Dynamics

Comp Chan (channel compressor) is derived from a classic 'feedback-based FET limiting amplifier' design.

It features a 'fixed-threshold' design – the threshold at which compression starts is not adjustable. In practice, this means you may need to adjust the Input and Output levels when changing ratios.

Input & Output

This control adjusts the level of the signal entering the compressor. Once the input level has reached the internal threshold, compression begins. When this happens, use the Output control to turn down the increased input. The Input control ranges from -20 tp +40 dB, while the Output control ranges from -40 dB to +20 dB.

This device is based on a classic bus compressor design from the centre section of a well-known British large-format mixing console.

It is most commonly used to add 'glue' and power to a drum bus. However, it also works very well as a channel compressor in its own right, offering a different flavour of compression compared to the Comp Chan.

Key HP (Key signal High-pass)

The Key HP control adjusts a variable high pass filter on the key signal that is used for the compressor's amplitude detection. It is applied whether the main input or the SideChain input is being used to drive the compressor. No filtering is applied to the audible signal - only to that being used to drive the peak detection circuit.

This control is useful when there is too much low-end in the sidechain signal, resulting in the compressor reacting more heavily than desired.

DCAM EnvShaper offers an alternative approach to dynamics processing by allowing you to adjust the intensity of the attack and sustain portions of transients.

Attack

The Attack control adjusts the intensity of the attack phase of detected peaks in the audio signal. Increase the control to intensify attack transients, and decrease it to soften transients.

Sustain

The Sustain control adjusts the intensity of release portions of detected peaks in the audio signal, which increases or decreases the apparent sustain of sounds in the signal.

A noise gate is a type of dynamics processor that attenuates the input signal until its amplitude exceeds an adjustable threshold level, at which time the gate 'opens' to allow audio through at its actual level.

They are often used during drum mixing in order to isolate drums within signals containing bleed or spill from other drums. Another common use is to reduce the decay of toms and kicks. Noise gates are often referred to simply as 'gates'.

While BFD3 contains bleed channels, these can be turned down or off completely rather than having to use gates to minimize bleed. Likewise, the decay of kit-pieces can be adjusted using the Damping controls in the Drum Editor. However, using gates can be good for creative effects, or simply for recreating the types of techniques used in real drum mixing sessions.

The Distortion device is an updated version of BFD2's Drive processor which is now available within the Legacy sub-menu.

Mode

The Mode drop-down menu selects between a wide variety of distortion types.

Drive

The Drive control sets the amount of distortion that takes place.

Input Filter

This control provides high-pass and low-pass filters before the distortion stage to enable you to shape the tonal characteristics of the signal going into the drive circuit.

A limiter is effectively a compressor with a very fast attack time and a high ratio for signals that exceed the maximum level.

Input

The Input control adjusts the level of the signal going into the Limiter algorithm. Higher input levels lead to more pronounced and 'brutal' limiting.

Hardness

The Hardness control adjusts the strength of the Limiter's 'knee'. At high settings, peaks are clipped with a 'brick-wall' limiting effect. At lower settings, gain reduction occurs more slowly (with slower attack and release settings), leading to a more natural effect with less 'pumping'.

The Gain effect is a simple tool for increasing or decreasing a channel's level.

Gain

The Gain control lets you increase the channel's gain up to 18 dB, or decrease it up to -inf dB.

The AIR Compressor changes the dynamic range of a signal by automatically reducing its gain if it exceeds a certain level (the threshold).

Mode

- Peak the compressor will respond when any peak overshoots the threshold.

- RMS the compressor responds to the average loudness of a signal. It will only compress the incoming signal, if its average level is above the threshold for a sustained period.

- Opto emulates an optical compressor. Typically has a slow attack time which facilitates a warm but but distortion-free gain reduction effect.

Threshold

This is the volume level at which compression will be applied. Any sound at this volume or higher will be compressed. Any signal lower than this setting will bypass the compressor.

Attack

This is how much time the compressor takes to start applying compression to the incoming signal once it exceeds the threshold. High settings may allow some signal peaks to bypass the compressor.

Release

This is how much time the compressor takes to stop applying compression to the incoming signal once it falls below the threshold.

Knee

The Knee control adjusts the strength of the Limiter's 'knee'. At high settings, peaks are clipped with a 'brick-wall' limiting effect. At lower settings, gain reduction occurs more slowly (with slower attack and release settings), leading to a more natural effect with less 'pumping'.

Ratio

This determines how much compression is applied to any signal that exceeds the threshold.

Low Sens & High Sens

These knobs determine how much the compressor is triggered by Low and High frequency material in the sound.

Output

This setting lets you raise or lower the gain level of the compressed signal. If the signal is heavily compressed, you may want to set this to a higher value.

AIR Distortion adds color to the audio signal with various types and varying amounts of distortion.

Mode

- Hard distortion mode provides a sharp, immediate distortion of the signal.

- Soft distortion mode provides a softer, more gradual distortion of the signal.

- Wrap distortion mode wraps the waveform back on itself for a complex distortion tone that changes quickly from soft to harsh.

Drive

The Drive control lets you increase the drive (input volume) of the signal from 0 dB (no distortion) to 60 dB (way too much distortion!) Sometimes an increase or decrease of just 1 or 2 decibels can make a big difference on the amount and quality of distortion.

Pre-Shape

The Pre-Shape control control lets you increase or decrease a broad gain boost (or attenuation) of treble frequencies in the processed signal. Pre-Shape is essentially a pre-distortion tone control that makes the distortion bite at different frequencies. Set to 0%, the Pre-Shape control doesn't affect the tone at all. Higher settings provide a boost in the high end of the distorted signal (more treble distortion), while lower settings suppress the high end, with some mid-range boost, for a darker less distorted tone.

High Cut

The High Cut control lets you adjust the frequency for the High Cut filter. To attenuate the highend of the processed signal, lower the frequency..

Edge

The Edge control lets you change clipping from being symmetrical to being asymmetrical, which makes it sound richer, and nastier at high settings. The difference is most noticeable at lower Drive settings.

Threshold

The Threshold lets you adjust the headroom for the dynamic range of the distorted signal between –20.0 dBFS and 0.0 dBFS. Rather than using the Drive to adjust the signal level relative to a fixed clipping level, use the Headroom control to adjust the clipping level without changing the signal level.

Output

The Output control lets you lower the Output level of the distorted signal from 0–100%. At 0%, no distorted signal passes through the output. At 100%, the distorted signal passes through the output at full volume.

Stereo

When Stereo is enabled, the left and right channels of the incoming stereo signal are processed separately. When it is disabled, the incoming stereo signal is summed and processed as mono. The Stereo button is lit when it is enabled.

The AIR Dyn3 Compressor plug-in applies either compression or limiting to audio material, depending on the ratio of compression used.

Knee

The Knee control sets the rate at which the compressor reaches full compression once the threshold has been exceeded. As you increase this control, it goes from applying “hard-knee” compression to “soft-knee” compression. With hard-knee compression, compression begins when the input signal exceeds the threshold. This can sound abrupt and is ideal for limiting. With soft-knee compression, gentle compression begins and increases gradually as the input signal approaches the threshold, and reaches full compression after exceeding the threshold. This creates smoother compression.

Ratio

The Ratio control sets the compression ratio, or the amount of compression applied as the input signal exceeds the threshold. For example, a 2:1 compression ratio means that a 2 dB increase of level above the threshold produces a 1 db increase in output. This control ranges from 1:1 (no compression) to 100:1 (hard limiting).

Attack

The Attack control sets the attack time, or the rate at which gain is reduced after the input signal crosses the threshold. The smaller the value, the faster the attack. The faster the attack, the more rapidly the Compressor/Limiter applies attenuation to the signal. If you use fast attack times, you should generally use a proportionally longer release time, particularly with material that contains many peaks in close proximity. This control ranges from 10 μs (fastest attack time) to 300 ms (slowest attack time).

Release

The Release control sets the length of time it takes for the Compressor/Limiter to be fully deactivated after the input signal drops below the threshold. Release times should be set long enough that if signal levels repeatedly rise above the threshold, the gain reduction “recovers” smoothly. If the release time is too short, the gain can rapidly fluctuate as the compressor repeatedly tries to recover from the gain reduction. If the release time is too long, a loud section of the audio material could cause gain reduction that continues through soft sections of program material without recovering. This control ranges from 5 ms (fastest release time) to 4 seconds (slowest release time).

Threshold

The Threshold control sets the level that an input signal must exceed to trigger compression or limiting. Signals that exceed this level will be compressed. Signals that are below it will be unaffected.

Output

This control lets you boost overall output gain to compensate for heavily compressed or limited signals. This control ranges from 0 dB (no gain boost) to +30 dB (loudest gain boost).

The AIR Expander applies expansion to audio material, depending on the ratio setting. Expansion decreases the gain of signals that fall below a chosen threshold. They are particularly useful for reducing noise or signal leakage that creeps into recorded material as its level falls, as often occurs in the case of headphone leakage.

Ratio

The Ratio control sets the amount of expansion. For example, if this is set to 2:1, it will lower signals below the threshold by one half. At higher ratio levels (such as 30:1 or 40:1) the Expander functions like a gate by cutting off signals that fall below the threshold. This control ranges from 1:1 (no expansion) to 100:1 (gating).

Range

The Range control sets the depth of the Expander. Setting it to higher range levels allows more and more of the audio that falls below the threshold to peek through at all times. This control ranges from 0 dB (lowest depth) to 40 dB (highest depth).

Threshold

The Threshold sets the level below which an input signal must fall to trigger expansion or gating. Signals that fall below the threshold will be reduced in gain. Signals that are above it will be unaffected. This control has an approximate range of –40 dB to 0 dB, with a setting of 0 dB equivalent to no compression or limiting. The default value for the Threshold control is –20 dB.

Attack

The Attack control sets the attack time, or the rate at which gain is reduced after the input signal crosses the threshold. Use this along with the Ratio setting to control how soft the Expander’s gain reduction curve is. This control ranges from 10 μs (fastest attack time) to 100 ms (slowest attack time).

Release

The Release control sets how long it takes for the gate to close after the input signal falls below the threshold level and the hold time has passed. This control ranges from 10 ms (fastest release time) to 10 seconds (slowest release time).

Output

This setting lets you raise or lower the gain level of the compressed signal. If the signal is heavily compressed, you may want to set this to a higher value.

The AIR Maximizer is a limiter optimized for mastering.

Threshold

This is the volume level at which limiting will be applied. Any sound at this volume or higher will be limited. Any signal lower than this setting will pass through Maximizer unaffected.

Release

This is how much time the AIR Maximizer takes to stop limiting to the incoming signal once it falls below the threshold.

LF Mono

This knob controls the range of low frequencies that will be mono instead of stereo. Any frequencies below this setting will be summed into a mono signal. This is useful when mastering songs for a vinyl format.

Ceiling

This knob sets the highest possible level of the audio signal after limiting is applied.

Knee

This determines how much the signal’s gain is reduced as it exceeds the threshold. The Hard setting does not affect the signal until it exceeds the threshold, after which it dramatically reduces its gain. The Select Soft setting slightly reduces the signal’s gain before it exceeds the threshold, resulting in a more gradual gain reduction (this option actually applies more limiting to the signal than Hard limiting).

Lookahead

This plugin “looks ahead” to determine its response.

The AIR Transient can be used to add more attack or increase the sustain of a sound.

Attack

A positive Attack value emphasizes attack events, whereas a negative Attack value will smooth out the attack envelope

Attack Shape

This controls the shape of the attack. At its lowest value, the attack will have a very fast rise and fall. The higher the value, the less "sharp" it will sound.

Sustain

A positive Sustain value lengthens the sustain, whereas a negative Sustain value will shorten the sustain.

Output

This knob adjusts the level of the output signal (-20.0 to +20.0 dB).

Limit

With the Limit button enabled, peaks are clipped with a 'brick-wall' limiting effect. The Limit button is lit when it is enabled.

AIR Tube Drive emulates the sound of the signal being played through a mildly “overdriven” tube amp, creating a warm, smooth-sounding distortion.

Drive

This knob lets you increase the drive (input volume) of the signal from 0 dB (no distortion) to 60 dB (way too much distortion!). Sometimes an increase or decrease of just 1 of 2 decibels can make a big difference on the amount and quality of distortion.

Headroom

This knob adjusts the point at which the incoming signal starts to distort. At lower settings, the signal will distort even at low volumes. At higher settings, the signal will remain “clean” at lower or mid-range volumes and then start distorting when it becomes very loud. Traditional tube amplifiers for guitars can be modified to adjust their headroom—this control lets you do that instantly.

Saturation

This knob adjusts how saturated the distorted signal is, which affects the “color” of the sound. At lower settings, the distortion will sound subtler and warmer. At higher settings, the distortion will sound harsher.

Ouput

This knob adjusts the level of the output signal (-20.0 to +20.0 dB).