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than in hard knee mode, and will therefore emphasize the slap at the beginning of the note
and reduce the boominess of its body. The MC6 also works well for tightening snare drums
and tom toms and can be used with drum machines to effectively alter the character of any
electronic drum sound.
For drum kit submixes (e.g., mixing multiple drum tracks to two tracks while using both chan-
nels of the MC6 for compression), consider backing off the RATIO (mid position) on each
channel to avoid an excess of cymbal “splattering.” In larger multitracking systems, compress
the kick and snare separately. A further possibility is to heavily compress a stereo submix of
toms and leave the remaining percussives unaffected.
Raising a Signal Out of a Mix
Since reducing dynamic range increases the average signal level by a small amount, a single
track can be raised out of a mix by boosting its level slightly and applying compression. Start
with the middle RATIO position and a relatively low THRESHOLD setting. Adjust both controls
as necessary.
Compressors have also been used to bring vocals to the forefront of a mix in volume-restricted
studios (e.g. home studios). Start by adding a foam windscreen to the mic (if it doesn’t have
one). Set the RATIO slider 3/4 to the right and the THRESHOLD slider slightly to the left of
center. With your mouth approximately 2 inches from the mic, sing the vocal part, but with
less volume than normal. Use phrasing to give the part some intensity. An equalizer (e.g., a dbx
242 Parametric Equalizer, dbx 20 or 30 Series Graphic Equalizers) or a vocal effects device
(e.g., reverb, delay, distortion) can be added to further define the performance.
Note: When compressing a stereo program with the MC6, the factors affecting a compression curve and the
actual RATIO and THRESHOLD settings are the same as those previously covered with reference to single chan-
nels of program material. However, it will generally be found that large amounts of compression are more
audible in a mixed stereo program than they might be on the separate tracks that were mixed to create the
program.
Smoothing out microphone levels
When distance is created between the vocalist and the microphone there will be a variation
in the signal level. Start with low compression to smooth out any variations. Limiting also bene-
fits intelligibility by allowing low-level input signals to be reproduced through the system at
higher volume.
Smoothing out musical instrument levels
Compression smooths out the variations of loudness among instruments. Using the MC6 can
also increase the instrument’s sustain. Compress the instrument’s output by adjusting the
RATIO and THRESHOLD settings to show between 8 and 12dB of gain reduction with a ratio
setting between mid-position and 3/4 to the right.
Speaker Protection
Compressors are frequently used to prevent excessive program levels from distorting power
amps and/or damaging drivers in a sound-reinforcement system (whether you’re doing audi-
torium, church, or club sound engineering, or are a mobile DJ, or like to push the limits of your
