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APPENDIX
Tutorial
The unit is shipped with a number of factory presets identified as
ROM on the Recall page.
Presets are only meant as starting points. We urge you to tailor
the sound to the application or profile you want. With a couple of
changes, On-Air presets may be adopted for production or mas-
tering or vice versa.
Before having a tour through the presets, first load a proper level
setup in the Ref. Levels page.
For permanent installations also trim analog Outputs in 0.1dB
increments to achieve precise in situ interfacing.
Film and Post Production
For Film and Post Production applications you should first go to
the Ref. Levels page and load a suitable setup, e.g. EBU
Broadcast or Film Mastering. The Delay on Input page no. 1
should be set between 3 and 10 ms and turned ON.
Remember to setup appropriate Dither on the Out page if you use
digital Outputs. The receiving device will have a preference for a
given resolution from the DBMAX.
For mastering applications, the DBMAX can give you a 100%
overshoot free overload protection satisfying either analog or
digital metering standards. You may also simultaneously level
maximize your sound.
Apart from the many Limiting and Compressor/Limiter master-
ing presets, some production presets are meant for recording.
In Film Production old noise reduction systems are sometimes
used for dialog clean-up. In the DBMAX we’ve emulated some
of the machines on presets like CleanUp 100% and CleanUp
Cat43. Also a couple of special effects are available.
If you want to offset the spectral balance (Eq) of low level sig-
nals, use the Band Levels on page no. 2 of the Compressor block.
If you want to off-set the spectral balance of high level signals,
use the Threshold and Ratio on page no. 2 of the Compressor
block.
Film and CD Mastering
For Film and Post Production applications you should first go to
the REF LEVELS page and load a suitable setup, e.g. EBU
Broadcast, Film Mastering or CD Mastering. Also check that the
Hi-Cut filters on Input page no. 2 are not activated, and the
Delay on Input page no. 1 is set between 3 and 10 ms and turned
ON.
Remember to setup appropriate Dither on the Out page if you use
digital Outputs. The receiving device will have a preference for a
given resolution from the DBMAX.
For final limiting at the Output, the Production Limiter would
typically be used with a PPM response for Film Mastering and a
TX response for CD Mastering. By balancing the Limiter
Threshold and the Soft Clipper, different results may be obtained.
To create a good Mono master from a stereo source, try using the
EBU90*Mono preset.
To adjust the Stereo Width you may use the MS E MS
Decoder in that sequence and offset the M/S balance. Gain
should be made up with e.g. the Normalizer.
If you want to offset the spectral balance (Eq) of low level sig-
nals, use the Band Levels on page no. 2 of the Compressor block.
If you want to offset the spectral balance of high level signals,
use the Threshold and Ratio on page no. 2 of the Compressor
block.
Broadcast Continuity
For Continuity applications you should first go to the Ref.
Levels page and load a suitable setup, e.g. EBU Broadcast.
The Delay on Input page no. 1 should be set between 2 and 3 mS
and turned ON.
You may wish to add further delay for link compensation etc.
Use the same Delay control on this page, but generally avoid
reducing it to less than 1ms. The Delay is also shown in Frames
on the Input page. The calculation is based on the fps. setting in
the Utility page.
Remember to setup appropriate Dither on the Out page if you use
digital Outputs. The receiving device will have a preference for a
given resolution from the DBMAX.
As a starting point for a unity gain limiter in an EBU
environment, first load the EBU Broadcast setup, then the EBU
Limiter preset.
The 5-band Limiter will provide full Output protection for Input
signals up to 0dBFS or +18dBu.
As an example, distortion figures for digital I/O applications are
