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166xl - increasing sustain

groomagegroomage Posts: 6
edited October 2010 in dbx Archive General Discussion
hi there
i use the 166xl in tight compression settings
how do i set the compressor/gate/limiter to increse the sustain as much as possible?

thanks

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    GadgetGadget Posts: 4,915
    That's pretty cryptic... would you care to offer some more info on what your doing?
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    groomagegroomage Posts: 6
    right...
    i am an electric guitar player

    never really understood the peaklimiter, what does it do?
    and again, how do i increase the sustain? will i have to give up on the gate settings? currently
    just under 45 threshold, around 9 oclock
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    GadgetGadget Posts: 4,915
    What your looking to do is increase the level as the sound decays...Using a studio compressor to get a transparent sustain is not an easy task...A gate will only add to that frustration and a limiter is something a compressor CAN achieve , but you don't want that ability here...

    What compressors do is reduce the dynamic range of the signal (difference between the loudest and softest sounds). If you feed a signal that is louder than the threshold you have set, it will reduce that sound to the preset threshold.

    A Limiter on the other hand, is a device to stop any and all signal from getting above a set threshold.

    A gate on the other hand cold be looked at as just that.. A gate, that we can allow sound to pass and STOP that sound at a given point.. usually a time based point where we allow the signal to decay to a point... but then stop it before a resonant drum head(for instance) begins to ring out... you know , the bad sound guy that wants the tome so go beeewwwwuuuuuu... but instead goes beeuhhrrrriiiiiiiggggggggggggggggg...wwwwwooooooooooo.... mostly this happens with poorly tuned drums or poorly positioned monitors or too loud a stage volume.. or all of the above.

    So, skip the gate section, and the limiter... and concentrate on getting the dynamic range of the signal limited.

    The threshold sets the level at which compression begins...(above 1:1)

    The ratio sets the compression slope... the ratio is the relationship between the output level and the input level. So, when you have a 2:1 ratio, for every 1 dB of increase into the threshold the compressed output will yield only .05 dB of gain. As you increase the ratio the compressor becomes more and more close to a limiter...

    The attack sets the spped at which the compressor acts on the the input signal...

    The release sets the length of time it takes the compressor to return the gain reduction back to zero..0..

    the "Knee" Hard Knee; the gain reduction occurs as soon as the signal exceeds the level set by the threshold...with soft knee..the onset of gain reduction occurs gradually after the signal exceeds the threshold setting.... which (some) think produces a more "musical" sound.

    A starting point... Hmmm as I said above...is difficult, but try:
    Threshold: -0.1dB
    Ratio : 2.4:1
    Attack: 26 ms
    Release: 190+ms
    G
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