C4 Multiband User Manual
Contents
1. Upside down thinking These low level examples may seem a little inverted to what you would expect For instance that a noise gate would have a positive Range If you just remember that when the signal goes around the Threshold then the Range becomes active and that the Threshold is the halfway point of the Range So whether Range is 12dB or 12dB then audio 6dB above and 6dB below the Threshold is where the knees of the dynamic change will occur Positive Range Then if Range is positive and Gain is set to be the negative of Range opposite but equal then around and above the Threshold all audio will be a 0dB gain unity Below the Threshold the Range is not active so the Gain which is negative takes over and reduces that band s gain This is what gives the downward expansion Negative Range Another seeming example of the upside down concept is that low level compression takes a negative Range Again remember that in the C4 whenever the audio is around the Threshold the Range is active So if we set Range to negative anything around or above the Threshold can be reduced in gain However Here s the tricky part if we set Gain to perfectly offset the Range value then everything well above the Threshold has no effective gain change at all which means everything well below it gets lifted up If you take this just a bit further you ll figure that all audio exactly at the2. Voiceover Announcers like compression and need de essing so this preset provides both As in thePop Vocal preset the high end has a little boost announcers like this as well To adjust EQ change the Gain settings of each band To control the amount of compression adjust the Thresholds For a true punch through the clutter classic sound follow the C4 with the Waves L1 using its Voiceover preset Too Much Limiting Now what exactly should we say about this preset You can call it instant radio if you wish as it does represent the type of processing that is applied by some radio stations in order to be as loud as possible and they do so to recordings that have already been processed to be as loud as possible Great for loops and remixes Not in the menu We ll be posting new presets on our web page www waves com and in future releases And if you have some presets you love we d appreciate it if you would send us a copy for posting in our User Presets section on the web One example shown here but not in a preset simply shows 4 different configurations at the same time compression expansion EQ and noise reduction There s not much of a reason to make a preset for this as the audio that requires this setup is not in very good shape and highly unlikely to match anything you might need Band 1 is high level compression to control bass a bit Band 2 is high level expansion to add some low mid snap Band 3 is EQ Band 4 is
3. Behavior control see next entry C4 Plug In Manual Behavior Originally developed for the Renaissance Compressor the Behavior control is selectable between Opto and Electro modes Behavior F to Opto is a classic modeling of opto coupled compressors which used light sensitive resistors to control the amount of compression in the detector circuit They have a characteristic release behavior of putting on the brakes as the gain reduction approaches zero In other words the closer the meter comes back to zero the slower it moves This is once the gain reduction is 3dB or less Above 3dB of gain reduction the Opto mode actually has faster release times In summary Opto mode has fast release times at high gain reduction slow release times as it approaches zero GR This can be very beneficial for deeper compression applications Behavior Electro Electro is a compressor behavior invention by Waves in that it is very much the inverse of the Opto mode As the meter comes back to zero the faster it moves This is once the gain reduction is 3dB or less Above 3dB of gain reduction the Electro mode actually has slower release times much like a mini leveler which mini mizes distortion and optimizes level In summary Electro mode has slow release times at high gain reduction and progressively faster release as it approaches zero GR This has very good benefits for moderate compres sion applications wher
4. More presets are in the C4 Setup Library In the next chapter there are more specific examples of using low level processing compression expansion that are very good starting points as well as models for learning C4 Plug In Manual Chapter 5 Examples of use Because of the Rance and THRESHOLD concept explained in Chapter 4 it s easy to think of the Waves C4 as a dynamic equalizer which allows you to set 2 different EQ curves low level EQ and high level EQ then set thetransition point between them The transition is the Threshold control which sits at the halfway point of the Range value Of course it is not a morphing EQ but it most certainly is a dynamic process that moves between two different EQ settings Here s an example Load the Low level Enhancer factory preset from the Load menu You can see the purple range has 2 distinctly different curves the lower edge and the upper edge The lower edge is flat the upper edge has an obvious loudness boost to it Now remember that this is set as a compressor so when the signal is low the upper edge of the purple band will be the EQ when the signal is high and compressed the lower edge of the band will be the EQ So for this example with no compression low level sounds there will be a loudness boost more highs and lows with compression the sound will have a flat EQ Play some audio thru the Low level Enhancer setup You ll see that
5. using presets They are merely good places to start Create your own library by using our User Preset command in the Save Menu In almost every setup moving the Master Threshold first is the best starting point Adjust the Master Range control for more or less dynamic processing changes ratio and amount of process ing simultaneously Then adjust the Master Gain so that if you Bypass the sound is about the same level so that it is easier for you to make comparisons Next adjust each of the band s Thresholds to get the desired amount of processing in each band Next fine tune the Attack and Release controls Longer attacks may mean you have to adjust the Threshold downward to maintain the action you want and shorter ones may mean you need to raise it Next if needed adjust the Gain of each band to rebalance the compressed outputs The Factory Presets gt Full C4 reset This is also the default setting that C4 opens with when you first insert it on the TDM bus It is a easily adjustable compression setup with moderate Range The Gain is set to zero so that it is essentially unity gain for low level sounds Band 1 is set for low bass to eliminate modulation distortion Band 2 does the main work Band 3 is in a de esser range and Band 4 is the air band limiter Basic multi Based on the default setting above but with deeper thresholds plus it has a positive Gain of 4 so it is closer to a unity gain w
6. Admittedly a bit trendy this preset is not flat at all with a significant boost to the high end Pop records especially R amp B ballads have recently been produced with a very bright sound The common practice of boosting the highs from about 5kHz plus plenty of air requires strong de essing sometimes twice to control the large increase This preset does both in one step plus provides overall compression in band 2 the broad middle area does the most compression work For more effect increase the Gain of bands 3 and 4 and increase the Range to match same as Gain but negative In this way the total gain reduction also increases as the fixed gain increases Vocal Basic compression for a singing voice Band 1 is a de popper and may be bypassed or to use as EQ set Range to zero Band 2 is the main compression band One reason this is done is to avoid putting a crossover point in the middle of the critical vocal range 300 to 3kHz Even with phase compensated crossovers the voice is the most demanding source and proof for our ears as we ve been acclimated to it for a very long time and can detect very low level changes Band 3 is a de esser centered at 6 5kHz Again it is easiest to adjust a de esser by listening to the sidechain which means in the C4 you simply Solo the band Band 4 is set to be an air compressor or limiter alternately it can be a straight EQ by setting the Range to zero C4 Plug In Manual
7. Threshold will have half of the Range s value in positive gain One more way to think about it Here is another bit of help so that you can really learn and use the power of the C4 to its fullest capability We ll take another example from the Waves C1 Parametric Compander our one band processor it also does wideband and sidechain It has a typical ratio and makeup gain control and has been widely used for upward compression both wideband and splitband parametric usage The C4 Multiband Parametric Processor has a very similar compressor law as the Waves C1 and the Waves Renais sance Compressor This model allows the compression line to return to a 1 1 ratio line as the level continues to increase In other words there is no compression of the low signal compression around the Threshold and once the signal goes quite a bit past the Threshold the compression tapers off back to a 1 1 line no compression In the graphic shown you can see this exact type of line The ratio is 2 1 and the Threshold is 40dB The line is just curving a bit 3dB down point at the 40 input the scale at the bottom Output level is the scale on the right vertical edge and you can see that at about 20dB the line starts curving back to a 1 1 line C4 Plug In Manual So very high level audio peaks between 0 and 10dBFS are not touched at all audio between 10 and 40 is compressed and audio below 40 is not compressed but
8. areas discussed in this manual it certainly is equally capable of producing amazing UN compression in the multiband arena Keep in mind that the attack times are what create the transients and if you ve already got good transients in the mix but the audio after the transientsis what is over compressed make your Uncompressor Attack time longer to avoid making even bigger transients Soloing each band and adjusting its Attack and Release times so that the transients are natural the compression is relieved and the audio sounds more relaxed and open is the trick The preset has not attempted to set attack and release times as this is so highly dependant on the source material we simply set all 4 bands to attack times which are moderate for the frequency band and equivalent release times across all 4 bands BassComp De Esser A common problem with small studio mixes is the low end due to near field monitors improper room low frequency absorption beer and demanding clients Another common problem is the lack of enough de essers to go around and furthermore the insistence of drummers bringing their full size heavy cymbals into the studio The result is often a mix with a low end that is too loud and or an improper balance between the bass guitar and the kick drum plus a high end that might need de essing and de cymbaling The most challenging of these situations has very bright guitars and cymbals and dull vocals Of course the bes
9. bass Band 2 is the next octave and primarily deals with the fundamental of the bass guitar and meat of the kick Band 3 is very broad from 130Hz to 12kHz doing most of the work and Band 4 is the air compressor These points give greater control over the bass dividing it into 2 bands but have no ess band range If upward compression provides too much of a boost in the highs a common result due to the lower overall energy of HF then simply lower the Threshold in the high band Upward Comp 5dB Similar to the previous setup but with different crossover points for different flexibilities This one is more similar to the Basic Multi with crossovers at 75 5576 and 12249 so that you have bands for Low Bass Broad Mid Ess or presence band and the Air These points give greater control over the high end 2 bands This is a more aggressive setting the main difference being the crossover points which changes the Thresholds significantly from the 3 setup Easily made more or less aggressive by changing the Master Gain setting If upward compression provides too much of a boost in the highs a common result due to the lower overall energy of HF then simply lower the Threshold in the high bands Multi Opto Mastering Now we are going into areas that haven t actually existed yet to our knowledge A multiband opto coupled device This is a rather transparent setting for mastering and pre mastering Even though ours is virtua
10. enough noise reduction in that band It will be useful here to use a hard Knee setting set the Knee control in the Master control section to its maximum Now preview an audio segment where the wanted signal is present and make sure it is indeed enough above the Threshold s so that no gain reduction takes place the yellow line is at OdB gain Pay attention to the problematic passages where the signal fades out or other soft sections where the audio comes closer to the noise level careful adjustment of Threshold is required there to avoid too much degradation of the signal itself C4 Plug In Manual Chapter 6 Preset descriptions The Factory Preset Menu Full C4 reset Basic multi Hard basic reducer reducer ver Too Much Limitin J In general factory presets should be good starting places to save you time easy for you to tweak and for the most part be relatively self explanatory To the extent that they don t completely explain themselves here are further details about each of the presets listed here The Load menu is where these are found Load For more information on the Load Save system and many other powerful features that you only have to learn one time to be able to use in every Waves software processor check the WaveSystem manual for great power tips C4 Plug In Manual General tips Here is a recommended order for adjusting a preset even if you have no intention of
11. increased when the signal goes around or above the Threshold Adjust the Master Threshold for some reasonable expansion Now it is important to point out that the attack and release times are absolutely critical to the way the expansion works In most cases of overcompressed material the peaks and punch have been mightily squashed down so afast attack time will help restore these peaks Longer release times help bring the presence and sustain back into the material However let s go one step further and suppose that you have a mix that has hole punching or pumping These are tricky but can be restored to a degree In the case of hole punching this is when a compressor has overshoot of the gain reduction that is it over reacts to a peak signal and applies too much gain reduction to the signal Many times the peak itself was never compressed just the audio afterthe peak so you would want to use a slower attack time to avoid expanding the peak even higher and carefully adjust the release time to fill in the hole It s tricky enough to do this on a wideband expander such as the C1 and even more so on a multiband Best thing to do in this case is to try to determine if you should use a wideband expander such as the C1 or Renaissance Compressor Using a multiband upward expander would be best for situations where specific fre quency ranges had been overcompressed such as a mix with too much compression on the bass Ano
12. is clearly louder at the output than at the input This is low level compression or upward compression Such a trick is very useful and has been implemented by classical recording engineers mastering houses and classi cal broadcasting Low level compression can lift soft sounds up gently and leave all the high level peaks and transients completely untouched reducing the dynamic range from the bottom upwards We did say that the C4 was very similar to the C1 but different in a significant way the Threshold defines the midpoint of the Range Therefore to achieve the same curve in the C4 as shown here the Threshold on the C4 would actually be about 25 with a Range setting of 15 5dB Now this is a very large amount The example shown here was merely to make it obvious we picked the 2 1 line only because it is easier to see on the page In reality low level compression that lifts the softer audio up 5dB is equivalent to a approximate ratio of 1 24 1 Lifting the low level up about 5dB is a good example for several reasons It is 1 a very realistic setting that could be equal to what is being done by the previously mentioned engineers 2 only raising the noise floor by an acceptable amount for many applications 3 easy to hear on nearly any type of audio not only classical In the Load menu of the C4 are a few factory presets with names beginning Upward Comp that are good points to learn more about this concept
13. low level downward expansion hiss reduction C4 Plug In Manual Chapter 7 Essential concepts and history Intro The C4 is a wonderful powerful tool and although it offers many functions in a single processor nothing can replace your careful work in the process of mixing audio using de essers in the right place applying compression appropriately and so forth Some of the trouble that multiband compression has caused has been merely because the engineer gets into the sound too much The solution is to try the most powerful control on any audio device the Bypass switch If you check the sound in Bypass and the sound really isn t better it just sounds squished then it s logical to conclude you might have gone too far Of course there are many forms of music that require extreme processing as part of their expression Nice when done correctly What is correct is certainly a highly subjective area but let s say that multiband compression offers the chance to have compression with much less modulation distortion than a wideband compressor The multiband can also be considered to be an equalizer with the added advantage that it tends to forgive too much boosting If a mix needs a bit of de essing or high frequency limiting to put the glass on the mix plus some moderate compression in the other ranges multiband processing is ideal A wonderful feature is the option to not do any processingin
14. only want to do compression just as shown in the screenshot below so we ll refer to the settings shown there what is shown is the Low level Enhancer preset with audio passing through the C4 au al zk The crossover points are shown by dotted straight lines and markers on the lower edge the slopes can be seen as shown by the dotted gray curves The yellow line is both the resultant EQ and the gain metering at the same time The Ranc controls the maximum gain change if Range is negative you have a compressor if positive you have an expander Fixed cam is the output gain of each compressor band is shown by the lighter purple edge of the purple range Band center points are shown by 4 markers Gain metering is shown by the moving line and by observing the scale on the display s left edge a general idea of how much gain reduction or increase is achieved in each band In this example about the display RANGE is set to negative values which means that the dynamic gain change for each band ranges downward a reduction from the fixed gain edge Dynamic gain reduction is compression no question about that The purple area represents the Rance within which the processor can change gain dynamically If the RANGE was set to a positive value that band would be an upward expander and then the purple range will extend above the fixed gain line The Expander function can be used for distinctive and inno
15. that point this multiband dynamic equalizer has parametric controls in that you can change the crossover points bandwidth gain both fixed output and dynamic and frequency range of each band as well as the dynamic range and response controls The user interface and compressors in the C4 are designed to help you enhance a good mix Poor mixes are better to be re done although the reality of daily production often makes a remix impossible so the C4 can be used to fix these less than desirable mixes to an extent In the compressors you can actually limit the amount of gain reduction or expansion in each band And the innovative graphic user interface gives you a precise feedback of what is going on C4 Plug In Manual 3 Chapter 2 Quickstart The basic overview Individual band controls Range ttk Fel RANGE Sets the maximum gain change for a band If set to a negative value 10 the band is a compressor positive values 6 make the band into an upward or downward expander If RANGE is set to zero then the band will have no dynamic action therefore can be used as an EQ Range sets both the ratio and the maximum gain change You may have noticed there is no Ratio control Instead the RANG control serves as both a type of ratio control and a way to also control the maximum gain reduction in each band To achieve higher ratios simply increase the RANGE value and possibly lower the THRESHOLD if require
16. the audio is compressed downward toward the flat line so that as more compression occurs the effective EQ curve although dynamic is flat Now reduce the input level to the C4 or play a quiet section of music so that there is little or no compression You ll see that the audio is not compressed very much at all so the DynamicLine sticks to the upper edge more By setting the Gain control of each band you control thelow level EQ of the processor by setting the Range control of each band you control the high level EQ C4 Plug In Manual How to create your own dynamic EQ setting for low level enhancement 1 Set the Range to the amount of gain reduction desired in each band this also sets the EQ of the compressed signal 2 Set the Gain of each band so that the desired low level EQ is seen For instance you may want a song to have a little more bass when it is soft so set the bass band s so that their gain values are higher than the other bands 3 Attack and release values should be appropriate for the frequency band This is why it is generally easier to work from a preset then tweak it for what you need 4 Set Threshold for the desired behavior What you want is for the high levels of the song to be compressed closer to the lower edge of the purple area to get the EQ for the high level therefore the Range values should not be very big Otherwise you ll be compressing a great deal which is probably
17. 4 as a dynamic equalizer capable of gentle compression expansion limiting and EQ independantly and simultaneously For instance with care you can de ess EQ and expand in separate bands simultaneously This is much easier than trying to adjust several split band compressors such as the somewhat common usage of de essers in non ess frequency ranges Waves wisely waited until sufficient processing power was available before releasing the C4 To properly create a multiband compressor a phase compensated crossover is essential In addition the crossover must have a flat frequency response when set to nominal values The C4 has exactly such a crossover However many multiband devices may not have this type of crossover and the resulting colorations have unfortunately been accepted as part of the multiband sound which is completely unnecessary and generally undesirable Why is such a crossover so important To avoid any undesirable coloration to the sound and to eliminate artifacts and pitch shifting effects between bands as their gains move independantly Any change to a signal can be considered a distortion some much more pleasant than others so it is a desirable type of change we want not uncontrollable part of the design ones A C4 Plug In Manual Waves C4 Multiband Parametric Processor is designed for ease of adjustment and a clear uncolored sound while still allowing extreme ranges of control when required To
18. Table of Contents Chapter Uo oi ese carne sccedenisecexpesassceawees ws Introduction 2 Chapter 2 ised aca neuicesateneecnennseesenscsiessaves Quick Start 4 Chapter 3 dsscsscsecsiesssisssissosass Controls and Interface 6 Chapter 4 Range and Threshold Concept 17 Chapter 5 sscssssissssssssssssscsssisnsdusssis sns Examples ofuse 22 Chapter6 sissssssossesstessassecuscessses Preset Descriptions 27 Chapter 7 Essential Concepts and history 34 C4 Plug In Manual 1 Chapter 1 Introduction Thank you for buying Waves C4 When used in TDM the C4 is a 48bit double precision processor dithered to 24bits before handoff to the TDM bus It requires a full Mix chip we used every bit of power we could to create the finest multiband for the available power Native uses are single precision to help conserve your CPU power You may think of the C4 as a multiband compressor with parametric adjustments or as a 4 band dynamic equalizer Both concepts are true but the interface looks more like an equalizer with a moving line Waves unique DynamicLine display shows the actual gain change as an EQ display We have taken the gain reduction metering function and merged it with the crossover display for a very intuitive interface low 30 i Mid 526 ji High 4522 G o 65 When used judiciously a multiband processor can do much more than merely make a mix louder You can think of the C
19. and therefore approaches a zero gain value Gain is a fixed value so the result is that the low level signal is increased by the Gain control achieving the so called upward compres sion concept This is very clear when you see this behavior on the C4 display Simply look at the yellow DynamicLine while the input signal is low or high and see the resulting EQ curve In a multiband compressor application this low level compression is very handy to create a dynamic Loudness Control that could boost the LOW and HIGH bands only when their levels are low as just one example Upper line shows Low level compression upward achieved when Range is negative and Gain is equal but positive Lower line shows Low level expansion downward achieved when Range is positive and Gain is equal but nega tive Graph is taken from C1 to help visualize the gain structures in the C4 If you are interested in a noise gate for a particular band or bands set Range to a positive Value Gain to the inverse of the Range and Threshold to a low value say 60dB Similar to the above example at high levels the full dynamic gain increase set by the Range is retained and is fully compensated for by the Gain While around and below the Threshold the dynamically changing gain comes closer to 0dB and the result is that the fixed negative Gain is applied to the low level signal which is also known as gating or downward expansion C4 Plug In Manual 19
20. band to increase the density loudness of your mixes and hopefully not to poor effect so we d like to suggest a few points so that you will obtain the best possible sound Just remember that attack should be long enough to let the transients pass through for the desired punch and the release long enough to minimize distortion The higher the frequencies the less that distortion is factor and the issues become somewhat more esthetic Too fast an attack in the mid and high bands and the sound will be squished as the compressor clamps down on the sound Too fast a release and the tonal balance of the sound will be altered you can change this by simply adjusting the Gain of the higher bands so that the bands are not out of balance __Master controls gt gt S Whatever the settings are on each of the band s controls the Master controls will add or subtract from those values BERGE Threshold Gain Felegee ARC Range Behavior Ataoe a Knee Release 0 50 Master Threshold Master Threshold moves all 4 bands Thresholds simultaneously This is a quick way to adjust the overall compression in a strapped mode These controls keep the relative values intact as they are adjusted C4 Plug In Manual Master Gain All 4 bands Gain controls are moved together when the Master Gain control is adjusted Best used to adjust the output level for Bypass comparisons Set the level so that it is subjectively t
21. d Increasing the Kner to higher values also increases the ratio at the knee Gain This is the output level for a band also called makeup gain you can also think of this as an EQ gain control If there is no dynamic change in the band then this control simply boosts or cuts the band if dynamic processing does occur this is the fixed level that the band s gain will return to when that band is not compressing or expanding Attack and Release These work just as in any other compressor controlling how quickly the dynamic process reacts to a signal how fast it acts at the start and how quickly it lets go The RELEASE time utilizes Waves ARC auto release technology first developed for the Renaissance Compressor Threshold This is also the same as in classic compressors and controls the point at which a band is responding to signal level In the C4 the Threshold will be the center of the RANGE value that is if RANGE is 8dB then the Threshold marks the 4dB gain reduction point you ll have 4dB of Gain Reduction if the signal is equal to the Threshold This results in the standard behavior for a soft knee compressor you will observe compression or expansion below the threshold value 4 C4 Plug In Manual kange Behavior Ata dell Enee Release 0 50 Global controls Just to the right of the 4 bands are 7 Master controls for example the master Threshold will adjust all 4 Thresholds simultaneou
22. e a bit more than you d probably ever need Shown only for clear example To make an upward expander an uncompressor to restore overly squashed dynamics simply reverse the Range setting Make the Range be a positive value say between 2 and 5 Now whenever the signal is around or above the Threshold the output will be expanded upwards with a maximum gain increase of the value of Range In other words if Range is 3 then the maximum expansion will be 3dB increase low level compression The low level processors are where we start to have even more fun By using the fixed Gain control to offset the Range you can affect only the lower level signals If you are interested in increasing the level of soft passages but leaving the louder passages untouched termed here low level compression set the Threshold to a low level say 40 to 60dB Set Range to a small negative value such as 5dB and set Gain to the opposite value 5dB The audio around and below the Threshold value will be compressed upward a maximum of 5dB and the higher audio levels will be untouched including their transients 18 C4 Plug In Manual This will cause high levels signals i e that are significantly above Threshold to have no gain Change since at high levels the Range and Gain controls are opposite values and together they equal unity gain While around and below the Threshold the Range is increasingly inactive
23. e maximum RMS average level and density is desired Knee This Master control affects all 4 bands knee characteristics ranging from softer low values to harder higher values At the maximum value the Master Knee control tends to give the sound a harder edge with a punchier overshoot style character Adjust to taste The Knee and Ranc together interact to give the equivalent of a ratio control To achieve limiter type behavior use high Kez settings C4 Plug In Manual Output gain fader i utpu t 18 m Ranges from 18 to 18dB and is also 48bit double precision dithered to 24bit before handoff to the TDM bus C4 Plug In Manual Chapter 4 Range and Threshold concept The concept of Threshold and Range instead of the traditional Ratio control creates some very flexible and powerful uses for the C4 They include low level compression and expansion giving you multiband upward com pressors and noise reducers Old school another school In the classic compressor approach if you set a very low Threshold with any given Ratio extreme amounts of gain reduction of high level signals may occur For example with a Ratio of 3 1 and Threshold of 60dB will result in a 40dB gain reduction for 0dBFS signals Such a case is rarely desirable and in general you would only set such a low Threshold in a typical compressor when the input level is also very low In common practice mor
24. e than 18dB of gain reduction or 12dB gain increase is rarely needed especially in a multiband compressor In the C4 the concept of Range and Threshold comes in very handy It lets you first define the maximum amount of dynamic gain change using the Range control and then determine the level around which you want this gain change to take place using the Threshold The actual values of these controls depend on the type of processing which you want If Range is negative you ll have downward gain change If Range is positive you ll have upward gain change The real flexible fun happens when you offset this dynamic Range with a fixed Gain value High level compression Ode 20 40 20 High level compression in C1 Ratio is 1 5 1 Threshold is 35 Equivalent C4 setting would have Range set to about 9dB with Gain set to 0 C4 Plug In Manual If you are interested in conventional compression termed here high level compression because the dynamics of the compression happens at high levels simply set the Threshold to high values between 24dB and 0dB and the Range to a moderate negative value between 3 and 9 In this way the gain changes will take place at the upper part of input dynamics just like a normal compressor will do aisideue bnd Jer An upward expander from the C1 with a ratio of 0 75 1 Threshold at 35 Equivalent C4 setting would be a Range of 10 or so quit
25. fected by attack and release times Crossover points T28 250 500 IK Hiid T26 Along the lower edge of the graphic display are 3 crossover point markers These can be dragged to adjust the crossovers or a numerical value can be typed into the control just below each marker 8 C4 Plug In Manual W060 Just to the right of the numerical crossover controls is the Q control which adjusts the slope of the crossover filters All 4 bands are affected at the same time The slopes are visible as dotted curves in the main window Q ranges from 0 10 to 0 75 Higher values mean steeper slopes which give sharper divisions between the bands This doesn t mean steeper slopes are better otherwise there would be no reason to allow control at all To achieve more intense processing greater compression smaller peak to RMS ratios etc steeper slopes can offer significant benefit To achieve more gentle processing and more inter connected processing lighter slopes will be more appropriate Q 0 1 gt 6dB per octave slope gentle separation Q 0 6 gt 12dB per octave slope default and recommended Q 0 7 gt 18dB per octave slope Q 0 75 gt 24dB per octave slope Band center markers Above the yellow line are 4 colored markers representing each band which are quite powerful Dragging any marker can change 3 values simultaneously Dragging horizontally will change the frequency center of a band by cha
26. he same subjective level as the Bypass level Master Range Master Range adjusts all 4 bands Range This is ideal for increasing or decreasing the overall amount of compres sion or expansion Generally if you increase the Master Range you may have to raise the Threshold or the Gain to compensate for the increased compression Master Attack As in the other Master controls adjusts all 4 bands simultaneously Best used in small amounts for general adjust ments Better to adjust each band individually for optimum effect and minimum artifacts Master Release Similar to Attack in that the Master Release is best used in small amounts for general adjustments Better to adjust each band individually Waves Auto Release Control Technology originally developed for the Renaissance Compressor is ideal for the C4 Multiband Parametric Processor The ARC technology was created to optimize the release time in order to achieve the most transparent behavior For most people this means that you can maximize RMS level with a minimum of distortion If the Release control is set to ARC mode then the release time of each band is calculated every sample for the minimum distortion The value of the release time you set in each band becomes the reference value from which the actual release time is calculated by ARC at any given instant ARC In Manual mode the release time in each band is a fixed value although the sound is still affected by the Global
27. hen bypassing for most mixed pop material with peaks between 6 and 2dBFS Hard basic Master Range is bigger so the ratio is higher and there is more compression However the attack times are slower than in Basic Multi so the transients are still quite present and untouched A punchy preset Deeper Not a flat preset by any means this has deeper Ranges on the high end which means the signal will be bassier as it gets louder and more compressed in the high end as it gets louder Attack and release times are faster so the compressor grabs more C4 Plug In Manual Low level Enhancer A classic loudness enhancer as described in Chapter 4 in the Low Level Compression section As the sound gets louder it approaches flat compression but all low level sounds will have the bass and treble boosted as seen by the upper edge of the purple Range band This is not a particularly subtle preset To reduce the boost simply lower the Gain of Bands 1 and 4 they are preset to 4 9 which is 3dB above the middle two bands Try only 1dB set them both to 2 9 and then you have a very nice subtle low level enhancement setup Upward Comp 3dB A gentle upward compressor with flat response It lifts the low level sounds by 3dB at the average Threshold of 35dB Lower the Master Threshold for more subtlety raise it for more pronounced effect Note the crossover settings are different from the 5 setup Band 1 is set to 65Hz for the very low
28. l the gentle release times that become ever slower as they come back to zero gain reduction really have the sound and behavior of opto s just as the Renaissance Compressor does The longish attack and release times of this setup let the processor gently increase lower levels while having the classic setup of a high level compressor Changing the Master Release and making the release times significantly faster will still preserve most of the tran sients but markedly increase the average level C4 Plug In Manual Multi Electro Mastering The other end of the spectrum insofar as the mastering goes with much more aggressive settings throughout than the Opto setting described previously With fast attacks and releases deep Range steeper slopes ARC system Electro release behavior and hard knee this one is starting to be a little dangerous if you push it although certainly not over the top With this setup and the Multi Opto Mastering preset as bookends there are many levels in between to provide varying levels and behaviors Working with both of these presets defines a very broad range of high level compres sion settings to create We ll leave that to you 2 band HF noise reducer Borrowing from the downward expander setups of the C1 this preset splits the high band into the high hiss and shhh ranges for more precise control We ve heard stories of users over the years who carefully used multiple C1 s to gently reduce noi
29. lets you set the overall level of the ess and cymbal band Setting the Attack too fast will destroy the consonants of the voice so try about 12ms as a starting point Notice the fast release time in the preset so that the compressor gets out of the way as soon as the sound is gone Adjust the Crossover so that you are affecting only the needed areas using the Solo button is very handy in this regard Now for some more fun Band 2 and 4 can be used as EQ controls Since the Range is set to zero for both of those bands when you adjust Gain you ll see that each band simply moves as a fixed offset that s what EQ is after all As an UN processor Sometimes you might get a track or recording that has been previously processed and possibly not in a very flatter ing way In other words someone might have seriously overcompressed the track To some degree the squashed dynamics can be restored by using upward expansion which is the exact opposite of compression As the signal goes around or above the Threshold the signal is increased in gain Upward expansion takes more time to adjust because you must try to find the subjectively equal settings of what was done to the sound and even if you know the numbers on the original processor the numbers really don t relate from one processor to the next very well Load the Unprocessor preset Notice that all Ranges are set to positive values so that the gains will be
30. listening or clock radios and some genre of music industrial techno etc But it s unlikely that you might pick a song simply because it is the loudest on the radio or at the listening bar of a record store You might want to remember this when the competitive bug bites you or a client demands a so called louder record You might have an opportunity to help educate your client a bit about dynamic range andpunchin the music and how to preserve it in their final product Summary Multiband is a compression method that allows you a lot of control and a way to dynamically adjust the EQ and dynamic range of a signal while minimizing modulation distortion Such a device should be a very conveniently adjusted processor as opposed to using a crossover with multiple compressors spread about the room or across your desktop or buried in many menus This is why the C4 is called the Multiband Parametric Processor as it is extremely flexible in bandwidth dynamic gain behavior response time plus in the ability to provide compression expansion or EQ in each band independently C4 Plug In Manual
31. ly set noise modulation the sound of the noise coming and going will be distracting Research performed for speech therapy and recognition has shown that a constant noise floor is more tolerable than a noise floor that constantly changes volume C4 Plug In Manual 4 band noise reducer An aggressive noise reducer preset with fast attacks to preserve the original sound fast releases to reduce noise quickly 4 bands of operation possibly more than you need and hard knee If you don t need a band just solo it to see if there is really any objectionable noise in that band simply Bypass that band UNcompressor Since there has been so much work done in the direction of multiband compression and limiting it seemed only fair that a preset that tried to go in the other direction would be added Admittedly there is most likely a bigger challenge in undoing an over compressed signal than in the original mis take Wideband upward expansion is probably the first method you should try with the Waves C1 or Renaissance Compressor unless you can positively identify a mix that has already had some multiband or de essing paramet ric type of compression mis processing Otherwise trying to use a multiband upward expander to fix a mix that had wideband over compression is not advisable as the gain changes applied in the first place would have been across the entire band However as flexible as the C4 Multiband Parametric is in the other
32. n a compressor setting then the full value of compression will not occur until about 100ms By varying the Attack time you can precisely control how prominent the transients are allowed to be With very fast Attack times the output signal will have very little attack remaining which can be an effect but many times such fast attack times are the reason that multiband compression can have a less than desirable result Longer Attack times can increase the peak to RMS the level of attack to sustain so to speak of a signal because the longer attack allows more of the initial sound to pass through before compression occurs After the compression begins it lowers the rest of the sustained sound therefore increasing the dynamic distance between the beginning sound transient and the sustained sound Release This is very much like release controls on other dynamic devices It varies the speed with which the dynamic process will stop taking place If you have Release set to 500ms on a compressor setting then compression will continue for 500ms a half second One point to remember is that the 2 controls in the Global section called BeHavior and RELEASE will also affect the release behavior this is described later in this chapter in the Global controls section The ARC technology can profoundly affect the way the release works and is discussed in the Global controls section C4 Plug In Manual One advantage of a multiband compressor is that
33. n takes place when the signal level is well below the Threshold that is what we term low level Gain C4 Plug In Manual 11 Range This is a deceptively simple control to let you set the maximum range of compression or expansion for each band in dB For instance if you set RANGE to 6dB you will not have more than 6dB gain reduction in that band no matter how deep you ve set the Threshold This gives you the flexibility to do low level compression as first offered in the Waves C1 which is a way to compress upward a level of a band without altering the transients above the range Just think of it as a way to set the ratio and a maximum gain change at the same time The bigger the Rance negative or positive the more gain change you can have in that band as well as having a higher ratio For most compression applications just setting RANGE to 4 is quite sufficient unless you are intentionally trying for a heavy effect To achieve limiting a large negative Rance can be used try the Limiter Medium or Limiter Heavy setups as starting points It helps to remember that Range is added as an offset to Gain when the signal level is well above the Threshold that is what we term high level Gain Attack This is the classic compressor or expander attack control It varies the speed with which the dynamic process will take place in response to an increase in input level For example if you have Attack set to 100ms o
34. nging the crossover point related to that band Note that changing the center of a band will also change the adjacent band If you drag the marker vertically will change the Gan for that band Vertical dragging while holding the Option Alt key changes the Rance You can lock into one direction by pressing and holding the Command key Mac only during any dragging operation which will help you avoid changing the other direction s values i e Command dragging horizontally will not change the Gain value See other power user tips in the WaveSystem manual there are many Summary of Band marker controls Horizontal drag Frequency center Vertical drag Gain Option Alt vertical drag Range Command drag lock into first direction moved Mac only C4 Plug In Manual 9 __ Band controls Each band has 7 controls Solo At the top left corner of each band is the Soro button which allows you to listen to just that band with processing post compressor The display also shows what you are actually hearing so if you solo 2 bands the display will show 2 bands with the dynamic yellow line and purple ranges as seen below 1k Bypass Just to the right of the Solo button is the Bypass control which returns the entire band to a unity gain status with no dynamic processing at all The Gain control value is ignored Therefore if you want to simply have no dynamic processing at all id ce band but still wish t
35. not what you want for most applications As a vocal processor Voiceover or singing both have similar needs in compression and de essing and a multiband device can be quite good for this In fact the C4 also lets you work as an EQ as well as previously mentioned Load the Voiceover preset from the Load menu Any of the bands can be bypassed If you don t need de popping just bypass band 1 for example Band 1 is for de popping without affecting the deep bass Band 2 is set rather wide to perform most of the work Band 3 is a de esser with a 1dB boost note that the Gain is 1dB higher than bands 1 and 2 Band 4 is just the air of the voice just a tad of compression and boost of 2dB above bands 1 and 2 Optionally you can set Band 1 Gann to 10 with RANGE set to zero and the Low Crossover set to 65Hz This can lowcut any pops or thumps but may remove some low stuff that is important do it only if there are real problems Now while playing voiceover or vocals through the C4 solo each band to hear what it will affect Band 2 certainly has all the meat of the voice and by using Band 1 set to a low crossover any loud pops or rumble will be isolated Adjust the Thresholds of each band so that you have reasonable compression on band 2 with relatively strong de essing on band 3 Then adjust the Gain controls to balance the tonality of the voice C4 Plug In Manual The Q and Knee controls are
36. o faster values or the Knez to higher values Read the rest of this manual there are many tips that can help you optimize your sound C4 Plug In Manual 5 Chapter 3 Controls and Interface Main display area DynamicLine Graph Instead of individual gain reduction meters which provide a limited amount of information we felt that showing the basic function of a multiband processor must include the gain change in each band plus the resultant EQ by the settings of the crossover Therefore we combined them into a new interface display If you have a crossover and set the output gains differently in each band you have a 4 band EQ in a manner of thinking Putting compressors into each band makes it a dynamic EQ Therefore the graph shows a large amount of information 3 crossover points draggable crossover slope global DynamicLine animated EQ curve yellow line maximum change in dynamic Range the purple area fixed gain the brighter edge of the purple range frequency center points draggable effective gain change by comparing moving line to scaling on left edge This is a lot of information in a single display but you ll find it very intuitive after just a short time of using it Due to the complex nature of the possibilities of this processor it s best to give a complete example so that the list above is clearly understood Gi C4 Plug In Manual Let s suppose that you
37. o have control of the Gain don t use the Bypass control Instead set the Range to zero and then use the Gain control as a fixed makeup gain control which you can think of as a 1 band EQ 10 C4 Plug In Manual Threshold nea This determines the point around which the dynamic gain changes will take place in other words the center point of the Ranc control This control can be changed by vertically dragging the triangle beside the orange energy meter Each meter shows the actual level in that band so if the band is very low high or narrow the level in that band will be low most likely It makes it very easy to set a Threshold merely drag the triangle down until it is within the range of motion of the orange meter The value of the Threshold is displayed at the top of the meter You can also type a value into this display or drag directly on it as described in the WaveSystem manual Note that only the first band is labeled with Thrsh No reason to clutter such a nice user interface eh Gain You can think of this control as the makeup gain for each band or as an offset gain In the Waves C1 compressor it is simply called Makeup On many compressors like the C4 it is called Gain and is the output control of that band whether it is set to be a compressor or an expander Just set the dynamic behavior say light compression for a band then set the Gain control to the desired level It helps to remember that Gai
38. se so this is just a nod in that direction The bands 1 and 2 are in bypass but are already set for rumble and low mid noise reduction Simply take them out of Bypass To adjust Solo the band to adjust then drag the Threshold so that the undesirable noise is reduced without ad versely affecting the audio you want to keep Move Thresholdup to increase noise reduction Optimizing each band in this way will yield the greatest signal to noise increase and minimize noise modulation For even more noise reduction increase the Gain setting and make sure to set the Range to the same amount but negative Gain 9 Range 9 Attack and release times are very similar to gate operation A slower attack time will make the band open slower a slower release time will make the band close slower have more noise before it reduces gain Therefore slower attacks and faster releases also increase the noise reduction behavior Rumble and hiss reducer All the points made in the previous preset commentary 2 band HF noise reducer also hold true for this preset which was designed specifically to reduce rumble and hiss Crossovers are set for 75Hz and below and a hiss band centered around 7 5kHz If there is also a need to reduce the very high hiss noise simply take Band 4 out of bypass Band 2 is probably not needed very much unless you have a very noisy source One possible drawback is that Band 2 is very very broad over 5 octaves and unless careful
39. set very high in this preset created primarily for voiceover and can certainly be softened for a singing voice Try lower Q and Knee values with smaller Range settings for more gentle compression while still giving you powerful de essing and air limiting As a Mastering Processor We approach this subject with a bit of sincere care Mastering is a somewhat misused word at this time and is not limited only to making CDs Anyone who is preparing a Production Master for duplication or broadcast is truly mastering that is making the final copy and tweaking it It happens in film and video color correction etc in print and definitely in audio This includes preparation of nearly every commercial show or production element in the entire media world The Mastering Guild the audio group has emphasized that CD mastering is an acquired art and craft not an equipment list and the most important tools to such an engineer are their ears and their monitor configuration They know what things should sound like the question is how to adjust something to get it to where it can be It s not through presets or guesswork Historically it has been through apprenticeships at best That aside we recommend trying the Multiband Opto Mastering preset or the Basic multi preset Either one will give you reasonable compression and increased density of your mix To enhance low level signals a great way to boost level without squashing d
40. slower attack and release times are not as necessary as in wideband compressors The intermodulation distortion IM described previously was caused by compressors that were track ing the low frequency signals too closely so setting attack and release times to slower values helped reduce the IM distortion but also prevented the type or amount of desired compression from being achieved Since each band has it s own attack and release controls they can be set for optimum dynamic processing with minimum unwanted distortion If you have Release times that are too slow then a band could be compressed reduced in gain for a longer period of time after the signal has already fallen below the Threshold Release times that are too fast will still produce distortion Tip Setting Attack and Release The easiest way to hear how a too fast Release time causes distortion is simply to Solo the low band 1 band Set the attack and release times to very fast values say 5ms each with the Behavior mode set to Electro and the Global Release set to Manual Set the Range to 10 and the Threshold deep enough to get a lot of movement in the graph Most likely the bass will be somewhat distorted and fuzzy just use the 1 band s Bypass button for comparisons Part of correctly setting the release and attack controls will be to find values that give the desired dynamic processing without causing distortion Let s face it most of you probably wish to use multi
41. sly The Behavior control affects the release behavior Electro or Opto The other Master controls work in a similar way All have extensive descriptions in Chapter 3 Examples of Use and Chapter 4 Controls and Interface with examples and suggestions for optimum sound Aae muani l Load the Basic multi preset from the Waves Load menu right corner Play some audio If the yellow line is not moving drag the Master Threshold down until it is responding and you can hear the processing Adjust each Threshold so that each band is responding reasonably not too much or too little just listen Adjust the Master Gain until the average position of the yellow line is around the center horizontal line Set the compressor so that when you toggle the main Bypass button at the top edge of the window the level is about he same in and out of bypass Ignore any tonal imbalance just aim for average level to be the same as in Bypass Finally adjust each band s Gain so that the overall tonal balance is to taste Since high frequencies will compress and release faster often the result is that as more multiband compression is applied say by adjusting MASTER THRESHOLD the signal becomes progressively brighter on average You can simply lower the Gain for the high band s to compensate for this For more compression set the RANGE value lower For tighter sound adjust the Q to a higher setting or the Arrack and RELEASE controls t
42. some bands the strong suggestion is don t do it if it doesn t need it A simple example many smaller studio mixes might need some bass compression to tighten up the low end and a high frequency limiter or de esser to help control excessive esses and cymbal crashes At the same time the production doesn t need any compression on the voices or guitars mid bands so you can simply have the bands 2 and 3 set with their Range 0 which means those bands are off but the Gain is still active Try the BassComp HighFreqLimit factory preset as an example You ll see that bands 2 and 3 are set to flat with the Gain controls but since there is no Range value then they will not have any dynamic processing In other words you don t have to use all 4 bands just because they are available Where did multiband come from Multiband processors weren t created for recording studios but instead as far as we know were originally devel oped for radio broadcasters who wanted to avoid the IM or modulation distortions that resulted from wideband compressors In the early days of radio AM it was and remains not only illegal but not very good for the trans mitter to ever modulate past 100 To try to control this compressors and limiters were used but increased IM distortion would result when they attempted to push the compressors and limiters harder This was to achieve a greater broadcast reach as AM and shortwave radio act
43. t way to solve these issues is to de ess in the mix use very light cymbals and well better engineering on the low end This preset uses only 2 bands the most common application of multiple C1 s for bass compression control and de essing C4 Plug In Manual Band 1 is set to 180Hz which covers the main part of the kick drum and almost all fundamental notes of the bass guitar or other bass line Band 2 is a bandpass de esser centered at 8kHz Attack and Release controls are the critical controls With a faster attack on Band 1 the kick can be controlled separately from the bass line with reasonable precision Soloing the band will help in setting the Release time so that distortion is minimized too fast a Release will cause the compressor to follow the bass wave itself a form of modu lation distortion that even multibands are susceptible to It s the same for Band 3 the Attack time at 12ms allows enough transients of the snare and consonants of the singer that there is not too much dulling of the sound but the sustained high frequency material such as esses and cymbals may be controlled quite well Bands 2 and 4 can be used as EQ as the Range is set to zero BassComp HiFreqLimit A variation on the previous setup except that instead of a bandpass de esser the entire high frequency is a shelving compressor limiter Sometimes quite useful if there has been too much air EQ applied in the source material Pop Vocal
44. ther example would be too much compression on a drum submix and you need to restore the attack of the drums but not the low frequencies so you could use a mid and high frequency upward expander and ignore the lower frequencies C4 Plug In Manual You can load the Unprocessor and simply Bypass any band you don t need Here s another tip to bypass a band but still have it available as EQ simply set the Range control to zero and use the Gain control to set the EQ level in that band l ae If you recall the principle of low level gain and high level gain explained previously it is easy to setup the C4 as a dynamic noise reduction processor with up to 4 bands if needed To remind you just a bit Gain is applied to the low level signals and Range is added to it on high level signals To set up the C4 as a 4 band noise reduction processor Finda section of audio where only noise is present and loop it for preview Listen to each band of noise separately using Solo and determine the amount of noise reduction you want to apply to this band Set Gain equal to the amount of noise reduction wanted in each band a negative value Set Range to exactly compensate for the gain reduction in low levels that is the Range should be exactly the inverse of Gain if Gain 12dB Range 12dB While previewing the noise segment set Threshold in each band such that it is just enough above the noise energy in this band so that you hear
45. ually can be picked up better the louder it is this is not true for FM although heavy limiting and compression is widespread in broadcasting Briefly modulation distortion occurs when one frequency band is modulated by another one The most egregious type of modulation distortion is when the low frequencies modulate everything else Examples include a big bass note providing amplitude modulation of the remainder of the music the compressor is literally following the bass wave up and down or when you can hear the kick drum pumping the entire mix This makes a rather unlikable sound C4 Plug In Manual Radio needed a solution and by using crossovers and multiple compressors they simply compressed each band separately so that the kick drum and bass were compressed without affecting any other part Of course this idea was taken to the absolute extreme with radio stations building up to 10 band compressor limiters and more with highly customized methods of determining when to compress when not to when to freeze gain etc They also pushed the edge with limiting and clipping technology as the idea that people listen to the loudest radio station became a mindset in many program directors around the world This isn t an accusation Merely acknowledgement which radio owners want the loudest clearest sound they can possibly get It is relatively well known that a lack of dynamics is appropriate for some mediums such as car
46. vative low level processing which is covered in more detail in Chapter 4 Range and Threshold Concept and Chapter 5 Examples of Use Multiband low level expanders are quite amazing and good tools to have C4 Plug In Manual Gain vamge Att As you can see GaN is set to different positive values for each band In the previous graphic the colored edge of the purple shading is the Gan line If you are familiar with the Waves C1 compressor just think of the C4 as a group of C1 compressors all in split mode You compress the bass or some other band then set the makeup gain for the level you want the compressed band to have The purple area shows the Ranc of possible dynamic gain changes in each band This dynamic gain is in addition to the band s fixed Gar and is relative to it The Gan value is always shown as the lighter colored edge of the purple range Simply put Gain is always the highlighted edge of the purple band and Rance offsets it to the other edge Another principle you should keep in mind is that Gain always takes place when the signal is well below the THRESHOLD and Rance offsets it when the signal is well above the THRESHOLD Keeping this in mind will help you to setup the C4 for the wanted gain change below and above the THRESHOLD In this example the THresHoLp and other controls are set for the desired sound and do not affect the display or graph in any way except for the speed of the graph which is af
47. ynamics try the Upward Comp 5 or 3 version of the preset This is great for adding level without losing punch To fix a mix Most of the time you want to use relatively equivalent Gain and Range settings across the bands so to not change the spectral balance too much However it s not a perfect world and many mixes are not perfect either So let s say you have a mix that has too much kick the right amount of bass guitar and needs a little cymbal control and de essing Load the BassComp De Esser preset e Adjust the bass Threshold band 1 until you have some compression Adjusting the band 1 Attack control will let through more or less of the kick itself Adjusting the band 1 Gain control lets you set the overall level of the kick and bass If the compression pulls the bass guitar down too much you might increase the Gain until the bass is right then adjust the Attack value to control the kick drum punch until it has a better balance Faster attack times will let less kick through slower times will let more of it be heard In fact with too long of a setting you may actually increasethe dynamic range between the loud kick and bass guitar which isn t what the example was all about C4 Plug In Manual Now for the cymbal control and de esser you ll follow a very similar procedure that you did for the bass band Adjust the band 3 Threshold until you have some compression e Adjusting the Gain control
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search