Omnia .9 Installation & User Manual page 218

GETTING THE SOUND YOU WANT
Finally, remember that EQ is a static process. That is, it increases or reduces gain to a particular part of the spectrum
irrespective of program content. In other words, if you apply 8dB of bass boost it is applied to all incoming audio whether it is
bass shy or bass heavy.
Adjusting the Multiband AGC Targets can have a very significant effect on the spectral balance of your sound as well but
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there are important factors to consider when adjusting these controls. For example:
Raising the target of a particular band can make the audio within that band louder (providing increased gain) but this
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can also slow down the release rate if Progressive Release is employed, as Progressive Release is driven by the current
amount of gain in that band.
The opposite is true when lowering a target. Doing so can make a particular band softer (providing decreased gain) but
can result in an accelerated release rate when Progressive Release is used.
Since raising the target increases gain, doing so means that audio in a particular band may not be increased sufficiently
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if the source material is lacking in that part of the spectrum. For example, if the source material lacks brightness and the
target of the top bands is raised too much, there may not be enough "room" in those bands to sufficiently increase their
output.
The result may be spectral inconsistencies from source-to-source. If creating a consistent spectral signature is important,
this may be problematic. If, on the other hand, your goals lean more toward preserving the spectral balance of the original
material, this could be advantageous.
Making adjustments to the Band Mix will also influence the spectral balance, but since this is the final point in the
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processing chain before the Final Clipper (FM core) or Final Limiter (HD and Streaming cores), any peaks that result
from adjustments made here will be dealt with only by these more aggressive processing stages. While it is not always
a bad idea to increase the output level of a particular band, depending upon the sound you are trying to create, you may
have better results by decreasing the output of the rest of the bands by that amount instead. Or, you may instead wish to
make the adjustments to suit your tastes and then reduce the overall Band Mix level.
The Multiband AGC Target and Band Mix controls can be used together to help fine tune your sound.
For example, let's say you are using a 6-band preset and you want to create a more dense-sounding mid-range. By lowering the
targets of bands 3 and 4, you will drive those bands further toward a state of gain reduction (and increase their release rate
when Progressive Release is utilized) but this can also cause them to become softer in the mix if Progressive Release is not used
or the source material does not have significant content in those bands. You can compensate for this loss by increasing the gain
of those bands in the Band Mix.
Or, let's say you want an open and dynamic low end, and have raised the targets of Bands 1 and 2 to achieve less compression
but now find that the bass seems too prominent in the mix. You can decrease the gain of these bands in the Band Mix section to
restore a more balanced sound.
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