Limit Threshold And Headroom Meter; Tips And Tricks - Rane C4 Operator's Manual

Quad compressor / limiter

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Operator's manual (12 pages)

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LIMIT THRESHOLD and Headroom Meter

-20

-30

-40

LIMIT THRESHOLD

Headroom

In addition to the Compressor / De-esser, each channel of

the C4 features an independent, brick-wall Limiter with an

instantaneous attack time, ﬁxed 25 ms hold time and a ﬁxed 6

dB/second release rate. The C4's limiter uses oversampling in

order to ensure high frequency transients are properly detected

and acted upon.

The Headroom meter displays the diﬀerence, in dB, between

the LIMIT THRESHOLD and the present signal level. For

example, with LIMIT THRESHOLD set to +10 dBu, a peak

signal level of +4 dBu results in a display of 6 dB of remain-

ing headroom (+10 dB minus +4 dB equals 6 dB). The LIMIT

indicator lights when the present signal exceeds the set Limit

Threshold. When setting the Limiter Threshold keep in mind

that music often has peaks which are 12 to 20 dB higher than

the average (rms) value, which is displayed on the side-chain

meter.

Note: The Limiter is active at all times and is not aﬀected by

the bypass switch. To bypass the limiter, simply rotate the Lim-

iter Threshold control fully clockwise (+22 dBu setting).

Manual-8

LIMIT

-10

+10

+22

dBu

Tips and Tricks

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Initial Settings

Sometimes it is necessary to start from scratch. The draw-

ing above shows where to set the controls for no processing (the

black knobs have no aﬀect at this point). Then you can adjust

each section one at a time.

Suggested Settings

There is no magic recipe of compressor settings which work

for every audio source in every performance situation. There are,

however, a few key ingredients you can add to the ol' dynam-

ics stew to get things going. Start with the suggested settings in

Table 1, then season to taste by adjusting the Threshold until

your ears tell you it's just right.

Vocals

A tough issue with vocals is the extreme dynamic range of

some singers. Those who can lull you to sleep and then scare

you with an unexpected blast. The diﬀerence between the soft

crooning and the loud climax represents too much signal change

for many preamps and mixers, causing them to clip and distort

badly. Compression and limiting comes to the rescue.

Use the limiter to prevent the extreme levels from causing

clipping and distorting the sound. With its automatic fast attack

and quick release mode, all you need to set is the Limit Thresh-

old. Set it as high as the next piece of equipment in the signal

path allows. The C4 gives you a wide setting range of -40 to +22

dBu that covers all requirements.

Compression is one of the most eﬀective tricks for bring-

ing the vocals up in any mix, live or recorded. This is due to

the increase in perceived loudness which results from reducing

peaks and increasing the average level. Good settings for natural

sounding, yet compressed vocals, are a medium fast (25 – 50

ms) attack and a medium-slow (100 ms – 1 sec) release. Releas-

ing too quickly sounds unnatural, while attacking too slowly

misses the problem surges. Soft knee compression generally best

matches vocal dynamics. Adjust the ratio to match the dynamics

of the singer, with 2:1 being a good starting point.

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Table of Contents

Limit Threshold And Headroom Meter; Tips And Tricks - Rane C4 Operator's Manual

LIMIT THRESHOLD and Headroom Meter

Tips and Tricks

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