shows ratios 1:1, 2:1 and 100:1. At the highest setting
100:1, the compressor will act as a limiter, and will not
pass any signal levels above the threshold.
Input (dB)
Output (dB)
Threshold
1:1
2:1
100:1
Threshold
The threshold knob sets the level at which a passage
is considered "loud" — that’s the point at which the
compressor will start working. For example, if you set
the threshold to -16 dB, then everything below that
level will pass straight through, while anything above
-16 dB will be attenuated according to the ratio set-
ting.
Attack
The attack parameter adjusts the time it takes for the
compressor to react to a signal exceeding the thresh-
old. The attack time involves a trade-off: Short at-
tack times usually sound more transparent, but can
also cause distortion artifarcts on some signals when
the compressor reacts too quickly. Long attack times
usually do not cause distortion problems, but fast tran-
sients pass through uncompressed which sometimes
sounds objectionable.
Release
The release parameter adjusts the time it takes for the
compressor to recover when the threshold is no longer
exceeded.
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DUNE 2 User’s Manual
Summary of Contents for DUNE 2
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