Using The Low And High Filters With The Compressor - Focusrite Green Range Manual

f u n c t i o n s

Using the Low and High Filters with the Compressor

If you use the To S/C switch in the equaliser section, the filters determine the
frequencies that are sent to the compressor's side chain, and so affect how the signal
is compressed. The low filter prevents low frequencies entering the side chain, and so
stops the compressor reacting to those frequencies. Similarly, the high filter prevents
high frequencies entering the side chain.
For example, one of the problems in compressing a mixed programme is that gain
reduction tends to be controlled by one dominant instrument or sound.
For more natural compression, you need
Level of Un-Compressed Input
to attenuate (reduce the volume of) the
sound of the dominant instrument, but
this is probably not acceptable since it
would affect the mix. Therefore, you can
use the filters to remove the frequencies
affected by the dominant instrument, so
Level of Output due to Compression with no Frequency Selectivity
the signal is compressed as if the
dominant instrument had been
Filtered Compression
attenuated. When using the filters in this
way, use the Filters switch to switch the
filters into the audio signal, so that you
can hear what you are doing, then when
you have the compression you desire,
switch them out of the audio signal
again.
This technique can be very useful when
compressing bass-heavy dance music.
By attenuating the bass using the low
Bass Dance Mix
filter, the bass in the original retains more
of its dynamics.
De-Essing
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