Dbx® Dynamics - Lexicon MX200 User Manual

dbx Dynamics
®
De-Esser
A De-Esser is a type of compressor used
to control specific frequencies. Excessive
sibilance, or the "s" sounds, can be tamed
by applying this effect.
De-Esser Controls
Knob 1: Compression Ratio
Determines the amount of compression,
from 1:1 (no effect) to Infinity:1 (complete
limiting).
Knob 2: Frequency Range
Selects the frequency range of compres-
sion in 40 discrete steps from 1600Hz to
10kHz (the most common frequencies in
which excessive sibilance occurs).
Knob 3: Bandwidth (Q)
Controls the bandwidth or "Quality" (Q) of
frequency range. The higher the selected
value, the tighter the bandwidth, and less
apparent the de-essing effect is.
Incremental in six steps from 1/4 Octave
(0) to 1/24th Octave (5). See Appendix on
page 39 for bandwidth values.
Compressor
A compressor is used to control the
dynamic range of a signal. Typically used
to tighten bass or drum tracks, or to control
a vocal passage, a compressor is a very
useful but often misunderstood tool. To bet-
ter use the Compressor in the MX200, a
bit of understanding about compression is
helpful.
When a signal level crosses the
Threshold level, the compressor then
reduces the amount of output level by an
Mono (Wet only)
Mono (Wet only)
amount determined by the Ratio. For
example, if the threshold is set to -12dB,
and the ratio set to 4:1, then when signal
exceeds -12dB, the signal level above that
amount only increases by 1dB to every
4dB of signal level above -12dB. In this
case, an incoming signal of -4dB (which is
8dB above the threshold) would result in
an output signal of -10dB, or 2dB higher
than the threshold level, since the 4:1 com-
pression ratio only allowed 2dB more out-
put, based on the 8dB increase above the
-12dB threshold.
Because the resulting output is less than
the original signal, a third control, Makeup
Gain compensates for this loss of level,
but with less dynamic range, or the differ-
ence between the softest and loudest parts
of the signal.
Compressor Controls
Knob 1: Threshold
Determines the threshold above which
compression begins, incrementally
between -70dB and 0dB (FS).
Knob 2: Compression Ratio
Selects the compression ratio, from 1:1 (no
effect) to Infinity:1 (or complete limiting).
Knob 3: Makeup Gain
Increases the output level to compensate
for signal attenuation during compression.
Incremental between 0dB (no gain) to
+12dB.
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