← Music Tech Studio1.9 DynamicsDynamics bench
hover anything for the why
2 bars · 0 to −48 dB · DrumsBefore and after against the beat; the paper's drawing beside it, input across, output up, the dot is the loop now. Drag inside it to read a level off.
Presets
Threshold −12 dB: the level above which the compressor starts to turn the level down. On the drums that is 0% of the loop, up to 0 dB of gain reduction.AO3The kit goes through untouched. Fine as a bypass; not a setting to defend.AO4Write it in that order in the exam. Defining the parameter and giving its setting is AO3; what it does to this part, whether it suits, and what you would change are AO4, and 15 of the 20 marks are AO4.
Level
Play runs the pattern round two bars. Hold: dry bypasses the processor while you hold it, so you can hear what it is changing. The space bar plays and stops.
Source
Four sounds with four different dynamics. The kit is all hits; the 808 has long tails; the vocal rises and falls by the word; the stabs have a front and a tail. The same setting means something different on each.
Processorin
Four processors, one machine. A compressor turns the loud parts down; a limiter is a compressor that lets nothing past; a gate shuts the quiet parts off; an expander turns them further down. In and Out is the bypass.
Threshold−12 dB
where the processor starts to work
The level at which the compressor starts to work: above it. The ruler shows the loop's loudest hit (dark) and its quiet level (grey) against the threshold (gold). Drag the dial, or drag the gold line on the stage. Make-up is added after the compression, to put the level back.
Ratio3:1knee 6 dB
over the threshold, 3 dB in is 1 dB out
For every this-many dB the input goes over the threshold, the output goes over it by one. Infinity is a limiter. The knee is how sharply the ratio arrives; the drawing is the transfer curve the paper asks you to draw.
Attack
10 ms
medium
Attack is how long the compressor takes to act once the signal crosses the threshold. Slow it and the front of each hit gets through before the level comes down; that is the transient the paper asks about.
Release
150 ms
medium
Release is how long the compressor takes to let the level back up once the signal falls back under the threshold. Shorten it and the level swings with the beat, which is what pumping is.
What you should hear
…most gain reduction
…loudest moment after
…of the loop over the threshold
…loudest moment, before to after
all from the dials and the loop
Privacy
Every number here comes from the dials and the loop: how much the loudest hits are turned down, how loud the result is, how much of the loop the processor is working on, and whether the loudest moment ends up louder or quieter than it started, which is what make-up gain decides.