Omnia Audio Omnia A/XE - Manual (Page 56)

Drive: The sets the audio level that enters the WB-AGC. Increasing the Drive will produce
more compression. This control is calibrated between –6dB and +6dB, and adjusts the signal
level into the Wideband AGC. It should be adjusted to net approximately 12dB of gain
reduction with typical programming. Too little gain reduction can defeat the “leveling”
function of the Wideband AGC. Too much gain reduction has little additional benefit.
Nominal gain reduction values for the Wideband AGC are between 10 and 15dB.
Release: Controls the speed of recovery for any given amount of gain reduction. Faster
action yields less dynamic range and the presence of more density to the audio. The Release
control sets the time constants in relative terms using Slow, Medium, and Fast. Because the
time constants are program-dependent, calibrating these controls in absolute time values
(ms/dB) would be useless—therefore we use simple terminology.
GATE: When set to ON, it will freeze the gain at the last level of processing action that
occurred before the audio signal fell below the threshold of operation. This control helps to
minimize “pumping”, and the increase of background noise during pauses in programming.
MIX
This is where the three multiband processors are mixed together. Use care in adjusting this
section, as too much level from one particular band may cause an excessive amount of em-
phasis to that range of frequencies. Such adjustment may also drive the final limiter bands
in that range of frequencies too hard, causing the sound to become unnatural, dense, and
squashed. As explained earlier, if your desire is to “EQ” the sound, you should perform that
function using the drive levels in the multiband section. The mixer is primarily intended for
minor “EQ” changes to the overall sound. There is a +/-6dB range of adjustment for each
band.
50 | Processing Audio