Metric Halo Production Bundle - Manual (Page 77)

Processing
77
Compressor Enable
When this button is off, the compressor section will not change the signal.
Band Solo Button
This button (the speaker icon next to the Enable button) allows you to monitor the selected compressor's output.
This will allow you to listen one or more bands of compression in isolation. When you are done listening to
the soloed band(s), click this button again to hear Multiband Dynamics' normal output.
Auto Gain
When the “Auto Gain” button is enabled the compressor automatically adjusts the makeup gain in the com-
pressor output stage so that if the manual “O Gain” knob is set to 0 dB the static gain reduction for a 0 dB
input level will be about 7 dB. This number was chosen because it works well with the default settings of the
“Attack” and “Release” knobs to provide enough pad to not clip fast transients. The “O Gain” knob will apply
additional trim to the internal automatic gain. If the threshold is set very low (e.g. –60 dB) and auto gain is
enabled, you will not be able to add very much manual gain (only about 1 – 2 dB) even though the readout
on the knob will go up to + 30 dB. This is an internal limitation of the compressor.
Threshold Control
The “Thresh” knob controls the level at which the compressor begins to reduce the gain applied to the signal.
When the detector level is below the threshold level, no gain reduction is applied. As the detector level in-
creases above the threshold level, the gain is reduced as indicated by the knee diagram associated with the
compressor. The compressor knee is soft. The ratio increases as the difference between the detector level and
the threshold increases.
The compressor threshold level is also indicated by the red bar above the gate input meter. You can adjust the
threshold level using this indicator as well as by using the “Thresh” knob.
Manual Make-Up Gain
The “Gain” knob allows you to manually adjust the makeup gain applied to the signal after the gain reduction
applied by the compressor by ±30 db. If the Auto Gain switch is off, this is the amount of makeup gain applied.
If the Auto Gain switch is on, then this parameter is a trim added to the internally computed makeup gain. The
makeup gain is enabled and disabled along with the rest of the compressor.
Ratio Control
The “Ratio” knob controls the ‘terminal’ ratio used to compute the gain reduction of the compressor. When
the ratio associated with the soft knee hits the ratio specified by the ratio knob, the knee ‘hardens’ and remains
at the same constant ratio. If you set the ratio to 1000:1 the compressor will have a soft knee for all input levels
and thresholds. This makes the compressor work like a classic all tube limiter/compressor.
Compressor Knee Control
The “Knee” knob allows you to adjust shape of the compressor transfer function. When the Knee control is set
to 0, the transfer function of the compressor is a classic “hard-knee” in which the compressor applies no gain
reduction when the detector is below the threshold, and the gain is reduced by the ratio when the detector
level is above the threshold.