TK Audio BC1-S - Manual (Page 2)

L+R: When engaged the side chain signals are summed to mono before hitting the threshold
detectors meaning that the compressor will be 6dB more sensitive to the centre information of
the mix. That usually means kick drum, snare drum, bass guitar and lead vocals. In most
cases L+R should not be used.
ATTACK: UF (ultrafast) / 0.1 / 0.3 / 0.6 / 1 / 3 / 10 / 30 / 60 / 120mS. The attack setting
defines the time it takes for the compressor to decrease the gain and reach the level
determined by the ratio. Faster attack settings means better control of the transient part of the
sound, but if set too fast the compressor might cut away more transients than wanted. A good
starting point is 10ms.
RELEASE: 50 / 100 / 300 / 600ms / 1.2S / Auto. The release setting defines the time it takes
for the compressor to increase the gain to the level determined by the ratio, once the level has
fallen below the threshold. Higher release settings will result in a less intrusive compression
with lower distortion, but if set too high the compression might not be effective enough. A
good starting point is 100ms or Auto.
AUTO RELEASE: Makes the release function time dependent on the duration of the signal
peak. In practise it’s a fire-and-forget setting that behaves the same way as a classic British
bus compressor used by many since the 80’s.
GAIN REDUCTION METER: The metering shows the average level (RMS) of the gain
reduction which differs from the peak level meters of most plug-ins - comparatively it’s slower
and in practise it means that a little goes a long way. The proper amount of compression on a
mix is usually done when the needle moves in the middle of 0 and 4. Higher ratio and faster
release settings will result in a more obvious compression/limiting that sometimes is too fast
for the needle to show. Always use your ears first and just use the metering as a quick
reference.
MAKE-UP: 0 to+20dB of gain in 41 steps to balance the compressed signal level against the
input signal level.
COMP IN: Engages and disengages the compressor. Should be used a lot to control how the
compressor is affecting the sound.
STRAIGHT MUTE: When engaged the uncompressed signal is muted; useful when doing
parallel compression and you just want to listen to the compressed signal.
BLEND: Straight to compressed sound in 21 steps. Turning the knob clock wise will mix the
original signal with the compressed signal. For more information please read the section
about parallel compression.