Dbx® dynamics, Dynamics, Compressor – Lexicon MX200 User Manual

Page 25: De-esser

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dbx

®

Dynamics

A De-Esser is a type of compressor used

to control specific frequencies. Excessive

sibilance, or the “s” sounds, can be tamed

by applying this effect.

De-Esser Controls

Knob 1: Compression Ratio

Determines the amount of compression,

from 1:1 (no effect) to Infinity:1 (complete

limiting).

Knob 2: Frequency Range

Selects the frequency range of compres-

sion in 40 discrete steps from 1600Hz to

10kHz (the most common frequencies in

which excessive sibilance occurs).

Knob 3: Bandwidth (Q)

Controls the bandwidth or “Quality” (Q) of

frequency range. The higher the selected

value, the tighter the bandwidth, and less

apparent the de-essing effect is.

Incremental in six steps from 1/4 Octave

(0) to 1/24th Octave (5). See Appendix on

page 39 for bandwidth values.

A compressor is used to control the

dynamic range of a signal. Typically used

to tighten bass or drum tracks, or to control

a vocal passage, a compressor is a very

useful but often misunderstood tool. To bet-

ter use the Compressor in the MX200, a

bit of understanding about compression is

helpful.

When a signal level crosses the

Threshold level, the compressor then

reduces the amount of output level by an

amount determined by the Ratio. For

example, if the threshold is set to -12dB,

and the ratio set to 4:1, then when signal

exceeds -12dB, the signal level above that

amount only increases by 1dB to every

4dB of signal level above -12dB. In this

case, an incoming signal of -4dB (which is

8dB above the threshold) would result in

an output signal of -10dB, or 2dB higher

than the threshold level, since the 4:1 com-

pression ratio only allowed 2dB more out-

put, based on the 8dB increase above the

-12dB threshold.

Because the resulting output is less than

the original signal, a third control, Makeup

Gain compensates for this loss of level,

but with less dynamic range, or the differ-

ence between the softest and loudest parts

of the signal.

Compressor Controls

Knob 1: Threshold

Determines the threshold above which

compression begins, incrementally

between -70dB and 0dB (FS).

Knob 2: Compression Ratio

Selects the compression ratio, from 1:1 (no

effect) to Infinity:1 (or complete limiting).

Knob 3: Makeup Gain

Increases the output level to compensate

for signal attenuation during compression.

Incremental between 0dB (no gain) to

+12dB.

Compressor

Mono (Wet only)

De-Esser

Mono (Wet only)

19

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