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TK AUDIO BC501
500 series Stereo Bus Compressor
Congratulations on buying one of the most transparent stereo bus compressors ever made,
it's manufactured and assembled by hand in Sweden and thoroughly tested before leaving
the factory.
The BC501 provides smooth bus compression associated with one
of the most famous bus
compressors from the mid 80's. Mixing engineers call it the "magic
glue" when transparent
compression strengthens mixes without compromising clarity. The BC501 provides just that
kind of compression bringing cohesion and punch; equally useful for drum bus and instrument
compression.
The built-in blend control makes it easy to apply parallel compression by adjusting the mix of
dry and compressed signal.
A switchable side chain filter can be applied at 80Hz, 150Hz or 220Hz which makes the
BC501 less responsive to low frequency energy.
The external side chain input makes it possible to have the BC501 pump to an external
source.
The BC501 will add the "magic glue" and make your mixes sound punchy and coherent.
All controls are stepped for 100% repeatability.
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Table of Contents
Related Manuals for TK Audio 500 series
Summary of Contents for TK Audio 500 series
- Page 1 TK AUDIO BC501 500 series Stereo Bus Compressor Congratulations on buying one of the most transparent stereo bus compressors ever made, it’s manufactured and assembled by hand in Sweden and thoroughly tested before leaving the factory. The BC501 provides smooth bus compression associated with one of the most famous bus compressors from the mid 80’s.
- Page 2 THE PARAMETERS: THRESHOLD: -20dB to +20dB in 41 steps. The threshold adjusts the level above where the signal is reduced. A lower threshold means a larger portion of the signal will be treated. For optimal results make sure that the input level is high enough. RATIO: 1.25:1 / 1.5:1 / 2:1 / 4:1 / 6:1 / 10:1.
- Page 3 STARTING PRESETS MIX BUS The main purpose of the BC501 is to act as a bus compressor and it does it very well. AUTO RELEASE MAGIC One of the true unique features of the BC501 is the auto release setting and it’s ability to glue the mix together.
- Page 4 DRUMS The BC501 can go from subtle to pretty slamming compression on a drum bus and here are a few good starting points. Make a habit of adjusting the Make-up gain until the compressed signal is equally loud as the uncompressed signal, and toggle the Comp in button to listen what’s actually happening to the drums when they are compressed.
- Page 5 SLAMMING DRUM COMPRESSION To slam the drum bus usually more coloured compression is used, but utilizing the Hard Ratio setting can render some pretty interesting results. Start by setting the Make-up to 1 o’clock because a lot of make-up gain will be used. Then adjust the Threshold until 10 to 12 dB of compression is shown and try a couple of different attack settings.
- Page 6 BASS RIDING Bass guitar can be a pretty tricky animal to harness. Often more coloured compression is used, but due to the transparent nature of the BC501 it can very effectively even out stray notes that are played too loud or too soft without adding any pumping or distortion. The result is a more coherent bass guitar that still sounds like a bass guitar.
- Page 7 2 BUS WITH SNAPPY PARALLEL COMPRESSION For a more snappy compression use slow attack and one of the faster release settings and Ratio 10:1 - adjust the Threshold until there is about 8 to 12dB of gain reduction. Threshold: -5 to -10 dB Ratio: 10:1 HFP: ON Attack: 30 or 60 ms...
- Page 8 DUCKING DANCE PADS WITH KICK DRUM Another classic trick is to duck the pads and synthesizer parts with the kick drum. Adjust the Threshold until 1 to 4 dB compression is shown and try different release settings to find out which works best with the tempo of the song.
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