Tracktion Software - The Advanced Compressors Video Lecture | Tracktion Tutorial: Master Music Editing - Video & Sound Editing

the advanced compressors the stereo and
mono advanced compressors are actually
powerful dynamics processes capable of
upward or downward expansion as well as
upward or downward compression expansion
is the opposite of compression so it
increases the dynamic range of the audio
rather than reducing it this can be used
to add life and depth to programmed
parts which often have a limited dynamic
range to start with or to help parts fit
better in a busy mix or to control the
resonant ring of a drum sound when first
loaded up they will initialize with a
simple downward compression setting
already we see some differences between
this compressor and the basic version
adjusting the threshold also changes the
ratio for example while dragging the end
point below the threshold will create
negative ratios for extreme compression
of it the time constants can be adjusted
by dragging up and down over the attack
and release parameters
while makeup game can be applied with
the fader in the output section to the
right underneath the game fader is an
auto makeup option this attempt to
automatically set the makeup gain to
compensate for the current compression
set switching this option on will not
change the actual makeup gain value so
there will be no sudden change in output
level instead the display changes to
show your current setting as an offset
from the automatically calculated value
now any changes you make to your
compression transfer curve will also
change the makeup game and you can see
by how much it has changed by turning
auto makeup off the display will now
show the actual value again rather than
the officer as a general rule it is good
practice to set the makeup game such
that by passing the compressive doesn't
cause large volume changes otherwise it
is difficult to judge your setting so
far we have created downward compression
transfers with a hard need
for more complex transfers right click
somewhere on a line between the
threshold and the end point an extra
node will appear with the number one
which can be freely dragged anywhere on
the graph and you can add up to four avi
the soft knee presets from the factory
presets list demonstrate how these can
be used to provide a gradual increase in
ratio which often sounds more
transparent than a simple hard knee
transfer alternatively the vintage
presets have nonlinear transfers with
soft knees and regions where there is
little or no compression obliged if you
wish to simplify a transfer curve you
can disable nodes by right clicking
alternatively you can select a node
either by left clicking it or via the
node edit select box and you can then
enable or disable it and edit its x and
y coordinates the ratio displayed
applies just to that node so if you
select note to you can view the ratio of
the region between nodes 1 and 2 if a
region Rises at an angle sharper than 45
degrees that region will be expanded
rather than compressed the punch up
presets for example apply simple hard
knee upward expansion with a very fast
attack time and are good for adding life
to programmed drum
selecting the endpoint shows a ratio
slightly over two to one which indicates
that the very loudest input signals will
be compressed rather than expanded
however as the entire transfer curve is
above the 45-degree exit while I'm there
is no gain reduction rather there is an
increase in game for signaling for
public pressure so we refer to the
region between threshold and the first
node as upward expansion and the region
between the first node and the end point
has upward compression in this case any
gain compensation will need to be
negative
setting a very low threshold will allow
low-level signals to be expanded output
while the rest of the dynamic range is
compressed up this can sometimes be a
more transparent setting than
conventional down with compression on
sources such as acoustic guitar and it
has the added benefit that background
noise levels will not be increased to
require sections as there is no need for
any makeup game if we lower the endpoint
we can combine both types of compression
now we have upward compression between
node 1 and the 45 degree line and then
downward compression up to the end point
with both types of compression it is
important to set the time constants
carefully but when using upward
compression bear in mind that it is now
the release time that shapes the attack
of your sound and the attack time that
shapes the decay soft clip function can
be turned on or off with the switch
under the time column and this will clip
the peaks of your signal in a similar
way to an over driven analog device when
the level exceeds the threshold you set
with the knob this introduces distortion
but it may not be audible if it only
affects your transients the LED will
light to indicate whenever the signal is
clipped in this way the soft clipping
comes after the makeup game so you can
drive it harder by turning the fader up
and vice versa
the preset menu at the top contains
various options to load and save preset
user presets will then appear in the
user presets list the preset menu also
allows you to copy your current settings
if you then switch to memory B you can
paste these settings make adjustments
and then compare the tweak setting with
the original by switching between the
two memories alternatively you can load
up totally different presets for each
the sidechain versions of the
compressors are identical except they
have an extra audio input which feeds
the side chain of the process they don't
do much without these inputs connected
so you will normally need to use them
inside racks the rack filters chapter
shows how to set up the routing so that
the side chain is fed from a different
track to the main audio for example to
Doug the level of the base on each kick
drum beat
another common technique however is to
feed the side-chain a filtered or EQ
version of the same signal that is being
processed boosting or cutting specific
frequencies in the sidechain will make
the compressor respond more or less to
those frequencies than others while
high-pass filtering the sidechain can
reduce pumping effects caused by loud
bass signal