Pinnacle Systems Pro Tools - 11.0 User's Guide

Audio Plug-Ins Guide

Version 11.0

Legal Notices

003, 192 Digital I/O, 192 I/O, 96 I/O, 96i I/O, Adrenaline, AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AME, AniMatte, Archive, Archive II, Assistant Station, AudioPages, AudioStation, AutoLoop, AutoSync, Avid, Avid Active, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel, Avid DNxHD, Avid DS Assist Station, Avid Ignite, Avid Liquid, Avid Media Engine, Avid Media Processor, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo, Avid Remote Response, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid VideoRAID, AvidRAID, AvidShare, AVIDstripe, AVX, Beat Detective, Beauty Without The Bandwidth, Beyond Reality, BF Essentials, Bomb Factory, Bruno, C|24, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Cineractive Engine, Cineractive Player, Cineractive Viewer, Color Conductor, Command|8, Control|24, Cosmonaut Voice, CountDown, d2, d3, DAE, D-Command, D-Control, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, Digi 002, Digi 003, DigiBase, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Development Partners, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, Digidesign TDM Bus, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiPanner, DigiProNet, DigiRack, DigiSerial, DigiSnake, DigiSystem, Digital Choreography, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTest, DigiTranslator, DigiWear, DINR, DNxchange, Do More, DPP-1, D-Show, DSP Manager, DS-StorageCalc, DV Toolkit, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, EM, Euphonix, EUCON, EveryPhase, Expander, ExpertRender, Fairchild, FastBreak, Fast Track, Film Cutter, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, Frame Chase, FXDeko, HD Core, HD Process, HDpack, Home-to-Hollywood, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, iKnowledge, Impact, Improv, iNEWS, iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, InGame, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelligent Content Management, Intelligent Digital Actor Technology, IntelliRender, Intelli-Sat, Intelli-Sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, InterFX, Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS Expander, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, LFX, Lightning, Link & Sync, ListSync, LKT-200, Lo-Fi, MachineControl, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move|media, Marquee, MassivePack, MassivePack Pro, Maxim, Mbox, Media Composer, MediaFlow, MediaLog, MediaMix, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaServer, MediaShare, MetaFuze, MetaSync, MIDI I/O, Mix Rack, Moviestar, MultiShell, NaturalMatch, NewsCutter, NewsView, NewsVision, Nitris, NL3D, NLP, NSDOS, NSWIN, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, Painterly Effects, Palladiium, Personal Q, PET, Podcast Factory, PowerSwap, PRE, ProControl, ProEncode, Profiler, Pro Tools, Pro Tools|HD, Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered, Pro Transfer, QuickPunch, QuietDrive, Realtime Motion Synthesis, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger, Reel Tape Saturation, Reprise, Res Rocket Surfer, Reso, RetroLoop, Reverb One, ReVibe, Revolution, rS9, rS18, RTAS, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, ScriptSync, SecureProductionEnvironment, Shape-to-Shape, ShuttleCase, Sibelius, SimulPlay, SimulRecord, Slightly Rude Compressor, Smack!, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter, SoundReplacer, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, SteadyGlide, Streamfactory, Streamgenie, StreamRAID, SubCap, Sundance, Sundance Digital, SurroundScope, Symphony,

SYNC HD, SYNC I/O, Synchronic, SynchroScope, Syntax, TDM FlexCable, TechFlix, Tel-Ray, Thunder, TimeLiner, Titansync, Titan, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan, TL Drum Rehab, TL Everyphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Utilities, tools for storytellers, Transit, TransJammer, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Video the Web Way, VideoRAID, VideoSPACE, VTEM, Work-N-Play, Xdeck, X-Form, and XMON are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Bonjour, the Bonjour logo, and the Bonjour symbol are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.

Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

This product may be protected by one or more U.S. and nonU.S. patents. Details are available at www.avid.com/patents.

Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice.

Guide Part Number 9329-65293-00 REV A 05/13

Part I Introduction to Pro Tools Plug-Ins

Chapter 1. Audio Plug-Ins Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Plug-In Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Avid Audio Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Using Plug-Ins in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Conventions Used in Pro Tools Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

System Requirements and Compatibility for Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

About www.avid.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 2. Installing and Authorizing Avid Paid Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Authorizing Avid Audio Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Installing Plug-Ins for Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Removing Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 3. Adjusting Plug-In Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Dragging Plug-In Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Editing Control Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Dragging in Graphic Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Adjusting Controls with Fine Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Resetting Controls to Default Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Part II EQ Plug-Ins

Chapter 4. EQ III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

EQ III Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Adjusting EQ III Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

EQ III I/O Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

EQ III EQ Band Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

1-Band EQ III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

7-Band EQ III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Audio Plug-Ins Guide iii

Chapter 5. Focusrite D2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

D2 Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

D2 Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Using D2 in Stereo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Chapter 6. JOEMEEK VC5 Meequalizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

JOEMEEK Meequalizer Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter 7. Pultec Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Pultec EQP-1A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Pultec EQH-2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Pultec MEQ-5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Pultec Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Part III Dynamics Plug-Ins

Chapter 8. BF-2A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

BF-2A Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Using the BF-2A Side-Chain Filter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

BF-2A Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Chapter 9. BF-3A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

BF-3A Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

BF-3A Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Chapter 10. BF76 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

BF76 Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

BF76 Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Chapter 11. Channel Strip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Channel Strip Sections and Panes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Channel Strip Input Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Channel Strip Output Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Channel Strip FX Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Channel Strip Dynamics Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Channel Strip EQ/Filters Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Contents iv

Chapter 12. Dynamics III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Dynamics III Common Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Compressor/Limiter III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Expander/Gate III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

De-Esser III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Dynamics III Side-Chain Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Chapter 13. Fairchild Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Fairchild 660 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Fairchild 670 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Chapter 14. Focusrite D3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

D3 Compressor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

D3 Limiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

D3 Side-Chain Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Using D3 in Stereo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

D3 Common Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

D3 Compressor Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

D3 Limiter Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Using the Side-Chain Input in D3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Chapter 15. Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Impact Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Using the Impact Compressor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Chapter 16. JOEMEEK SC2 Compressor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

JOEMEEK Compressor Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

JOEMEEK Compressor Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Chapter 17. Maxim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

About Peak Limiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

How Maxim Differs From Conventional Limiters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Maxim Controls and Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Using Maxim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Maxim and Mastering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Contents v

Chapter 18. Pro Compressor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Pro Compressor Metering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Pro Compressor Input Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Pro Compressor Output Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Pro Compressor Dynamics Graph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Pro Compressor Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Pro Compressor Side-Chain Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Chapter 19. Pro Expander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Pro Expander Metering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Pro Expander Input Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Pro Expander Output Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Pro Expander Dynamics Graph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Pro Expander Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Pro Expander Side-Chain Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Chapter 20. Pro Limiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Pro Limiter Metering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Pro Limiter Input Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Pro Limiter Output Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Pro Limiter Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Pro Limiter Loudness Numeric Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Pro Limiter Histogram and Loudness Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

AudioSuite Processing with Pro Limiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

AudioSuite Processing with Pro Limiter Loudness Analyzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Chapter 21. Purple Audio MC77 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Purple Audio MC77 Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Chapter 22. Smack! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Smack! Controls and Meters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Using the Smack! Side-Chain Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Contents vi

Part IV Pitch and Time Shift Plug-Ins

Chapter 23. Time Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Time Shift Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

AudioSuite Input Modes and Time Shift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

AudioSuite Preview and Time Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Time Shift as AudioSuite TCE Plug-In Preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Processing Audio Using Time Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Post Production Pull Up and Pull Down Tasks with Time Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Chapter 24. Vari-Fi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Vari-Fi Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Part V Reverb Plug-Ins

Chapter 25. D-Verb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

D-Verb Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Selections for D-Verb AudioSuite Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Chapter 26. Reverb One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

About Reverb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Reverb One Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Reverb One Graphs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Other Reverb One Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Chapter 27. ReVibe II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Using ReVibe II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Dragging in the Graphic Display to Adjust Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

ReVibe II Input and Output Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

ReVibe II Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

ReVibe II Decay EQ Graph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

ReVibe II Decay Color Graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

ReVibe II Contour Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

ReVibe II Room Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Contents vii

Part VI Delay Plug-Ins

Chapter 28. Mod Delay III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Mod Delay III Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Selections for Mod Delay III AudioSuite Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Chapter 29. Moogerfooger Analog Delay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Moogerfooger Analog Delay Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Moogerfooger Analog Delay Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Chapter 30. Tel-Ray Variable Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Tel-Ray Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Tel-Ray Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Chapter 31. TimeAdjuster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

TimeAdjuster Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Using TimeAdjuster for Manual Delay Compensation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

When to Compensate for Delays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Part VII Modulation Plug-Ins

Chapter 32. Moogerfooger Lowpass Filter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Moogerfooger Lowpass Filter Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Moogerfooger Lowpass Filter Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Chapter 33. Moogerfooger 12-Stage Phaser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Moogerfooger 12-Stage Phaser Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Moogerfooger 12-Stage Phaser Tips and Tricks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Chapter 34. Moogerfooger Ring Modulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Moogerfooger Ring Modulator Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Moogerfooger Ring Modulator Tips and Tricks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Chapter 35. Reel Tape Flanger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Reel Tape Common Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Reel Tape Flanger Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Synchronizing Reel Tape Flanger to Session Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Reel Tape Flanger Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Reel Tape Flanger Presets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Contents viii

Chapter 36. Sci-Fi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Sci-Fi Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Chapter 37. Voce Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Voce Chorus/Vibrato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Voce Spin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Part VIII Harmonic Plug-Ins

Chapter 38. Eleven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Eleven Input Calibration and QuickStart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Using Eleven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Eleven Tips and Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Eleven Signal Flow Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Chapter 39. Lo-Fi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Lo-Fi Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Chapter 40. Recti-Fi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Recti-Fi Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Chapter 41. Reel Tape Saturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Reel Tape Common Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Reel Tape Saturation Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Reel Tape Saturation Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Reel Tape Saturation Presets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Chapter 42. SansAmp PSA-1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

PSA-1 Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

PSA-1 Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Part IX Dither Plug-Ins

Chapter 43. Dither. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Dither Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Chapter 44. POW-r Dither . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

POW-r Dither Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Contents ix

Part X Sound Field Plug-Ins

Chapter 45. AutoPan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

AutoPan Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Using AutoPan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Chapter 46. Down Mixer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Downmix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Part XI Instrument Plug-Ins

Chapter 47. Click II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Click II Controls and Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Creating a Click Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Chapter 48. ReWire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

ReWire Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Using ReWire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

MIDI Automation with ReWire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Quitting ReWire Client Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Session Tempo and Meter Changes and ReWire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Looping Playback with ReWire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Automating Input Switching with ReWire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Part XII Other Plug-Ins

Chapter 49. InTune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

InTune Controls and Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

InTune Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Using InTune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Chapter 50. MasterMeter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Master Meter Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Using MasterMeter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

MasterMeter Controls and Displays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Chapter 51. Signal Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Signal Generator Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

AudioSuite Processing with Signal Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Contents x

Chapter 52. SoundReplacer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Audio Replacement Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

SoundReplacer Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Using SoundReplacer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Getting Optimum Results with SoundReplacer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Using the Audio Files Folder for Frequently Used SoundReplacer Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Chapter 53. Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Trim Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Chapter 54. Other AudioSuite Plug-In Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

DC Offset Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Duplicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Invert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Normalize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Reverse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Contents xi

Part I: Introduction to

Pro Tools Plug-Ins

Chapter 1: Audio Plug-Ins Overview

Plug-Ins are special-purpose software components that provide additional signal processing and other functionality to Pro Tools|HDX, Pro Tools|HD Native, and Pro Tools systems. These include plug-ins that come with your Pro Tools system, as well as many other plug-ins

that can be purchased or rented from Avid

separately. This guide documents all 64-bit AAX plugins available from Avid for Pro Tools 11.

Additional plug-ins are available from thirdparty developers. For more information, visit www.avid.com/plugins.

Plug-In Formats

AAX (Avid Audio Extension) plug-ins provide real-time plug-in processing using host-based (“Native”) or DSP-based (Pro Tools|HDX systems only) processing. The AAX plug-in format also supports AudioSuite non-real-time, file-based rendered processing. AAX plug-in files use the “.aaxplugin” file suffix.

There are three plug-in formats used in Pro Tools:

™

• AudioSuite

processing

• AAX Native: real-time, host-based plug-ins

• AAX DSP: real-time, DSP-based plug-ins

(Pro Tools|HDX systems only)

: non-real-time, file-based

Avid Audio Plug-Ins

Avid includes a comprehensive set of sound processing, effects, and utility plug-ins with all Pro Tools systems. Other Avid plug-ins are available for purchase or rental from the Avid store (visit shop.avid.com, or, in Pro Tools, choose

Marketplace > Plug-Ins).

Avid Audio Plug-Ins Included with Pro Tools

Pro Tools includes a suite of digital signal processing effects, including EQ, dynamics, delay, and other essential audio processing tools. The following plug-ins are included with Pro Tools 11:

• Channel Strip (see “Dynamics”)

• EQ III

• 1 Band

• 7 Band

Dynamics

• BF76 Compressor

• Channel Strip

• Dynamics III

• Compressor/Limiter

• Expander/Gate

• De-Esser

• Maxim

™

Chapter 1: Audio Plug-Ins Overview 2

Pitch and Time Shift

• Time Shift

• Vari-Fi

™

Sound Field

• AutoPan

™

• Down Mixer

Reverb

• D-Verb

Delay

• Mod Delay III

• TimeAdjuster

Modulation

• Sci-Fi

™

Harmonic

• Eleven Free

• Lo-Fi

• Recti-Fi

™

• SansAmp PSA-1

Dither

• Dither

• POW-r Dither

Instrument

• Click II

• ReWire

Other

• DC Offset Removal (AudioSuite only)

• Duplicate (AudioSuite only)

• Gain (AudioSuite only)

• Invert (AudioSuite only)

• Normalize (AudioSuite only)

• Reverse (AudioSuite only)

• Signal Generator

• Time Compression/Expansion

• InTune

• MasterMeter

• Metro

™

• Trim

Chapter 1: Audio Plug-Ins Overview 3

Additional Avid Audio Plug-Ins

The following plug-ins are available separately for purchase and rental:

• BF-2A

• BF-3A

• Eleven

• Fairchild 660 and 670

• Focusrite d2/d3

• Impact

• JOEMEEK SC2 Compressor

• JOEMEEK VC5 Meequalizer

• Moogerfooger plug-ins

• Pro Compressor

• Pro Expander

• Pro Limiter

• Purple Audio MC77

• Reel Tape

• Reverb One

• ReVibe® II

• Smack!

• SoundReplacer

• Tel-Ray Variable Delay

• Voce Spin

• Voce Chorus/Vibrato

™

guitar amplifier modeling plug-in

• Moogerfooger Analog Delay

• Moogerfooger Ring Modulator

• Moogerfooger 12-Stage Phaser

• Moogerfooger Lowpass Filter

™

plug-ins:

• Reel Tape Saturation

• Reel Tape Delay

• Reel Tape Flanger

™

Using Plug-Ins in Pro Tools

See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for information on working with plug-ins, including:

• Inserting plug-ins on tracks

• Plug-In Window controls

• Adjusting plug-in controls

• Automating plug-ins

• Using side-chain inputs

• Using plug-in presets

• Clip indicators

Conventions Used in Pro Tools Documentation

Pro Tools documentation uses the following conventions to indicate menu choices, keyboard commands, and mouse commands:

Convention Action

File > Save Choose Save from the

File menu

Control+N Hold down the Control

key and press the N key

Control-click Hold down the Control

key and click the mouse button

Right-click Click with the right

mouse button

The names of that appear on-screen are in a different font.

Commands, Options, and Settings

Chapter 1: Audio Plug-Ins Overview 4

The following symbols are used to highlight important information:

User Tips are helpful hints for getting the most from your system.

Important Notices include information that could affect your data or the performance of your system.

Shortcuts show you useful keyboard or mouse shortcuts.

Cross References point to related sections in this guide and other Avid documentation.

About www.avid.com

The Avid website (www.avid.com) is your best online source for information to help you get the most out of your Pro Tools system. The following are just a few of the services and features available.

Product Registration

online.

Support and Downloads

Success (technical support); download software updates and the latest online manuals; browse the Compatibility documents for system requirements; search the online Knowledge Base or join the worldwide Pro Tools community on the User Conference.

Contact Avid Customer

System Requirements and Compatibility for Plug-Ins

To use Pro Tools plug-ins, you need the following:

• An Avid-qualified system running Pro Tools or

Pro Tools HD

• An iLok USB key (iLok) for plug-ins that can be

purchased or rented

Avid can only assure compatibility and provide support for hardware and software it has tested and approved.

For complete system requirements and a list of Avid-qualified computers, operating systems, hard drives, and third-party devices, visit:

www.avid.com/compatibility

Third-Party Plug-In Support

For information on third-party plug-ins for Pro Tools systems, refer to the documentation that came with your plug-in.

Training and Education

Study on your own using courses available online or find out how you can learn in a classroom setting at a certified Pro Tools training center.

Products and Developers

Learn about Avid products; download demo software or learn about our Development Partners and their plug-ins, applications, and hardware.

News and Events

Get the latest news from Avid or

Chapter 1: Audio Plug-Ins Overview 5

Chapter 2: Installing and Authorizing Avid Paid Plug-Ins

A core set of audio plug-ins is installed automatically with your version of Pro Tools. No additional steps are required to authorize these plug-ins for use on your Pro Tools system.

Installers for additional plug-ins purchased or rented from the Avid store (shop.avid.com) can be downloaded from your online Avid account. These plug-ins are authorized using an iLok USB key.

About iLok

All paid plug-ins from Avid are authorized using an iLok USB key from PACE Anti-Piracy.

iLok USB key (2nd generation)

An iLok can hold hundreds of authorizations for all of your iLok-enabled software. After a software license is placed on an iLok, you can use the iLok to authorize that software on any computer.

An iLok USB key is not supplied with plug-ins or software options. You can use the iLok included with certain Pro Tools systems, or purchase one separately.

For more information, visit the iLok website (www.iLok.com).

Authorizing Avid Audio Plug-Ins

When you purchase or rent an Avid Audio plug-in, you receive an activation code, either on an activation card or through your Avid account.

To authorize your plug-in, follow the steps below, or visit www.avid.com/activationcard and follow the online instructions.

To authorize Avid Audio plug-ins:

1 If you don’t already have an iLok account, visit

www.ilok.com to sign up for an account.

2 Visit www.avid.com/activation and log into your

A vid account (if you don’t already have an Avid

account, click “Create Your Account”).

3 Enter your activation code and your iLok.com

User ID.

4 Follow the on-screen instructions to deposit

your license into your iLok.com account.

5 Once the activation process is complete, the

download links for your Avid audio plug-in will be available in the

Avid account (accessed by clicking the

Products

or View My Product Details links in

your user account).

Products section of your

Your

Chapter 2: Installing and Authorizing Avid Paid Plug-Ins 6

Software download links remain in your Avid account for future use. For more information about Avid audio plug-ins, including links for user guides and more, visit www.avid.com/plugins.

6 Download and install the plug-in that you

purchased.

7 Make sure your iLok is connected to an avail-

able USB port on your computer.

4 Follow the on-screen instructions to complete

the installation.

5 When installation is complete, click Finish.

Removing Plug-Ins

If you need to remove a plug-in from your Pro Tools system, follow the instructions below for your computer platform.

8 Launch Pro Tools and follow the on-screen in-

structions to transfer the plug-in license to your iLok and authorize the plug-in.

Installing Plug-Ins for Pro Tools

Installing Paid Plug-Ins on Mac

To install a plug-in on Mac:

1 Download the installer for Mac from

www.avid.com. After downloading, make sure the installer is uncompressed (.dmg).

2 If Pro Tools is running, quit Pro Tools. 3 Locate and double-click the plug-in installer

disk image.

4 Drag the plug-in (.aaxplugin) to the Plug-Ins

folder alias in the disk image.

Installing Paid Plug-Ins on Windows

To install a plug-in on Windows:

1 Download the installer for Windows from

www.avid.com. After downloading, make sure the installer is uncompressed (.ZIP).

Removing Plug-Ins on Mac

To remove a plug-in:

1 Locate and open the Plug-Ins folder on your

Startup drive (Library/Application Support /Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins).

2 Do one of the following:

• Drag the plug-in to the Plug-Ins (Unused) folder.

• Drag the plug-in to the Trash and empty the

Trash.

Removing Plug-Ins on Windows

To remove a plug-in:

1 Choose Start > Control Panel. 2 Click Programs and Features. 3 Select the plug-in from the list of installed

applications.

4 Click Uninstall. 5 Follow the on-screen instructions to remove the

plug-in.

2 If Pro Tools is running, quit Pro Tools. 3 Locate and double-click the plug-in installer.

Chapter 2: Installing and Authorizing Avid Paid Plug-Ins 7

Chapter 3: Adjusting Plug-In Controls

You can adjust plug-in controls by dragging on-screen controls, by editing control values, or by dragging in graphic displays.

Dragging Plug-In Controls

Rotary Controls

Some plug-ins have rotary controls that can be adjusted by dragging over them horizontally or vertically.

To adjust a rotary control:

1 Click on the control. 2 Do any of the following:

• Drag up or to the right to increment the control.

• Drag down or to the left to decrement the control.

Slider Controls

Some plug-ins have slider controls that can be adjusted by dragging horizontally.

Some sliders are bipolar, meaning that their zero position is in the center of the slider’s range. Dragging to the right of center yields a positive value, and dragging to the left of center yields a negative value.

To adjust a slider control:

1 Click on the control. 2 Do any of the following:

• Drag to the right to increment the control.

• Drag to the left to decrement the control.

Adjusting a rotary control by dragging (EQ III)

Chapter 3: Adjusting Plug-In Controls 8

Adjusting a slider control by dragging (ReVibe II)

Editing Control Values

Dragging in Graphic Displays

Some controls have text boxes that display the current control value. You can edit the control value directly.

To edit control values:

1 Click in the text box corresponding to the con-

trol that you want to adjust.

2 Do any of the following:

• Type a new value. For controls that support values in kilohertz, typing “k” after a numeric value will multiply the value by 1000.

• To increment the value, scroll up with a mouse or scroll wheel, or press the Up Arrow key.

• To decrement the value, scroll down with a mouse or scroll wheel, or press the Up Arrow key.

3 Do one of the following:

• Press Enter on the numeric keyboard to input the value and remain in keyboard editing mode.

• Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) on the alpha keyboard to enter the value and leave keyboard editing mode.

Some plug-ins have graphic displays with control points that you can drag to adjust the corresponding controls.

Dragging a control point (EQ III)

Dragging a control point (ReVibe II)

Adjusting Controls with Fine Resolution

Controls and control points can be adjusted with fine resolution by holding the Command key (Mac)

Typing a control value (EQ III)

To move forward through control text boxes in a plug-in:

 Press the Tab key.

To move backward through control text boxes in a plug-in:

 Press Shift+ Tab.

or the Control key (Windows) while adjusting the control.

Resetting Controls to Default Values

You can reset any on-screen control to its default value by Option-clicking (Mac) or Altclicking (Windows) directly on the control or on its corresponding text box.

Chapter 3: Adjusting Plug-In Controls 9

Part II: EQ Plug-Ins

Chapter 4: EQ III

The EQ III plug-in provides high-quality 1-Band and 7-Band EQ for adjusting the frequency spectrum of audio material.

EQ III is available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite formats.

EQ III supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

EQ III operates as a mono, multi-mono, or stereo plug-in.

EQ III has a Frequency Graph display that shows the response curve for the current EQ settings on a two-dimensional graph of frequency and gain. The frequency graph display also lets you modify frequency, gain and Q settings for individual EQ bands by dragging their corresponding points in the graph.

EQ III Configurations

The EQ III plug-in appears as two separate choices in the plug-in insert selector and in the AudioSuite menu:

• EQ3 1-Band

• EQ3 7-Band

1-Band EQ

The 1-Band EQ has its own window, with six selectable filter types for a single band of EQ.

1-Band EQ

Chapter 4: EQ III 11

7-Band EQ

The 7-Band EQ has its own window, with up to seven separate bands, each with it its own set of filter types.

Dragging in the Frequency Graph Display

You can adjust the following by dragging the control points directly in the Frequency Graph display:

7 Band EQ

Adjusting EQ III Controls

In addition to dragging controls and typing control values, there are other ways to adjust EQ III controls.

Inverting Filter Gain

(Peak EQ Bands Only)

Gain values can be inverted on any Peak EQ band by Shift-clicking its control dot in the Frequency Graph display, or its Gain knob in the plug-in window. This changes a gain boost to a cut (+9 to –9) or a gain cut to a boost (–9 to +9). Gain values cannot be inverted on Notch, High Pass, Low Pass, or shelving bands.

Frequency

Dragging a control point to the right increases the Frequency setting. Dragging a control point to the left decreases the Frequency setting.

Gain

Dragging a control point up increases the Gain setting. Dragging a control point down decreases the Gain setting.

Control-dragging (Mac) or Start-dragging (Windows) a control point up decreases the Q setting. Control-dragging (Mac) or Start-dragging (Windows) a control point down increases the Q setting.

Dragging a control point in the Frequency Graph display

Chapter 4: EQ III 12

Using EQ III in Band-Pass Mode

You can temporarily set any EQ III control to Band-Pass monitoring mode. Band-Pass mode cuts monitoring frequencies above and below the Frequency setting, leaving a narrow band of mid-range frequencies. It is especially useful for adjusting limited bandwidth in order to solo and fine-tune each individual filter before reverting the control to notch filter or peaking filter type operations.

Band-Pass mode does not affect EQ III Gain controls.

When monitoring in Band-Pass mode, the Frequency and Q controls function differently.

Frequency

Sets the frequency above and below which other frequencies are cut off, leaving a narrow band of mid-range frequencies.

Sets the width of the narrow band of mid-range

frequencies centered around the Frequency setting.

To switch an EQ III control out of Band-Pass mode:

 Release Control+Shift (Mac) or Start+Shift

(Windows).

To switch an EQ III control to Band-Pass mode:

 Hold Control+Shift (Mac) or Start+Shift (Win-

dows), and drag any rotary control or control point horizontally or vertically.

EQ III interactive graph displaying Band-Pass mode

Controlling EQ III from a Control Surface

EQ III can be controlled from any supported control surface, including EUCON-compatible control surfaces, D-Control, D-Command, C|24, Control|24, 003, Digi 002, and Command|8. Refer to the guide that came with the control surface for details.

Chapter 4: EQ III 13

EQ III I/O Controls

Certain Input and Output controls are found on all EQ III configurations, except where noted otherwise.

Input Polarity Control

The Input Polarity button inverts the polarity of the input signal to help compensate for phase anomalies occurring in multi-microphone environments, or because of mis-wired balanced connections.

Input and Output Meters

Clip Indicator

Input

Polarity

Control

I/O controls and meters for 7-Band EQ (top) and 1-Band EQ (bottom)

Input Gain Control

Output Gain Control

Input Gain Control

The Input Gain control sets the input gain of the plug-in before EQ processing, letting you make up gain or prevent clipping at the plug-in input stage.

Output Gain Control

(7-Band EQ Only)

Input and Output Meters

(7-Band EQ Only)

The plasma-style Input and Output meters show peak signal levels before and after EQ processing, and indicate them as follows:

Green

Indicates nominal levels

Yellow

Indicates pre-clipping levels, starting at

–6 dB below full scale

Red

Indicates full scale levels (clipping)

When using the stereo version of EQ III, the Input and Output meters display the sum of the left and right channels.

The Clip indicators at the far right of each meter indicate clipping at the input or output stage of the plug-in. Clip indicators can be cleared by clicking the indicator.

The Output Gain control sets the output gain after EQ processing, letting you make up gain or prevent clipping on the channel where the plug-in is being used.

Chapter 4: EQ III 14

EQ III EQ Band Controls

Individual EQ bands on each EQ III configuration have a combination of controls.

EQ Type Selector

On the 1-Band EQ, the EQ Type selector lets you choose any one of six available filter types: High Pass, Notch, High Shelf, Low Shelf, Peak, and Low Pass.

On the 7-Band EQ, the HPF, LPF, LF, and HF sections have EQ Type selectors to toggle between the two available filter types in each section.

Band Enable Button

(7-Band EQ Only)

The Band Enable button on each EQ band toggles the corresponding band in and out of circuit. When a Band Enable button is highlighted, the band is in circuit. When a Band Enable button is dark gray, the band is bypassed and available for activation.

Band Enable button

Band Gain Control

Each Peak and Shelf EQ band has a Gain control for boosting or cutting the corresponding frequencies. Gain controls are not used on High Pass, Low Pass, or Notch filters.

EQ Type Selectors (7-Band EQ)

Band Gain control

Chapter 4: EQ III 15

Frequency Control

Each EQ band has a Frequency control that sets the center frequency (Peak, Shelf and Notch EQs) or the cutoff frequency (High Pass and Low Pass filters) for that band.

1-Band EQ III

The Frequency Graph display in the 1-Band EQ shows a control dot that indicates the center frequency (Peak, Shelf and Notch Filters) or the cutoff frequency (High Pass and Low Pass filters) for the currently selected filter type.

Control dot

Frequency control

Q Control

Peak and Notch

control changes the width of the EQ band. Higher Q values represent narrower bandwidths. Lower Q values represent wider bandwidths.

Shelf

On Shelf bands, the Q control changes the Q of the shelving filter. Higher Q values represent steeper shelving curves. Lower Q values represent broader shelving curves.

Band Pass

Q control lets you select from any of the following Slope values: 6 dB, 12 dB, 18 dB, or 24 dB per octave.

Q control

On Peak and Notch bands, the Q

On High Pass and Low Pass bands, the

Frequency

response

curve

Frequency Graph display

Input Level and

Polarity controls

EQ Type selector

1-Band EQ

Gain, Freq and

Q controls

Frequency Graph

display

The 1-Band EQ may be set to any one of six EQ types: High Pass, Notch, High Shelf, Low Shelf, Peak, and Low Pass, by clicking the corresponding icon in the EQ Type selector.

Chapter 4: EQ III 16

Band Controls

Notch Filter

The individual EQ types have some combination of the following controls, as noted below.

Control Value

Frequency Range (All) 20 Hz to 20 kHz Frequency Default (All) 1 kHz Q Range (Low/High Shelf) 0.1 to 2.0 Q Range (Peak/Notch) 0.1 to 10.0 Q Default (All) 1.0 Gain Range (Low/High Shelf) –12 dB to +12 dB High Peak Gain Range –18 dB to +18 dB

1-Band EQ III Types

High Pass Filter

The High Pass filter attenuates all frequencies below the Frequency setting at the selected rate (6 dB, 12 dB, 18 dB, or 24 dB per octave) while letting all frequencies above pass through. No gain control is available for this filter type.

The Notch Filter attenuates a narrow band of frequencies centered around the Frequency setting. No gain control is available for this EQ type. The width of the attenuated band is determined by the Q setting.

1-Band EQ set to Notch Filter

High Shelf EQ

The High Shelf EQ boosts or cuts frequencies at and above the Frequency setting. The amount of boost or cut is determined by the Gain setting. The Q setting determines the shape of the shelving curve.

1-Band EQ set to High Shelf EQ

1-Band EQ set to High Pass Filter

Chapter 4: EQ III 17

Low Shelf EQ

Low Pass Filter

The Low Shelf EQ boosts or cuts frequencies at and below the Frequency setting. The amount of boost or cut is determined by the Gain setting. The Q setting determines the shape of the shelving curve.

1-Band EQ set to Low Shelf EQ

Peak EQ

The Peak EQ boosts or cuts a band of frequencies centered around the Frequency setting. The width of the affected band is determined by the Q setting.

The Low Pass filter attenuates all frequencies above the cutoff frequency setting at the selected rate (6 dB, 12 dB, 18 dB, or 24 dB per octave) while letting all frequencies below pass through. No gain control is available for this filter type.

1-Band EQ set to Low Pass Filter

1-Band EQ set to Peak EQ

Chapter 4: EQ III 18

7-Band EQ III

The 7-Band EQ has the following available bands: High Pass/Low Notch, Low Pass/High Notch, Low Shelf/Low Peak, Low Mid Peak, Mid Peak, High Mid Peak, and High Shelf/High Peak.

All seven bands are available for simultaneous use. In the factory default setting, the High Pass/Low Notch and Low Pass/High Notch bands are out of circuit, the Low Shelf and High Shelf bands are selected and in circuit, and the Low Mid Peak, Mid Peak, High Mid Peak bands are in circuit.

Input/Output Level meters

Input/Output Level

Polarity controls

High Pass/

Low Notch

Low Pass/ High Notch

7-Band EQ

and

Low

Shelf/Peak

Low Mid

Peak

Mid

Peak

High Mid

Peak

Frequency Graph

Display

High

Shelf/Peak

Chapter 4: EQ III 19

7-Band EQ III High Pass/Low Notch

7-Band EQ III Low Pass/High Notch

The High Pass/Notch band is switchable between high pass filter and notch EQ functions. By default, this band is set to High Pass Filter.

High Pass Filter

Attenuates all frequencies below the Frequency setting at the selected slope while letting all frequencies above pass through.

Low Notch EQ

Attenuates a narrow band of frequencies centered around the Frequency setting. The width of the attenuated band is determined by the Q setting.

High Pass Filter

button

Frequency

control

Slope

control

Band

Enable

button

Low Notch EQ

button

Band

Enable

button

Frequency

controlQcontrol

The Low Pass/Notch band is switchable between low pass filter and notch EQ functions. By default, this band is set to Low Pass Filter.

Low Pass Filter

Attenuates all frequencies above the Frequency setting at the selected slope while letting all frequencies below pass through.

High Notch EQ

Attenuates a narrow band of frequencies centered around the Frequency setting. The width of the attenuated band is determined by the Q setting.

Low Pass Filter

button

Frequency

control

Band

Enable

button

Slope

High Notch EQ

button

Band

Enable

button

Frequency

controlQcontrol

High Pass filter (left) and Low Notch EQ (right)

The High Pass and Low Notch EQ controls and their corresponding graph elements are displayed on-screen in gray. The following control values are available:

Control Value

Frequency Range 20 Hz to 8 kHz Frequency Default 20 Hz HPF Slope Values 6, 12, 18, or 24 dB/oct Low Notch Q Range 0.1 to 10.0 Low Notch Q Default 1.0

Chapter 4: EQ III 20

Low Pass filter (left) and High Notch EQ (right)

The Low Pass and High Notch EQ controls and their corresponding graph elements are displayed on-screen in gray. The following control values are available:

Control Value

Frequency Range 120 Hz to 20 kHz Frequency Default 20 kHz HPF Slope Values 6, 12, 18, or 24 dB/oct High Notch Q Range 0.1 to 10.0 High Notch Q Default 1.0

7-Band EQ III Low Shelf/Low Peak

The Low Shelf/Peak band is switchable between low shelf EQ and low peak EQ functions. By default, this band is set to Low Shelf.

Low Shelf EQ

low the Frequency setting. The amount of boost or cut is determined by the Gain setting. The Q setting determines the shape of the shelving curve.

Low Peak EQ

centered around the Frequency setting. The width of the affected band is determined by the Q setting.

Low Shelf EQ

button

Boosts or cuts frequencies at and be-

Boosts or cuts a band of frequencies

Low Peak EQ

button

control

The Low Shelf and Low Peak Gain controls and their corresponding graph elements are displayed on-screen in red. The following control values are available:

Control Value

Frequency Range 20 Hz to 500 Hz Frequency Default 100 Hz Low Shelf Q Range 0.1 to 2.0 Low Peak Q Range 0.1 to 10.0 Q Default 1.0 Low Shelf Gain Range –12 dB to +12 dB Low Peak Gain Range –18 dB to +18 dB

7-Band EQ III Low Mid Peak

Band

Enable

button

Gain

Frequency

control

Low Shelf EQ (left) and Low Peak EQ (right)

control

Frequency

control

Enable

button

Gain

control

Band

The Low Mid Peak band boosts or cuts frequencies centered around the Frequency setting. The width of the band is determined by the Q setting.

control

Band

Frequency

control

Gain

control

Low Mid Peak EQ

Enable button

The Low Mid Gain control and its corresponding graph elements are displayed on-screen in brown.

Chapter 4: EQ III 21

The following control values are available:

7-Band EQ III High Mid Peak

Control Value

Frequency Range 40 Hz to 1 kHz Frequency Default 200 Hz Low Mid Peak Q Range 0.1 to 10.0 Low Mid Peak Q Default 1.0 Low Mid Peak Gain Range –18 dB to +18 dB

7-Band EQ III Mid Peak

The Mid Peak band boosts or cuts frequencies centered around the Frequency setting. The width of the band is determined by the Q setting.

control

Band

Frequency

control

Gain

control

Mid Peak EQ

The Mid Gain control and its corresponding graph elements are displayed on-screen in yellow. The following control values are available:

Enable button

The High Mid Peak band boosts or cuts frequencies centered around the Frequency setting. The width of the band is determined by the Q setting.

control

Band

Frequency

control

Gain

control

High Mid Peak EQ

Enable button

The High Mid Gain control and its corresponding graph elements are displayed on-screen in green. The following control values are available:

Control Value

Frequency Range 200 Hz to 18 kHz Frequency Default 2 kHz Mid Peak Q Range 0.1 to 10.0 Mid Peak Q Default 1.0 Mid Peak Gain Range –18 dB to +18 dB

Control Value

Frequency Range 125 Hz to 8 kHz Frequency Default 1 kHz Mid Peak Q Range 0.1 to 10.0 Mid Peak Q Default 1.0 Mid Peak Gain Range –18 dB to +18 dB

Chapter 4: EQ III 22

7-Band EQ III High Shelf/High Peak

The High Shelf/Peak band is switchable between high shelf EQ and high peak EQ functions. By default, this band is set to High Shelf.

High Shelf EQ

above the Frequency setting. The amount of boost or cut is determined by the Gain setting. The Q setting determines the shape of the shelving curve.

High Peak EQ

centered around the Frequency setting. The width of the affected band is determined by the Q setting.

High Shelf EQ

button

Boosts or cuts frequencies at and

Boosts or cuts a band of frequencies

High Peak EQ

button

control

The High Shelf and High Peak Gain controls and their corresponding graph elements are displayed on-screen in blue. The following control values are available:

Control Value

Frequency Range 1.8 kHz to 20 kHz Frequency Default 6 kHz High Shelf Q Range 0.1 to 2.0 High Peak Q Range 0.1 to 10.0 Q Default 1.0 High Shelf Gain Range –12 dB to +12 dB High Peak Gain Range –18 dB to +18 dB

Band

Enable

button

Gain

Frequency

control

High Shelf EQ (left) and High Peak EQ (right)

control

Frequency

control

Band Enable button

Gain

control

Chapter 4: EQ III 23

Frequency Graph Display

(7-Band EQ Only)

The Frequency Graph display in the 7-Band EQ shows a color-coded control dot that corresponds to the color of the Gain control for each band. The filter shape of each band is similarly color-coded. The white frequency response curve shows the contribution of each of the enabled filters to the overall EQ curve.

Low

control dot

(red)

Frequency

response

curve

High Pass control dot

(gray) (brown) (green) (gray)

Frequency Graph display for the 7-Band EQ

Low Mid

control dot

Mid

control dot

(yellow)

High Mid

control dot

High

control dot

(blue)

Low Pass

control dot

Chapter 4: EQ III 24

Chapter 5: Focusrite D2

Focusrite D2 is a high-quality digital equalizer plug-in for Pro Tools. Developed in cooperation with Focusrite, the D2 is based on the highly-acclaimed Red Range 2 pert Neve. It provides up to six simultaneous bands of EQ, including: high-pass, low-shelf, low-mid peak, high-mid peak, high-shelf, and low-pass filters. D2 includes a highly accurate Cartesian graph that displays EQ curves in real-time as EQ s are adjusted.

D2 is available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite formats.

D2 supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz,

176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates. D2 operates as a mono, multi-mono, or stereo plug-

in.

™

dual EQ, designed by Ru-

D2 Configurations

There are three configurations of the Focusrite D2 plug-in.

1–2 Band EQ

D2 1-2 Band can use up to two filters simultaneously, depending on which you enable. The highpass, low-shelf, and low-pass filters each utilize the entire module and cannot be used in combination with another filter. The low-mid peak, high-mid peak, or high-shelf filters can be used in combination with each other (up to two bands total).

4-Band EQ

D2 4-Band can use up to four filters simultaneously. Any combination of filters can be engaged, up to a total of four bands.

6-Band EQ

D2 6-Band can use up to six filters simultaneously. Any combination of filters can be engaged, up to a total of six bands. By default, the low-pass and high-pass filters are in Bypass mode when the 6Band EQ is first opened.

Focusrite D2

Chapter 5: Focusrite D2 25

D2 Controls

Input Level

Input Level allows you to attenuate signal input level to the D2. The range of this control is from –18 dB to +12 dB.

When you use D2 in stereo, each channel has its own separate Input Level knob. To adjust input levels for both channels simultaneously, select the Link button, then drag either knob.

input Level

Output Level

Output Level allows you to adjust the overall output gain. The range of this control is from –18 dB to +12 dB.

Meters

The D2’s high-resolution plasma-style meters indicate signal levels and detect clipping at the input, algorithm, or output stage. When D2 is used in stereo, two meters appear, one for each channel.

A Clip Indicator is located above each meter. It indicates clipping by increasing its brightness as successive samples are clipped. Click the Clip Indicator to clear it. Option-clicking (Mac) or Altclicking (Windows) clears both channels when D2 is used in stereo.

Meters (Stereo mode)

The following metering indications are used:

Output Level

When you use the D2 plug-in in stereo, each channel has its own separate output level knob. To adjust output levels for both channels simultaneously, select the Link button.

Chapter 5: Focusrite D2 26

• Green = nominal levels

• Yellow = pre-clipping at –6 dB below full scale signal

• Red = full scale signal (clipping)

Frequency Display

EQ Filter Controls

The frequency display is a visual representation of the current EQ settings. As you adjust the controls of any currently active filter, the display plots the changes to the EQ curve in real-time. If you are using D2 in stereo, the frequency display shows the EQ curve for the right channel in red and the left channel in blue.

Cartesian Graph

To reset all D2 controls to their default settings, Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the frequency display. To reset controls for both channels when in Stereo mode, Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click (Windows) the frequency display.

Each of the six different EQ filters has its own controls and its own icon. The icons act as three-state switches for enabling, disabling, or bypassing the specific filter. The current state of a filter is indicated by its color:

• White = enabled. In this state the filter is active, audible, and using available DSP resources.

• Black = disabled. In this state the filter is not using any DSP resources and has no effect on audio.

• Gray = bypassed. In this state the filter is not active, but is still using available DSP resources. The effect of the filter is not audible.

High-Pass Filter

The 18 dB/octave High-Pass Filter provides a rotary control for adjusting the corner (cutoff) frequency, variable from 20 Hz to 6.4 kHz.

High-Pass Filter

Chapter 5: Focusrite D2 27

Low-Shelf Filter

High-Mid Peak Filter

The Low-Shelf Filter provides two rotary controls: The upper rotary control adjusts the corner frequency, variable from 33 Hz to 460 Hz. The lower rotary control adjusts the filter’s amplitude gain or attenuation. Amplitude range is ±15 dB from unity.

Low-Shelf Filter

Low-Mid Peak Filter

The Low-Mid Peak Filter provides three rotary controls. The upper rotary control adjusts the center frequency, variable from 33 Hz to 6.4 kHz. The lower left rotary control adjusts the filter’s amplitude gain or attenuation. Amplitude range is ±15 dB from unity (utilizing a reciprocal curve for both gain and attenuation). The lower right rotary control adjusts filter “Q” which is variable from 0.7 to 4.0.

The High-Mid Peak Filter provides three rotary controls. The upper rotary control adjusts the center frequency, variable from 120 Hz to 18 kHz. The lower left rotary control adjusts the filter’s amplitude gain or attenuation. Amplitude range is ±15 dB from unity (utilizing a reciprocal curve for both gain and attenuation). The lower right rotary control adjusts filter “Q” which is variable from 0.7 to 4.0.

High-Mid Peak Filter

High-Shelf Filter

The High-Shelf Filter provides two rotary controls: The upper rotary control adjusts the corner frequency, variable from 3.3 kHz to 18 kHz. The lower rotary control adjusts the filter’s amplitude gain or attenuation. Amplitude range is ±15 dB from unity.

Low-Mid Peak Filter

High-Shelf Filter

Chapter 5: Focusrite D2 28

Low-Pass Filter

The 18 dB/octave Low-Pass Filter provides a rotary control for adjusting the filter’s corner cutoff frequency, variable from 100 Hz to 18 kHz.

Low-Pass Filter

Enabling, Disabling and Bypassing EQ Filters

You can enable, disable, or bypass specific EQ filters by clicking them.

To disable a filter:

 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)

the EQ Filter icon. When disabled, the icon is black.

Using D2 in Stereo

Because Focusrite D2 has a single set of Filter control knobs, when it is used in stereo, you must select which channel, left or right, you want to edit.

Left Channel and Right Channel Buttons

The Left Channel and Right Channel buttons are used to select which controls are active.

To re-enable a filter:

 Click the EQ filter icon. When enabled, the icon

is white.

To bypass a filter:

 Click the EQ filter icon a second time. When by-

passed, the icon is grey.

If you are using all available bands of the 1–2 Band or 4–Band EQ and want to change filter types, you must disable one filter before

Left Channel, Right Channel, and Link buttons

Link Button

The Link button lets you adjust controls for both channels simultaneously. By default, Link mode is enabled so that you can maintain parity between channels.

You can also use Link mode to help you maintain a relative offset between control settings on the two channels.

you can enable a different one.

To maintain an offset between channels:

1 Deselect the Link button. 2 Select a channel button, left or right, and adjust

the controls for that channel.

Chapter 5: Focusrite D2 29

3 Select Link mode and adjust the same controls

for the opposite channel. D2 will maintain the relative offset between the two channels.

To copy the control settings of the active channel to the opposite channel, Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) while linking channels.

Chapter 5: Focusrite D2 30

Chapter 6: JOEMEEK VC5 Meequalizer

The JOEMEEK VC5 Meequalizer is an EQ plug-in that is available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite formats.

VC5 supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

VC5 operates as a mono, multi-mono, or stereo plug-in.

JOEMEEK Meequalizer VC5 EQ

The VC5 offers simple controls with incredibly warm, musical results. Among countless other achievements, Joe Meek built custom gear to get the sounds in his head onto tape. One device was a treble and bass circuit with a sweepable mid control, built into a tiny tobacco tin. The Meequalizer VC5 virtually recreates the exact circuitry used by Joe Meek in this device.

JOEMEEK Meequalizer Controls

Operation of the Meequalizer is simple and to the point.

Bass

The Bass control adjusts low frequencies

±11.

Mid and Mid Freq

allow you to adjust mid frequencies, from 500Hz to

3.5KHz, ±11.

Treble

The Treble control adjusts high frequencies

±11.

Gain

The Gain control allows you to adjust the out-

put level ±11.

The Mid and Mid Freq controls

Chapter 6: JOEMEEK VC5 Meequalizer 31

Chapter 7: Pultec Plug-Ins

The Pultec plug-ins are a set of EQ plug-ins that are available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite formats. The following plug-ins are included:

• Pultec EQP-1A

• Pultec EQH-2

• Pultec MEQ-5 The Pultec plug-ins support 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz,

88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

The Pultec plug-ins operate as mono, multi-mono, or stereo plug-ins.

Pultec EQP-1A

The Pultec EQP-1A provides smooth, sweet EQ and an extremely high quality tube audio signal path. Use it on individual tracks, critical vocals, or even across a stereo mix for mastering applications.

Pultec EQP-1A

Built in the early 1960s, the Pultec EQP-1A offers gentle shelving program equalization on bass and highs, and offers a variable bandwidth peak boost control. A custom (and secret) filter network provides all its equalization functionality. Quality transformers interface it to real-world studio equipment. A clean and well-designed tube amplifier provides a fixed amount of make-up gain.

Pultec EQP-1A Controls

Low Frequency Section

using the Boost and Atten knobs and the Low Frequency switch, located at the left side of the unit. All low-frequency equalization is a gentle shelving type, 6 dB per octave.

High Frequency Boost Section

high frequencies using the Bandwidth and Boost knobs and the High Frequency switch.

High Frequency Attenuate Section

quencies using the Atten knob and the Atten Sel switch located at the right side of the plug-in.

Use caution, because the Sharp bandwidth setting results in up to 10 dB higher output than Broad bandwidth at maximum Boost, just like on the original. But don’t feel like you’re getting cheated. Consider anything that encourages very careful and infrequent use of peaky boosts to be a Very Good Thing.

Adjust low frequencies

Boost mid and

Cut high fre-

Chapter 7: Pultec Plug-Ins 32

Pultec EQH-2

Pultec MEQ-5

The Pultec EQH-2 is a program equalizer similar to the Pultec EQP-1A. It is designed to provide smooth equalization across final mixes or individual tracks.

Pultec EQH-2

The Pultec EQH-2 offers three equalization sections: low frequency boost and attenuation, midrange boost only, and 10k attenuation. Like its EQP-1A sibling, it features high-quality transformers and a tube gain stage. But unlike the EQP-1A, the tube stage in the EQH-2 is a push-pull design. As a result, the EQH-2 offers a beefier tone.

Pultec EQH-2 Controls

Low Frequency Section

using the top row of Boost and Atten knobs and the CPS (cycles per second) switch. All low-frequency equalization is a gentle shelving type, 6 dB per octave.

Adjust low frequencies

The Pultec MEQ-5 is the most unique equalizer in the Pultec family. It is particularly useful on individual tracks during mixdown.

Pultec MEQ-5

Pultec MEQ-5 Controls

The Pultec MEQ-5 offers three equalization sections: low frequency boost, mid frequency boost, and wide-range attenuation. Like all Pultecs, it features quality transformers and a tube gain stage.

Low Frequency Peak

300, 500, 700, 1000 Hz) using the upper left controls.

Mid Frequency Peak

2k, 3k, 4k, 5k) using the controls at the upper right.

Wide-Range Dip

trols on the bottom row.

Boost low frequencies (200,

Boost mid-frequencies (1.5k,

Cut frequencies using Dip con-

High Frequency Boost Section

Boost mid and high frequencies using the KCS (kilocycles per second) and Boost knobs on the second row.

High Frequency Attenuate Section

Cut high frequencies using the 10k Atten knob located at the right side of the plug-in.

Chapter 7: Pultec Plug-Ins 33

Pultec Tips and Tricks

“Q” and A

You may wonder why the Pultec EQP-1A has separate knobs for boost and cut. The short answer is that they connect to different circuitry in the unit.

You can use the “extra” knob to your advantage. Because the filters are not phase perfect, a Boost setting of 3 and an Atten setting of 3 can make a huge difference, even though a frequency plot wouldn’t show much difference in tone. You’re hearing the phase shift, not the tone shift.

Our ears are very sensitive to phase, and using the two knobs together, you can adjust phase at the low end while also making tonal adjustments.

On the high end, you can set Boost to 10k and Atten to 10k, then adjust Boost and Atten simultaneously. However, because Boost is a peak equalizer and Atten is a shelving equalizer, the results are much different, and you don’t get independent control of phase.

Guitars

Have multiple guitars that sound like mush in the mix? The Pultec MEQ-5 is a classic tool for achieving amazing guitar blends. Try boosting one guitar and cutting another to achieve an octave of separation. For example, cut one guitar using 1.5 (1500 Hz) Dip, then boost the other using 3 (3000 Hz) Peak. View the matched pairs of presets (such as Guitar 1A and 1B or 2A and 2B) for further examples of this technique.

“Q” and Boost

In the high frequency boost section, the Bandwidth and Boost controls affect one another. This is different from modern equalizers, where adjusting Q typically doesn’t affect the amount of equalization applied.

Chapter 7: Pultec Plug-Ins 34

Part III: Dynamics Plug-Ins

Chapter 8: BF-2A

BF-2A is a vintage-style compressor plug-in that is available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite formats.

BF-2A supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

BF-2A operates as a mono, multi-mono, or stereo plug-in.

BF-2A

Designed and manufactured in the early 1960s, the LA-2A achieved wide acclaim for its smooth compression action and extremely high quality audio signal path. The BF-2A has been meticulously crafted to capture every nuance of the legendary LA-2A tube studio compressor, providing the most authentic vintage compression sound available.

Originally designed as a limiter for broadcast audio, a Comp/Limit switch was added to LA-2A compressors after serial number 572. The subsequent addition of a Comp (Compress) setting made the LA-2A even more popular for use in audio production. However, the switch was inconveniently located on the back of the unit next to the terminal strips and tube sockets in the original version. In the BF-2A plug-in, the switch has been placed on the front panel, where you can make better use of it.

The heart of the LA-2A is its patented T4B ElectroOptical Attenuator, which provides the compression action. The T4B consists of a photo-conductive cell, which changes resistance when light strikes it. It is attached to an electro-luminescent panel, which produces light in response to voltage. Audio (voltage) is applied to the light source, and what happens as the audio converts to light and back to voltage gives the LA-2A its unique compression action (BF-2A preserves all the subtle characteristics of this unique electronic circuit). After compression, gain brings the signal back to its original level. The LA-2A’s gain comes from a tube amplifier, which imparts further character to the tone. In fact, it’s common to see engineers using the LA-2A simply as a line amp, without any compression applied to the signal.

One beautiful side effect of the LA-2A’s elegant design is that it’s easy to hear the compression action. When the BF-2A’s two knobs are set properly, you know you got it right. It’s a great unit for learning the art of compression!

Chapter 8: BF-2A 36

BF-2A Controls

The Peak Reduction and Gain controls combine with the Comp/Limit switch to determine the amount and sound of the compression. The following controls and meters are provided:

Gain

Gain provides makeup gain to bring the signal

back after passing through peak reduction.

Peak Reduction

amount of signal entering the side-chain, which in turn affects the amount of compression and the threshold. The more Peak Reduction you dial in, the more “squashed” the sound. Too little peak reduction and you will not hear any compression action; too much and the sound becomes muffled and dead sounding.

Comp/Lim

compression ratio. The common setting for audio production is Comp, which provides a maximum compression ratio of approximately 3:1. In Limit mode, the unit behaves more like a broadcast limiter, with a higher threshold and compression ratio of approximately 12:1.

Meter

Both Gain Reduction and Output metering

are provided. The Meter knob operates as follows:

• When set to Gain Reduction, the meter needle

moves backward from 0 to show the amount of compression being applied to the signal in dB.

• When set to Output, the needle indicates the out-

put level of the signal. The meter is calibrated with 0 VU indicating –18 dBFS.

Peak Reduction controls the

The Comp/Limit switch affects the

Using the BF-2A Side-Chain Filter

The BF-2A provides an extra, a side-chain filter, that does not have a control on the plug-in interface, but that can be accessed on-screen through Pro Tools automation controls. In addition, the side-chain filter can be adjusted directly from any supported control surface.

This side-chain filter reproduces the effect of an adjustable resistor on the back panel of the LA-2A. This control cuts the low frequencies from the sidechain, or control signal, that determines the amount of gain reduction applied by the compressor.

By increasing the value of the side-chain filter, you filter out frequencies below 250 Hz from the control signal, and decrease their effect on gain reduction.

 A setting of zero means that the filter is not ap-

plied to the side chain signal.

 A setting of 100 means that all frequencies be-

low 250 Hz are filtered out of the side chain signal.

To access the side-chain filter on-screen:

1 Click the Plug-In Automation button in the

Plug-In window to open the Automation Enable window.

2 In the list of controls at the left, click to select

Side-Chain Filter and click click a control in the list).

3 Click OK to close the plug-in automation win-

dow.

Add (or just double-

Chapter 8: BF-2A 37

4 In the Edit window, do one of the following:

• Click the Track View selector and select Side-

Chain Filter from the BF-2A sub-menu.

• Reveal an Automation lane for the track, click

the Automation Type selector and select SideChain Filter from the BF-2A sub-menu.

5 Edit the breakpoint automation for the BF-2A

side-chain filter. Control range is from 0 (the default setting where no filtering is applied to the side-chain) to 100% (maximum side-chain filtering).

To access the side-chain filter from a control surface:

1 Focus the BF-2A plug-in on your control sur-

face.

2 Adjust the encoder or fader current targeting the

Side-Chain Filter control.

For more information on plug-in automation, see the Pro Tools Reference Guide

BF-2A Tips and Tricks

AudioSuite Processing

When using the AudioSuite version of the BF-2A, be sure to select an auxillary side-chain input (normally the track you’re processing). The default is “None” and if you leave it set like this, there is nothing feeding the detector and you will not hear any compression action.

Line Amp

Turn the Peak Reduction knob full counterclockwise (off) and use the Gain control to increase the signal level. Although the BF-2A does not compress the sound with these settings, it still adds its unique character to the tone.

Feed the BF-2A into the BF76

Or vice versa. Glynn Johns (who has worked with the Stones, the Who, and others) popularized the early ‘70s British trick of combining a slower compressor with a faster one. The effect can produce very interesting sounds! Try applying Peak Reduction using the BF-2A, then squash the missed attacks using the faster BF76.

Chapter 8: BF-2A 38

Chapter 9: BF-3A

BF-3A is a vintage-style compressor plug-in that is available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite formats.

BF-3A supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

BF-3A operates as a mono, multi-mono, or stereo plug-in.

BF-3A

BF-3A is based on the classic LA-3A that adds a smoothness and sonic texture that makes sounds jump right out of the mix. Designed and manufactured in the late 1960s, the original LA-3A shares many components in common with the LA-2A compressor. Just like the LA-2A, the heart of the LA-3A is the T4B Electro-Optical Attenuator. This is a device that converts audio to light and back and is largely responsible for the compression character of the unit.

While the LA-2A’s gain comes from a tube amplifier, the LA-3A's gain comes from a solid-state (transistor) amplifier. This gives the LA-3A a solid midrange and more aggressive tone. Other subtle modifications change the behavior of the T4B, causing it to respond differently—particularly in response to percussive material.

The LA-3A is famous for its unique sonic imprint on guitar, piano, vocals and drums. Because it's so easy to control, you'll be getting classic tones in no time with the BF-3A.

BF-3A Controls

The Peak Reduction and Output Gain controls combine with the Comp/Limit switch to determine the amount and sound of the compression. The following controls and meters are provided:

Peak Reduction

amount of signal entering the side-chain. The more Peak Reduction you dial in, the more “squashed” and compressed the sound will be. Too little peak reduction and you won’t hear any compression action; too much and the sound becomes muffled and dead sounding.

Output Gain

make the signal louder after passing through the peak reduction.

Peak Reduction controls the

Output Gain provides makeup gain to

Chapter 9: BF-3A 39

Comp/Lim

Meter

are provided. The Meter knob operates as follows:

• When set to Gain Reduction, the meter needle

moves backward from 0 to show the amount of compression being applied to the signal in dB.

• When set to Output, the needle indicates the out-

put level of the signal. The meter is calibrated with 0 VU indicating –18 dBFS.

The Comp/Limit switch affects the

Both Gain Reduction and Output metering

BF-3A Tips and Tricks

AudioSuite Processing

When using the AudioSuite version of the BF-3A, be sure to select an auxillary side-chain input (normally the track you are processing). The default is “None” and if you leave it set like this, there is nothing feeding the detector and you will not hear any compression action.

Line Amp

Turn the Peak Reduction knob full counterclockwise (off) and use the Gain control to increase the signal level. Although the BF-3A does not compress the sound with these settings, it still adds its unique character to the tone.

Chapter 9: BF-3A 40

Chapter 10: BF76

BF76 is a vintage-style compressor plug-in that is available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite formats.

BF76 supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

BF76 operates as a mono, multi-mono, or stereo plug-in.

BF76

Modeled after the solid-state (transistor) 1176 studio compressor, BF76 preserves every sonic subtlety of this classic piece of studio gear.

The 1176 Compressor, originally introduced in the late 1970s, uses a FET (field-effect transistor). The 1176 also uses solid state amplification. The 1176 still provides an extremely high quality audio signal path, but because of these internal differences offers a much different compression sound than other compressors.

Four selectable compression ratios are provided, along with controls allowing variable attack and release times.

Various explanations overheard in the control room include “its 100:1 compression ratio!” or equally adept quantitative analysis like “it makes it super squishy sounding.” Now you can enjoy this sound—previously only available to super-seriouspro-engineers working in expensive pro recording studios—in the privacy of your own cubicle.

Deep inside the 1176

BF76 Controls

BF76 provides the following controls:

Input

The Input control sets the input signal level to the compressor, which, in the 1176 design, determines both the threshold and amount of peak reduction.

Output

The Output control sets output level. Use it to bring the signal back to unity after applying gain reduction.

Chapter 10: BF76 41

Attack and Release

trols set the attack and release times of the compressor. Full counterclockwise is slowest, and full clockwise is fastest. Attack times vary between 0.4 milliseconds to 5.7 milliseconds. Release times vary between 0.06 and 1.1 seconds.

Ratio

The Ratio Push switches select the compres-

sion ratio from 4:1 to 20:1.

Meter

The Meter Push switches affect the meter-

ing.

• GR shows the amount of gain reduction.

• –18 and –24 show the output level (calibrated so that 0VU indicates –18dB FS and –24dB FS respectively).

• The “Off” switch turns off the meter.

The Attack and Release con-

BF76 Tips and Tricks

AudioSuite Processing

When using the AudioSuite version of BF76, be sure to select a side-chain input (normally the track you are processing). The default is “None” and if you leave it set like this, there’s nothing feeding the detector and you won’t hear any compression action.

Unexpected Visit from A&R Weevil Yields Instant Hit Mix

A favorite feature on one megabuck mixing console is its stereo bus compressor. With the flick of a switch, a punchy 8:1 compressor grabs the current mix producing “instant radio hit.” It’s also a handy way to make quick headphone submixes when tracking overdubs.

Give the Kids What They Want

Shift-click one of the Ratio Push switches to enable the “All Buttons In” mode. The compression ratio is still only 20:1, but the knee changes drastically and the compressor starts (mis)behaving a little bit like an expander—watch the meter for details. Hey, try it—sometimes it even sounds good.

Selecting Proper Attack and Release Times

As on the original unit, setting either the attack or release time too fast generates signal distortion. Again, this may or may not be a effect. A good starting point for attack and release is “6” and “3” (the defaults), and you can adjust as follows:

When compressing, use the slowest attack you can that preserves a dynamic range. Faster attacks remove the “punch” from the performance; slower attacks inhibit the compression you need to smooth things out.

When limiting, use the fastest attack time you can before you start to hear signal distortion in the low end. With BF76, the attack time ranges from “incredibly fast” to “really damn fast” by modern standards. It can be hard to hear the difference.

Release times are more critical with BF76. To set release times, listen for loud attacks and what happens immediately after the peaks. Set the release time fast enough that you don’t hear unnatural dynamic changes, but slow enough that you don’t hear unnecessary pumping between two loud passages in rapid succession.

Chapter 10: BF76 42

Chapter 11: Channel Strip

Avid Channel Strip is available in DSP , Native, and AudioSuite formats. Channel Strip provides EQ, Dynamics, Filter, and Gain effects. Channel Strip processing algorithms are based on the award winning Euphonix System 5 console channel strip effects.

Channel Strip supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz,

88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

Channel Strip supports mono, stereo, and greaterthan-stereo multichannel formats up to 7.1.

Greater-than-stereo formats are only available with Pro Tools HD.

In addition to standard knob and fader controls, Channel Strip also provides a graph to track the gain transfer curve for the Expander/Gate, Compressor/Limiter, and Side Chain effects, and a Frequency Graph display that shows the response curve for the current EQ settingAudio Plug-Ins GuideAudio Plug-Ins Guides on a two-dimensional graph of frequency and gain. The frequency graph display also lets you modify frequency, gain, and Q settings for individual EQ bands by dragging their corresponding points in the graph.

Channel Strip provides different sections for signal metering and gain adjustment, signal path ordering, dynamics processing, and equalization and filtering.

Channel Strip, Compressor/Limiter tab shown

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 43

Channel Strip Sections and Panes

The Channel Strip plug-in window is organized in several sections: Input, FX Chain, Output, Dynamics, and EQ/Filters. The Dynamics and EQ/Filters sections can be independently shown or hidden. This lets you access controls or free up screen space, depending on your needs.

When showing the Dynamics or EQ/Filters sections, several tabbed panes of controls are available for each section. You can click a tab to show the controls for that tabbed pane. For Expand/Gate and Compressor/Limiter, and also for the For the EQ and Filter effects, clicking the corresponding control point on the graph display automatically shows the tab for Expander/Gate or the Compressor/Limiter, or the corresponding EQ band or Filter.

Showing or Hiding the Dynamics and EQ/Filters Sections

You can independently show or hide the Dynamics and EX/Filters sections of the Channel Strip plugin to use less screen space. These sections are shown by default.

Channel Strip, Dynamics section hidden

To hide (or show) the Dynamics or EQ/Filters section of the plug-in window:

 Click the Show/Hide triangle to the left of the

section you want to show or hide.

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 44

Disabling or Enabling Channel Strip Effects

You can independently disable effects in the Dynamics and EX/Filters sections of the Channel Strip plug-in. For example, you may want to apply Comp/Limit processing to the signal, but not Exp/Gate; or, you may want to only apply only a high pass filter.

Dynamics section, Exp/Gate disabled

To enable effects in the Dynamics or EQ/Filters section:

 Click the Enable/Disable button for the effect

you want to enable so that it is highlighted.

To disable effects in the Dynamics or EQ/Filters section:

 Click the Enable/Disable button for the effect

you want to disable so that it is not highlighted.

 When enabled for either of the Filter effects,

Listen solos the enabled Filter band and inverts the Filter so that you can hear the audio signal being fed into the filter.

To enable (or disable) Listen on the Side Chain effect, EQ band, or a Filter effect:

 Click the Listen button for the Dynamics or

EQ/Filter tab you want so that it is highlighted. Click it again so that it is not highlighted to disable it.

Channel Strip, Chain Listen mode enabled

Control-Shift-click (Mac) or Start-Shift-click (Windows) and hold an EQ or Filter control point in the Frequency Graph to temporarily switch to Listen mode for that EQ band or Filter effect.

Listen Mode

The Side Chain tab in the Dynamics section, and the EQ and Filter tabs in the EQ/Filter section provide a Listen button.

 When enabled for the Side Chain, Listen mode

lets you hear the input signal that feeds the dynamic section. This can be either the external key input or the internal side chain (including the applied filter).

 When enabled for any of the EQ bands, Listen

solos the corresponding EQ band and (temporarily) inverts the EQ Type so that you can tune the Frequency and the Q for that EQ band.

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 45

Channel Strip Input Section

The Input section provides input metering, and controls for trimming the input signal and inverting its phase. It can also be toggled to show post-processing gain reduction meters.

Input Meters

The Input meters show peak signal levels before processing:

Dark Blue

–12 dB.

Indicates nominal levels from –INF to

Input section (5.1 channel format shown)

Input Trim Control

The Input Trim control sets the input gain of the plug-in before EQ processing, letting you make up gain or prevent clipping at the plug-in input stage.

To Trim the input signal, do one of the following:

 Click in the Input Trim field and type a Trim

value (–36.0 dB to +36.0 dB).

 Click Trim and drag up or down to adjust the

Input Trim setting.

Light Blue

Indicates pre-clipping levels, from

–12 dB to 0 dB.

White

Indicates full scale levels from 0 dB to

+6 dB.

Gain Reduction Meters

The Input meter can be switched to show Gain Reduction metering for the processed signal from 0 dB to –36 dB.

The Gain Reduction meters are usually displayed in yellow. When the the Expander and the Compressor is greater than 0 dB, the Gain Reduction meter displays the amount of the Knee level in amber over the meter’s usual yellow display.

To toggle between the Gain Reduction and Input meters:

 Click the Input/Gain Reduction toggle in the top

right-hand corner of the Input section.

Knee setting for either or both

Phase Invert

The Phase Invert button at the top of the Input section inverts the phase (polarity) of the input signal, to help compensate for phase anomalies that can occur either in multi-microphone environments or because of mis-wired balanced connections.

To enable (or disable) phase inversion on input:

 Click the Phase Invert button so that it is high-

lighted. Click it again so that it is not highlighted to disable it.

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 46

Toggling between Input and Gain Reduction meters

Channel Strip Output Section

The Output section provides output metering and controls for adjusting the level of the output signal.

Output Meters

The Output meters show peak signal levels after processing:

Dark Blue

–12 dB.

Indicates nominal levels from –INF to

Output section (5.1 channel format shown)

Output Volume Control

The Output Volume control sets the output volume after processing, letting you make up gain or prevent clipping on the channel where the Channel Strip plug-in is being used. The Output Volume control can be set to apply at the end of the FX Chain (Post) or before the FX Chain (PRE), see “Channel Strip FX Chain” on page 48.

To adjust the Output Volume, do one of the following:

 Click in the Output Volume field and type a

value (–INF dB to +12 dB).

 Click Vol and drag up or down to adjust the Out-

put Volume setting.

Light Blue

Indicates pre-clipping levels, from

–12 dB to 0 dB.

White

Indicates full scale levels from 0 dB to

+6 dB (which can result in distortion and clipping).

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 47

Channel Strip FX Chain

Channel Strip lets you determine the signal path through the available Equalizer (EQ), Filter (FILT), Dynamics (DYN), and Volume (VOL) processing modules. This way you can determine the best signal path for the type of processing you want.

To set the FX Chain:

1 Click the FX Chain show/hide button to reveal

the Process Order options.

Showing the FX Chain Process Order

2 Click an effects chain ordering option to select

it. The available options include:

• EQ > FILT > DYN

• EQ > DYN > FILT

• DYN > EQ > FILT

• FILT > DYN > EQ

Bypassing or Unbypassing Individual Effects Modules

In the FX Chain display, you can deselect or select individual effects modules to bypass or unbypass the effect.

FX Chain, FILT bypassed

To bypass an effect module:

 Click the module so that it is not highlighted.

To unbypass an effect module:

 Click the module so that it is highlighted.

Channel Strip Dynamics Section

The Dynamics section of Channel Strip provides Expander/Gate, Compressor/Limiter, and Side Chain processing all in one. This section also provides a dynamics graphic display for the Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate plug-ins. The display shows a curve that represents the level of the input signal (on the horizontal x–axis) and the amount of gain reduction applied (on the vertical y–axis). The vertical line represents the threshold.

3 Select PRE or POST to place the Output V olume

control at the beginning or at the end of the effects signal chain.

Dynamics section, All tab shown

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 48

Dynamics Graph

Input signal

level (x-axis)

Graph Resolution toggle

Output signal level (y-axis)

Dynamics Graph Gain Reduction Resolution

Channel Strip lets you view the gain reduction scale on the Dynamics Graph display either in 3 dB increments from 0 dB to 18 dB or in 6 dB increments from 0 dB to –36 dB.

To change the Dynamics Graph Gain Reduction resolution:

 Click the Graph Resolution toggle.

Using the Dynamics Graph to Adjust Controls

Compressor/Limiter Threshold

Expander/Gate Threshold

Dynamics graph display

The Dynamics Graph display—used with Expander/Gate and Compressor/Limiter processing— shows a curve that represents the level of the input signal (on the horizontal x–axis) and the amount of gain reduction applied (on the vertical y–axis). The display shows two vertical lines representing the Threshold setting for the Expander/Gate and Compressor/Limiter, respectively.

The Dynamics Graph display also features an animated red ball in the gain transfer curve display. This ball shows the amount of input gain (x-axis) and gain reduction (y-axis) being applied to the incoming signal at any given moment. To indicate overshoots (when an incoming signal peak is too fast for the current compression setting), the cursor temporarily leaves the gain transfer curve.

Use this graph as a visual guideline to see how much dynamics processing you are applying to the incoming audio signal.

You can drag in the Dynamics Graph display to adjust the corresponding Expander/Gate and Compressor/Limiter controls. The cursor updates to show which control is being adjusted:

• Expander/Gate Ratio

• Expander/Gate Knee

• Expander/Gate Threshold

• Gate Depth

• Hysteresis

• Compressor/Limiter Ratio

• Compressor/Limiter Knee

• Compressor/Limiter Threshold

• Limiter Depth

For the Expander/Gate and Compressor Limiter effects, adjusting a control in the Dynamics Graph display automatically shows the pane that includes the adjusted control if it is not already shown (except when the All tab is shown).

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 49

Expander/Gate Controls

Depth

The Depth control sets the depth of the Expander/Gate when closed. Setting the gate to higher range levels allows more and more of the gated audio that falls below the threshold to peek through the gate at all times.

Dynamics section, Expander/Gate tab

Threshold

The Threshold (Thresh) control sets the level below which an input signal must fall to trigger expansion or gating. Signals that fall below the threshold will be reduced in gain. Signals that are above it will be unaffected.

The Dynamics Graph display shows the threshold as a vertical line.

Attack

The Attack control sets the attack time, or the rate at which gain is reduced after the input signal crosses the threshold. Use this along with the Ratio setting to control how soft the Expander’s gain reduction curve is.

Ratio

The Ratio control sets the amount of expansion. For example, if this is set to 2:1, it will lower signals below the threshold by one half. At higher ratio levels the Expander/Gate functions like a gate by cutting off signals that fall below the threshold. As you adjust the ratio control, refer to the Dynamics Graph display to see how the shape of the expansion curve changes.

Hold

The Hold control specifies the duration (in seconds or milliseconds) during which the Expander/Gate will stay in effect after the initial attack occurs. This can be used as a function to keep the Expander/Gate in effect for longer periods of time with a single crossing of the threshold. It can also be used to prevent gate chatter that may occur if varying input levels near the threshold cause the gate to close and open very rapidly.

Release

The Release control sets how long it takes for the gate to close after the input signal falls below the threshold level and the hold time has passed.

Knee

The Knee control sets the rate at which the Expander/Gate reaches full effect once the threshold has been exceeded.

Hysteresis

The Hysteresis (Hyst) control lets you adjust whether or not the gate rapidly opens and closes when the input signal is fluctuating near the Threshold. This can help prevent undesirably rapid gating of the signal. This control is only available

Ratio is set to Gate, otherwise it is greyed out.

when

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 50

Compressor/Limiter Controls

Dynamics section, Compressor/Limiter tab

At the limiter setting (

LMTR), for every decibel that

the incoming signal goes over the set Threshold, 1 dB of gain reduction is applied.

Threshold

The Threshold control sets the level that an input signal must exceed to trigger compression or limiting. Signals that exceed this level will be compressed. Signals that are below it will be unaffected.

Attack

The Attack control sets the attack time, or the rate at which gain is reduced after the input signal crosses the threshold.

The smaller the value, the faster the attack. The faster the attack, the more rapidly the Compressor/Limiter applies attenuation to the signal. If you use fast attack times, you should generally use a proportionally longer release time, particularly with material that contains many peaks in close proximity.

Ratio

The Ratio control sets the compression ratio, or the amount of compression applied as the input signal exceeds the threshold. For example, a 2:1 compression ratio means that a 2 dB increase of level above the threshold produces a 1 db increase in output. The compression ratio ranges from 1:0:1 to 20:0:1.

Once the

Ratio control passes 20:0:1 the Compres-

sor/Limiter effect functions as a limiter rather than a compressor.

Compressor/Limiter Ratio set to LMTR

Once the

Ratio control passes the LMTR setting, it

provides negative ratio settings from –20:0:1 to 0:1.

Compressor/Limiter Ratio set to a negative value

With these settings, for every decibel that the incoming signal goes over the set Threshold, more than 1 dB of gain reduction is applied according to the negative

Ratio setting. For example, at the set-

ting of –1.0:1, for each decibel over the set threshold, 2 db of gain reduction is allied. Consequently, the output signal is both compressed and made softer. You can use this as an creative effect, or as a kind of ducking effect when used with an external key input.

Depth

The Depth control sets the amount of gain reduction that is applied regardless of the input signal. For example, if the Limiter is set at a Threshold of –20 dB and Depth is set at 0 dB, up to 20 dB of gain reduction is applied to the incoming signal (at 0 dB). If you set Depth to –10 dB, no more than 10 dB of gain reduction is applied to the incoming signal.

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 51

Release

The Release control sets the length of time it takes for the Compressor/Limiter to be fully deactivated after the input signal drops below the threshold.

Release times should be set long enough that if signal levels repeatedly rise above the threshold, the gain reduction “recovers” smoothly. If the release time is too short, the gain can rapidly fluctuate as the compressor repeatedly tries to recover from the gain reduction. If the release time is too long, a loud section of the audio material could cause gain reduction that continues through soft sections of program material without recovering.

Knee

The Knee control sets the rate at which the compressor reaches full compression once the threshold has been exceeded.

As you increase this control, it goes from applying “hard-knee” compression to “soft-knee” compression:

• With hard-knee compression, compression begins when the input signal exceeds the threshold. This can sound abrupt and is ideal for limiting.

• With soft-knee compression, gentle compression begins and increases gradually as the input signal approaches the threshold, and reaches full compression after exceeding the threshold. This creates smoother compression.

Gain

The Gain control lets you boost overall output gain to compensate for heavily compressed or limited signals.

Side Chain Processing Controls

Dynamics section, Side Chain tab

Dynamics processors typically use the detected amplitude of their input signal to trigger gain reduction. This split-off signal is known as the side- chain. Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate processing features external key capabilities and filters for the side-chain.

With external key side-chain processing, you trigger dynamics processing using an external signal (such as a separate reference track or audio source) instead of the input signal. This external source is known as the key input.

With side-chain filters, you can make dynamics processing more or less sensitive to certain frequencies. For example, you might configure the side-chain so that certain lower frequencies on a drum track trigger dynamics processing.

Source

The Source selector lets you set the source for side chain processing:

Internal

If Internal is selected, the plug-in uses the

amplitude of the input signal to trigger dynamics processing. With greater-than-stereo multichannel processing, the input signal for each stereo pair effects only those same channels, and likewise mono channels are effected only by their own input signal. For example, with an LCR multichannel format, the processing for the Center channel is only triggered when the Center channel input signal

Internal, Key, or All-Linked.

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 52

reaches the threshold. However, when the input signal reaches the threshold on the Left or the Right channel, processing is triggered for both the Left and the Right channel.

Key

If Key is selected, the plug-in uses the ampli-

tude of a separate reference track or external audio source to trigger dynamics processing. The reference track used is selected using the Plug-In Key Input selector in the Plug-In window header. With greater-than-stereo multichannel processing, the key signal triggers dynamics processing for all processed audio channels equally.

All-Linked

If All-Linked is selected, dynamics processing is applied equally to all channels when the input signal reaches the threshold on any input channel, except for the LFE channel (if present). The LFE channel is processed independently based on its own input signal.

Filter Type

Four Filter Type options are available for side-chain processing:

Low Pass

Select the Low Pass option to apply a low pass filter to the side-chain processing at the selected frequency.

High Pass

Select the High Pass option to apply a high pass filter to the side-chain processing at the selected frequency.

Notch

Select the Notch option to apply a notch filter to the side-chain processing at the selected frequency.

Band Pass

Select the Band Pass option to apply a band pass filter to the side-chain processing at the selected frequency.

Side Chain Processing Graph

The Side Chain Processing Graph display shows the frequency curve for the selected the selected

Filter Frequency.

Filter Type at

Selecting the Source setting for Side Chain processing

Detection

The Detection options include Peak or Avg (Average).

Peak

Select the Peak option to apply side-chain

processing according to the detected peak amplitude.

Average

Select the Average option to apply side-

chain processing according to the detected average amplitude.

Filter Frequency

The Filter Frequency control lets you set the frequency for the selected

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 53

Filter Type.

Channel Strip EQ/Filters Section

The EQ/Filters section of Channel Strip provides a high-quality 4-band parametric equalizer for adjusting the frequency spectrum of audio material.

EQ/Filters Graph

The EQ/Filters section provides an interactive Frequency Graph display that shows the response curve for the current EQ settings on a two-dimensional graph of frequency and gain. The Frequency Graph display also lets you modify frequency, gain, and Q settings for individual EQ bands by dragging their corresponding points in the graph. The Frequency Graph display also plots the frequency, Q, and filter shape of the two filters (when either or both are enabled).

Frequency

(x-axis)

Graph Resolution toggle

Gain (y-axis)

Filter control point

EX/Filters section, High Mid Frequency tab shown

EQ control point

Frequency Graph Gain Resolution

Channel Strip lets you view the gain scale on the Frequency Graph display either in 3 dB increments from –12 dB to +12 dB or in 6 dB increments from –24 dB to +24 dB.

To change the Frequency Graph Gain resolution:

 Click the Graph Resolution toggle.

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 54

Dragging in the Frequency Graph to Adjust Controls

You can adjust the following EQ controls by dragging the control points directly in the Frequency Graph display:

Low Frequency EQ Controls

Frequency

Dragging a control point to the right increases the Frequency setting. Dragging a control point to the left decreases the Frequency setting.

You can press the Shift key while clicking and dragging an EQ control point up or down to adjust the Gain setting without changing the Frequency. Likewise, press the Shift key while clicking and dragging an EQ control point left or right to adjust the Frequency setting without changing the Gain setting.

Gain

Dragging a control point up increases the Gain setting. Dragging a control point down decreases the Gain setting.

Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click

(Windows) an EQ control point to invert its

Gain setting.

Click within the curve of an EQ control point and drag up or down to increase or decrease the Q setting.

You can also Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows) and drag a control point up or down to increase or decrease the Q setting.

EQ/Filters section, Low Frequency tab

The LF tab provides controls for the low frequency band of the EQ. The low frequency band can be set to be a Peak or Low Shelf EQ.

EQ Type

Select either the Peak or Low Shelf button to set the EQ type for the low frequency band.

Frequency

The Frequency control lets you set the center frequency for the low frequency band (Peak or Shelf EQ).

Gain

The Gain control lets you boost or attenuate the corresponding frequencies for the low frequency band.

With the low band EQ set to Peak, the Q control changes the width of the EQ band. Higher represent narrower bandwidths. Lower

Q values

represent wider bandwidths. With the low band EQ set to Shelf, the

changes the Q of the shelving filter. Higher ues represent steeper shelving curves. Lower

Q control

Q val-

ues represent broader shelving curves.

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 55

Low Mid Frequency EQ Controls

EQ/Filters section, Low Mid Frequency tab EQ/Filters section, High Mid Frequency tab

High Mid Frequency EQ Controls

The LMF tab provides controls for the low mid frequency band of the EQ. This band is a peak EQ.

Frequency

The Frequency control lets you set the center frequency for the peak low mid frequency band.

Gain

The Gain control lets you boost or attenuate the corresponding frequencies for the low mid frequency band.

The Q control changes the width of the low mid peak EQ band. Higher bandwidths. Lower

Q values represent narrower

Q values represent wider band-

widths.

The HMF tab provides controls for the high mid frequency band of the EQ. This band is a peak EQ.

Frequency

The Frequency control lets you set the center frequency for the peak high mid frequency band.

Gain

The Gain control lets you boost or attenuate the corresponding frequencies for the high mid frequency band.

The Q control changes the width of the high mid peak EQ band. Higher bandwidths. Lower

Q values represent narrower

Q values represent wider band-

widths.

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 56

High Frequency EQ Controls

EQ/Filters section, High Frequency tab EQ/Filters section, Filter 1 tab shown

Filter 1 and Filter 2 Controls

The High Frequency EQ tab provides controls for the high frequency band of the EQ.

Filter Type

The High Frequency band can be set to be a Peak or High Shelf EQ.

Frequency

The Frequency control lets you set the center frequency for the high frequency band (Peak or Shelf EQ).

Gain

The Gain control lets you boost or attenuate the corresponding frequencies for the high frequency band.

With the high band EQ set to Peak, the Q control changes the width of the EQ band. Higher represent narrower bandwidths. Lower

Q values

represent wider bandwidths. With the high band EQ set to Shelf, the

changes the Q of the shelving filter. Higher ues represent steeper shelving curves. Lower

Q control

Q val-

ues represent broader shelving curves.

The Filter 1 and Filter 2 tabs provide the same set of controls for each filter.

Filter Type

Both Filter 1 and Filter 2 can be set independently. Select from the following Filter Type options: High Pass, Low Pass, Band Pass, and Notch.

Frequency

The Frequency control lets you set the center frequency for the selected Filter Type (from 20 Hz to

21.0 kHz).

Slope

When the Filter Type is set to Low Pass or High Pass, the

Slope control is available. The Slope con-

trol lets you set the slope for the filter from the selected Frequency to –INF (12 dB/O or 24 dB/O).

When the Filter Type is set to Band Pass or Notch,

Q control is available. The Q control changes

the the width of the filter around the center frequency band. Higher widths. Lower

Q values represent narrower band-

Q values represent wider band-

widths.

Chapter 11: Channel Strip 57

Chapter 12: Dynamics III

Dynamics III is a suite of three dynamics plug-ins available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite formats:

• Compressor/Limiter (see “Compressor/Limiter

III” on page 61)

• Expander/Gate (see “Expander/Gate III” on

page 64)

• De-Esser (see “De-Esser III” on page 67) Dynamics III supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz,

88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

The Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate modules support mono, stereo, and greater-than-stereo multichannel formats up to 7.1.

Greater-than-stereo formats are only available with Pro Tools HD.

The De-Esser module supports mono and stereo formats only.

In addition to standard controls in each module, Dynamics III also provides a graph to track the gain transfer curve in the Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate plug-ins, and a frequency graph to display which frequencies trigger the De-Esser and which frequencies will be gain reduced.

Dynamics III Common Controls

The Levels section, the LFE Enable button, and the Dynamics Graph display of the user interface are shared between the Compressor/Limiter, Expander/Gate, and De-Esser plug-ins.

Dynamics III Levels Section

The indicators and controls in the Dynamic III Levels section let you track input, output, and gain reduction levels, as well as work with phase invert and the threshold setting.

See “De-Esser III Level Meters” on page 67 for more information on De-Esser III Input/Output Level controls.

Phase Invert

Input

meter

Peak hold

indicators

Threshold

arrow

Output meter

Gain Reduction meter

Peak hold indicators

I/O Meter display (stereo instance shown)

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 58

Input and Output Meters

Gain Reduction Meter

The Input (In) and Output (Out) meters show peak signal levels before and after dynamics processing:

Green

Indicates nominal levels.

Yellow

Indicates pre-clipping levels, starting at

–6 dB below full scale.

Red

Indicates full scale levels (clipping).

The clip indicators at the top of the Output meters indicate clipping at the input or output stage of the plug-in. Clip indicators can be cleared by clicking the indicator.

The Input and Output meters display differently depending on the type of track (mono, stereo, or multichannel) on which the plug-in has been inserted.

When Side-Chain Listen is enabled, the Output meter only displays the levels of the side-chain signal. See “Dynamics III SideChain Listen” on page 70.

Toggling Multichannel Input and Output Meters

With multichannel track types LCRS and higher, both Input and Output meters cannot be shown at the same time. Click either the Input or Output button to display the appropriate level meter. The Input/Output meters display is toggled to Output by default.

The Gain Reduction (GR) meter indicates the amount the input signal is attenuated (in dB) and shows different colors during dynamics processing:

Light Orange

Indicates that gain reduction is within the “knee” and has not reached the full ratio of compression.

Dark Orange

Indicates that gain reduction is being

applied at the full ratio (for example, 2:1).

Threshold Arrow

The orange Threshold arrow next to the Input meter indicates the current threshold, and can be dragged up or down to adjust the threshold. When a multichannel instance of the plug-in has been configured to show only the Output meter, the Threshold arrow is not displayed.

Phase Invert

The Phase Invert button at the top of the Levels section inverts the phase (polarity) of the input signal, to help compensate for phase anomalies that can occur either in multi-microphone environments or because of mis-wired balanced connections.

Input (left) and Output (right) meter buttons

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 59

Dynamics III LFE Enable

(Pro Tools HD Only)

Use this graph as a visual guideline to see how much dynamics processing you are applying.

The LFE Enable button (located in the Options section) is on by default, and enables plug-in processing of the LFE (low frequency effects) channel on a multichannel track formatted for 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 surround formats. To disable LFE processing, deselect this button.

LFE Enable button (Compressor/Limiter III shown)

The LFE Enable button is not available if the plug-in is not inserted on an applicable track.

Dynamics III Graph Display

The Dynamics Graph display—used with the Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate plug-ins— shows a curve that represents the level of the input signal (on the horizontal x–axis) and the level of the output signal (on the vertical y–axis). The orange vertical line represents the threshold.

Threshold

Output signal level (y-axis)

Input signal

level (x-axis)

Dynamics graph display

The Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate plugins also feature an animated, multi-color cursor in their gain transfer curve displays.

The gain transfer curve of the Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate plug-ins shows a moving ball cursor that shows the amount of input gain (x-axis) and gain reduction (y-axis) being applied to the incoming signal.

Gain transfer curve and cursor showing amount of compression

To indicate overshoots (when an incoming signal peak is too fast for the current compression setting) the cursor temporarily leaves the gain transfer curve.

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 60

The cursor changes color to indicate the amount of compression applied, as shown in the following table:

Cursor Color Compression Amount

white no compression light orange below full ratio dark orange full ratio amount

See “De-Esser III Frequency Graph Display” on page 68 for information on using the De-Esser graph display.

Dynamics III Side-Chain Section

For information on using the Side-Chain section of the Compressor/Limiter or Expander/Gate, see “Using Dynamics III Key Input for Side-Chain Processing” on page 72.

About Compression

Compression reduces the dynamic range of signals that exceed a chosen threshold by a specific amount. The Threshold control sets the level that the signal must exceed to trigger compression. The Attack control sets how quickly the compressor responds to the “front” of an audio signal once it crosses the selected threshold. The Release control sets the amount of time that it takes for the compressor’s gain to return to its original level after the input signal drops below the selected threshold.

To use compression most effectively, the attack time should be set so that signals exceed the threshold level long enough to cause an increase in the average level. This helps ensure that gain reduction does not decrease the overall volume too drastically, or eliminate desired attack transients in the program material.

Of course, compression has many creative uses that break these rules.

Compressor/Limiter III

The Compressor/Limiter plug-in applies either compression or limiting to audio material, depending on the ratio of compression used.

About Limiting

Limiting prevents signal peaks from ever exceeding a chosen threshold, and is generally used to prevent short-term peaks from reaching their full amplitude. Used judiciously, limiting produces higher average levels, while avoiding overload (clipping or distortion), by limiting only some short-term transients in the source audio. To prevent the ear from hearing the gain changes, extremely short attack and release times are used.

Limiting is used to remove only occasional peaks because gain reduction on successive peaks would be noticeable. If audio material contains many peaks, the threshold should be raised and the gain

Compressor/Limiter III

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 61

manually reduced so that only occasional, extreme peaks are limited.

Limiting generally begins with the ratio set at 10:1 and higher. Large ratios effectively limit the dynamic range of the signal to a specific value by setting an absolute ceiling for the dynamic range.

Compressor/Limiter III Input/Output Level Meters

The Input and Output meters show peak signal levels before and after dynamics processing. See “Dynamics III Levels Section” on page 58 for more information.

Threshold arrow on input meter

Unlike scales on analog compressors, metering scales on a digital device reflect a 0 dB value that indicates full scale (fs)—the full-code signal level. There is no headroom above 0 dB.

Compressor/Limiter III Graph Display

The Dynamics Graph display lets you visually see how much expansion or gating you are applying to your audio material. See “Dynamics III Graph Display” on page 60.

Compressor/Limiter III Threshold Control

The Threshold (Thresh) control sets the level that an input signal must exceed to trigger compression or limiting. Signals that exceed this level will be compressed. Signals that are below it will be unaffected.

This control has an approximate range of –60 dB to 0 dB, with a setting of 0 dB equivalent to no compression or limiting. The default value for the Threshold control is –24 dB.

An orange arrow on the Input meter indicates the current threshold, and can also be dragged up or down to adjust the threshold setting.

The Dynamics Graph display also shows the threshold as an orange vertical line.

Threshold indicator on Dynamics Graph display

This control ranges from –60 dB (lowest gain) to 0 dB (highest gain).

Compressor/Limiter III Ratio Control

This control ranges from 1:1 (no compression) to 100:1 (hard limiting).

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 62

Compressor/Limiter III Attack Control

Compressor/Limiter III Knee Control

The Attack control sets the attack time, or the rate at which gain is reduced after the input signal crosses the threshold.

This control ranges from 10 s (fastest attack time) to 300 ms (slowest attack time).

Compressor/Limiter III Release Control

The Release control sets the length of time it takes for the Compressor/Limiter to be fully deactivated after the input signal drops below the threshold.

This control ranges from 5 ms (fastest release time) to 4 seconds (slowest release time).

The Knee control sets the rate at which the compressor reaches full compression once the threshold has been exceeded.

As you increase this control, it goes from applying “hard-knee” compression to “soft-knee” compression:

• With hard-knee compression, compression be-

gins when the input signal exceeds the threshold. This can sound abrupt and is ideal for limiting.

• With soft-knee compression, gentle compression

begins and increases gradually as the input signal approaches the threshold, and reaches full compression after exceeding the threshold. This creates smoother compression.

Graph examples of hard knee (left) and soft knee (right) compression

For example, a Knee setting of 10 dB would be the gain range over which the ratio gradually increased to the set ratio amount.

The Gain Reduction meter displays light orange while gain reduction has not exceeded the knee setting, and switches to dark orange when gain reduction reaches the full ratio.

This control ranges from 0 db (hardest response) to 30 db (softest response).

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 63

Compressor/Limiter III Gain Control

The Gain control lets you boost overall output gain to compensate for heavily compressed or limited signals.

This control ranges from 0 dB (no gain boost) to +40 dB (loudest gain boost), with the default value at 0 dB.

For more information on the LFE channel, refer to the Pro Tools Reference Guide.

Compressor/Limiter III Side-Chain Section

The side-chain is the split-off signal used by the plug-in’s detector to trigger dynamics processing. The Side-Chain section lets you toggle the sidechain between the internal input signal or an external key input, and tailor the equalization of the side-chain signal so that the triggering of dynamics processing becomes frequency-sensitive. See “Dynamics III Side-Chain Input” on page 69.

Expander/Gate III

The Expander/Gate plug-in applies expansion or gating to audio material, depending on the ratio setting.

Expander/Gate III

About Expansion

Expansion decreases the gain of signals that fall below a chosen threshold. They are particularly useful for reducing noise or signal leakage that creeps into recorded material as its level falls, as often occurs in the case of headphone leakage.

About Gating

Gating silences signals that fall below a chosen threshold. To enable gating, simply set the Ratio and Range controls to their maximum values.

Expanders can be thought of as soft noise gates since they provide a gentler way of reducing noisy low-level signals than the typically abrupt cutoff of a gate.

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 64

Expander/Gate III

Input/Output Level Meters

Expander/Gate III Threshold Control

The Input and Output meters show peak signal levels before and after dynamics processing. See “Dynamics III Levels Section” on page 58 for more information.

Expander/Gate III Dynamics Graph Display

The Dynamics Graph display lets you visually see how much expansion or gating you are applying to your audio material. See “Dynamics III Graph Display” on page 60.

Expander/Gate III Look Ahead Button

Normally, dynamics processing begins when the level of the input signal crosses the threshold. When the Look Ahead button is enabled, dynamics processing begins 2 milliseconds before the level of the input signal crosses the threshold.

An orange arrow on the Input meter indicates the current threshold, and can also be dragged up or down to adjust the threshold setting.

Threshold arrow on Input meter

The Dynamics Graph display also shows the threshold as an orange vertical line.

Look Ahead control

The Look Ahead control is useful for avoiding the loss of transients that may have been otherwise cut off or trimmed in a signal.

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 65

Threshold indicator on Dynamics Graph display

This control has an approximate range of –60 dB to 0 dB, with a setting of 0 dB equivalent to no compression or limiting. The default value for the Threshold control is –24 dB.

Expander/Gate III Ratio Control

The Ratio control sets the amount of expansion. For example, if this is set to 2:1, it will lower signals below the threshold by one half. At higher ratio levels (such as 30:1 or 40:1) the Expander/Gate functions like a gate by cutting off signals that fall below the threshold. As you adjust the ratio control, refer to the built-in graph to see how the shape of the expansion curve changes.

This control ranges from 1:1 (no expansion) to 100:1 (gating).

Expander/Gate III Attack Control

This control ranges from 10 s (fastest attack time) to 300 ms (slowest attack time).

Expander/Gate III Hold Control

Expander/Gate III Release Control

The Release control sets how long it takes for the gate to close after the input signal falls below the threshold level and the hold time has passed.

This control ranges from 5 ms (fastest release time) to 4 seconds (slowest release time).

Expander/Gate III Range Control

The Range control sets the depth of the Expander/Gate when closed. Setting the gate to higher range levels allows more and more of the gated audio that falls below the threshold to peek through the gate at all times.

This control ranges from –80 dB (lowest depth) to 0 dB (highest depth).

Expander/Gate III Side-Chain Section

This control ranges from 5 ms (shortest hold) to 4 seconds (longest hold).

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 66

De-Esser III

The De-Esser reduces sibilants and other high frequency noises that can occur in vocals, voiceovers, and wind instruments such as flutes. These sounds can cause peaks in an audio signal and lead to distortion.

The De-Esser reduces these unwanted sounds using fast-acting compression. The Threshold control sets the level above which compression starts, and the Frequency (Freq) control sets the frequency band in which the De-Esser operates.

The De-Esser has no control to directly adjust the threshold level (the level that an input signal must exceed to trigger de-essing). The amount of de-essing will vary with the input signal.

De-Esser III Level Meters

These controls let you track input, output, and gain reduction levels.

De-Esser III

Using De-Essing Effectively

To use de-essing most effectively, insert the De-Esser after compressor or limiter plug-ins.

The Frequency control should be set to remove sibilants (typically the 4–10 kHz range) and not other parts of the signal. This helps prevent de-essing from changing the original character of the audio material in an undesired manner.

Similarly, the Range control should be set to a level low enough so that de-essing is triggered only by sibilants. If the Range is set too high, a loud, nonsibilant section of audio material could cause unwanted gain reduction or cause sibilants to be overattenuated.

Input

meter

De-Esser III I/O Meter display

Input and Output Meters

Output meter

Gain Reduction meter

The Input and Output meters show peak signal levels before and after dynamics processing:

Green

Indicates nominal levels.

Yellow

Indicates pre-clipping levels, starting at

–6 dB below full scale.

Red

Indicates full scale levels (clipping).

The Clip indicators at the top of each meter indicate clipping at the input or output stage of the plug-in. Clip indicators can be cleared by clicking the indicator.

To improve de-essing of material that has both very loud and very soft passages, automate the Range control so that it is lower on soft sections.

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 67

De-Esser III Gain Reduction Meter

The Gain Reduction meter indicates the amount the input signal is attenuated, in dB. This meter shows different colors during de-essing:

Light Orange

applied, but has not reached the maximum level set by the Range control.

Dark Orange

reached the maximum level set by the Range control.

Indicates that gain reduction is being

Indicates that gain reduction has

De-Esser III Frequency Control

The Frequency (Freq) control sets the frequency band in which the De-Esser operates. When HF Only is disabled, gain is reduced in frequencies within the specified range. When HF Only is enabled, the gain of frequencies above the specified value will be reduced.

This control ranges from 500 Hz (lowest frequency) to 16 kHz (highest frequency).

De-Esser III Listen Control

When enabled, the Listen button lets you monitor the sibilant peaks used by the De-Esser as a sidechain to trigger compression. This is useful for listening only to the sibilance for fine-tuning De-Esser controls. To monitor the whole output signal without this filtering, deselect the Listen button.

De-Esser III Frequency Graph Display

The De-Esser Frequency Graph display shows a curve that represents the level of gain reduction (on the y-axis) for the range of the output signal's frequency (on the x-axis). The white line represents the current Frequency setting, and the animated orange line represents the level of gain reduction being applied to the signal.

Use this graph as a visual guideline to see how much dynamics processing you are applying at different points in the frequency spectrum.

Current gain reduction

Frequency

De-Esser III Range Control

The Range control defines the maximum amount of gain reduction possible when a signal is detected at the frequency set by the Frequency control.

This control ranges from –40 dB (maximum deessing) to 0 dB (no de-essing).

De-Esser III HF Only Control

When the HF Only button is enabled, gain reduction is applied only to the active frequency band set by the Frequency control. When the HF Only button is disabled, the De-Esser applies gain reduction to the entire signal.

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 68

Gain

(y-axis)

Frequency

De-Esser graph display

Range

(x-axis)

Dynamics III Side-Chain Input

(Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate Only)

Dynamics processors typically use the detected amplitude of their input signal to trigger gain reduction. This split-off signal is known as the side- chain. The Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate plug-ins feature external key capabilities and filters for the side-chain.

Dynamics III Side-Chain Controls

The controls in the Side-Chain section let you toggle the side-chain between the internal input signal or an external key input, listen to the side-chain, and tailor the equalization of the side-chain signal so that the triggering of dynamics processing becomes frequency-sensitive.

Dynamics III Side-Chain External Key

The External Key toggles external side-chain processing on or off. When this button is highlighted, the plug-in uses the amplitude of a separate reference track or external audio source to trigger dynamics processing. When this button is dark gray, the External Key is disabled and the plug-in uses the amplitude of the input signal to trigger dynamics processing.

External Key button

Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate Side-Chain

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 69

Dynamics III Side-Chain Listen

When enabled, this control lets you listen to the internal or external side-chain input by itself, as well as monitor its levels with the Output meter. This is especially useful for fine-tuning the plug-in’s filter settings or external key input.

Dynamics III Side-Chain High-Frequency (HF) Filter Type

The HF filter section lets you filter higher frequencies out of the side-chain signal so that only certain bands of high frequencies or lower frequencies pass through to trigger dynamics processing. The HF side-chain filter is switchable between Band Pass and Low Pass filters.

Side-Chain Listen button

Side-Chain Listen is not saved with other plug-in presets.

Dynamics III Side-Chain HF and LF Filter Enable Buttons

The HF Filter Enable and LF Filter Enable buttons toggle the corresponding filter in or out of the sidechain. When this button is highlighted, the filter is applied to the side-chain signal. When this button is dark gray, the filter is bypassed and available for activation.

Band Pass Filter

Makes triggering of dynamics processing more sensitive to frequencies within the narrow band centered around the Frequency setting, and rolling off at a slope of 12 dB per octave.

Band-Pass filter

Low Pass Filter

Makes triggering of dynamics processing more sensitive to frequencies below the Frequency setting rolling off at a slope of 12 dB per octave.

Low Pass filter

HF and LF Filter Enable buttons

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 70

Dynamics III Side-Chain HF Frequency Control

The HF frequency control sets the frequency position for the Band Pass or Low Pass filter, and ranges from 80 Hz to 20 kHz.

High Pass Filter

Makes triggering of dynamics processing more sensitive to frequencies above the Frequency setting rolling off at a slope of 12 dB per octave.

High Pass filter

HF frequency controls

Dynamics III Side-Chain Low-Frequency (LF) Filter Type

The LF filter section lets you filter lower frequencies out of the side-chain signal so that only certain bands of low frequencies or higher frequencies are allowed to pass through to trigger dynamics processing. The LF side-chain is switchable between Band Pass and High Pass filters.

Band-Pass Filter

Makes triggering of dynamics processing more sensitive to frequencies within the narrow band centered around the Frequency setting, and rolling off at a slope of 12 dB per octave.

Dynamics III Side-Chain LF Frequency Control

The Frequency control sets the frequency position for the Band-Pass or High Pass filter, and ranges from 25 Hz to 4 kHz.

LF frequency controls

Band-Pass filter

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 71

Using Dynamics III Key Input for Side-Chain Processing

To use a filtered or unfiltered external key input to trigger dynamics processing:

1 Click the Key Input selector and select the input

or bus carrying the audio from the reference track or external audio source.

Selecting a Key Input

2 Click External Key to activate external side-

chain processing.

External Key

4 To filter the key input so that only specific fre-

quencies trigger the plug-in, use the HF and LF controls to select a frequency range.

5 Begin playback. The plug-in uses the input or

bus that you chose as an external key input to trigger its effect.

6 Adjust the plug-in’s Threshold (Thresh) control

to fine-tune external key input triggering.

Using a Filtered Input Signal for Side-Chain Processing with Dynamics III

To use the filtered input signal to trigger dynamics processing:

1 Ensure the Key Input selector is set to No Key

Input.

Key Input selector

2 Ensure that the External Key button is disabled

(dark gray).

3 To listen to the signal that will be used to control

side-chain input, click Side-Chain Listen to enable it (highlighted).

Side-Chain section

Side-Chain Listen

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 72

3 To listen to the signal that will be used to control

side-chain input, click Side-Chain Listen to enable it (highlighted).

Side-Chain section

4 To filter the side-chain input so that only specific

frequencies within the input signal trigger the plug-in, use the HF and LF controls to select a frequency range.

5 Begin playback. The plug-in uses the filtered in-

put signal to trigger dynamics processing.

6 To fine-tune side-chain triggering, adjust the

plug-in controls.

Chapter 12: Dynamics III 73

Chapter 13: Fairchild Plug-Ins

The Fairchild plug-ins are a pair of vintage compressor plug-ins that are available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite formats.

The Fairchild plug-ins support 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz,

88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

The Fairchild plug-ins operate as mono, multimono, or stereo plug-ins.

Fairchild 660

Re-introducing the undisputed champion in price, weight, and performance: the $35,000, one-hundred pound, Fairchild 660. Avid’s no-compromise replica captures every detail of this studio classic.

Designed in the early 1950s, the Fairchild 660 is a variable-mu tube limiter. Variable-mu designs use an unusual form of vacuum tube that is capable of changing its gain dynamically.

The result? In addition to featuring a tube audio stage like the LA-2A, the Fairchild actually achieves gain reduction through the use of tubes!

The heart of the Fairchild limiter—a 6386 triode— is one such variable-mu tube. In fact, four of these tubes are used in parallel. A key part of the Fairchild design, it ensures that the output doesn’t get darker as the unit goes further into gain reduction, and also reduces distortion as the tubes are biased further into Class-B operation.

Tubes, wires, and iron

Chapter 13: Fairchild Plug-Ins 74

Fairchild 660 Controls

Fairchild 660 Tips and Tricks

Adjust the Input Gain and Threshold controls together until you get the sound you want. Like many classic compressors, after a little bit of tweaking, you’ll know immediately when you get it right.

Input Gain

Input Gain sets the input level to the unit and the compression threshold, just like the Input control on an 1176. Full clockwise is loudest.

Threshold

Threshold adjusts the gain to the sidechain, just like the Peak Reduction control on an LA-2A.

Time Constant

Selects the attack and release times for the compressor. One is fastest, and six is slowest. Seven and eight are custom presets.

5,6,7,8…

The Fairchild manual documents Time Constant settings 5 and 6 as user presets—although you have to go inside with a soldering iron to change them. We used the “factory default” values.

Bonus Settings

Settings 7 and 8 do not exist on real-world units— well, at least most of them. These settings are taken from a real-world Fairchild modification invented by Dave Amels many years before he designed the plug-in version.

What do they do? Settings 7 and 8 offer versions of Time Constant 2 with a gentler release useful for compressing vocals and other program material where you desire more subtlety in the compression action. Give them a try—you’ve already heard them on hit songs on the radio.

Pump It Up

With a carefully adjusted Input Gain and Threshold, you can use Time Constant 1 to achieve a cool pumping effect on drums. The sound gets darker and fuller, and sits beautifully in a mix.

Chapter 13: Fairchild Plug-Ins 75

Fairchild 670

Avid’s no-compromise replica captures every detail of the Fairchild 670. The Fairchild 670 is a dual-channel unit and, as such, is only available on stereo tracks.

Note that the companion Fairchild 660 also supports stereo operation. Both a Fairchild 660 and a Fairchild 670 were modeled from scratch using two different hardware units. This gives you a choice of two different-sounding Fairchild units to try on your stereo tracks!

Fairchild 670 Controls

Adjust the Input Gain and Threshold controls together on both channels until you get the sound you want. Like many classic compressors, after a little bit of tweaking, you’ll know immediately when you get it right.

Input Gain

compression threshold, just like the Input control on an 1176. Full clockwise is loudest.

Threshold

like the Peak Reduction control on an LA-2A.

Sets the input level to the unit and the

Adjusts the gain to the sidechain, just

Fairchild 670

The Fairchild 670’s internal design is similar to the Fairchild 660. However, the Fairchild 670 offers two channels of compression instead of one. Combined with the AGC control, this gives you even more compression options on stereo tracks.

Time Constant

Selects the attack and release times. One is fastest, and six is slowest. Seven and eight are custom presets. See “Fairchild 670” on page 76 for details on these custom settings.

AGC

Lets you select Left/Right processing or Lat/Vert processing of the two channels. Left/Right works like a dual-mono compressor with separate controls for the left and right channels. In Lat/Vert mode the top row of controls affects the in-phase (Lat) information and the bottom row of controls affects the out of phase (Vert) information. Although originally designed for vinyl mastering where excess Vert (vertical) information could cause the needle to jump out of the groove, you can use the Lat/Vert mode to achieve some amazing effects – especially on drums.

Fairchild 670 Tips and Tricks

To exactly match the settings between channels, hold down the Shift key while adjusting a control. This is useful when trying to preserve the existing Left/Right balance on stereo material.

Chapter 13: Fairchild Plug-Ins 76

Chapter 14: Focusrite D3

Focusrite D3 is a high-quality dynamics processor plug-in. Developed in cooperation with Focusrite, the D3 is based on the highly acclaimed

™

Red Range 3

dual mono/stereo compressor &

limiter designed by Rupert Neve. D3 is available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite for-

mats. D3 supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz,

176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates. D3 operates as a mono, multi-mono, or stereo plug-

in.

Focusrite D3

D3 features include:

 Compressor+Limiter. This configuration allows

you to use both the compressor and the limiter at the same time. The Compressor+Limiter plug-in requires twice as much DSP as the Compressor/Limiter.

 Compressor/Limiter. This configuration allows

you to use either the compressor or the limiter—but not both at the same time. The Compressor/Limiter plug-in uses half as much DSP as the Compressor+Limiter. It is provided so that you can conserve DSP , since you may not need both compression and limiting at the same time.

The Compressor/Limiter defaults to the compressor being enabled and the limiter disabled.

D3 Compressor

The D3 compressor reduces the dynamic range of audio signals that exceed a user-selectable threshold by a specific amount. This is accomplished by reducing output levels as input levels increase above the threshold.

The amount of output level reduction that D3 applies as input levels increase is referred to as the compression ratio. This parameter is adjustable. If you set the compression ratio to 2:1, for example, for each 2 dB that the signal exceeds the threshold, the output will increase only by 1 dB. With a compression ratio of 4:1 for example, an 8 dB increase in input will produce only a 2 dB increase in output.

Chapter 14: Focusrite D3 77

D3 Limiter

D3 Side-Chain Processing

The D3 limiter operates as a fast-attack compressor with a high compression ratio. It does not attack instantaneously or look ahead in order to attack ahead of time, but instead uses a very fast, 1-millisecond attack time. As such, the D3 is not a “brick wall” limiter, but limits the overall dynamic range of signals in a sonically-pleasing way.

Like the Compressor, the Limiter is activated when the signal exceeds the user-selected threshold. The Limiter then compresses any signal above the selected threshold down to the threshold limit that you have set.

To enable the limiter:

1 Disable the compressor by Control-clicking

(Mac) or Start-clicking (Windows) its icon.

2 Click the Limiter icon.

Compressors and limiters generally use the detected amplitude of the input signal as a control source. Other signals can also be used as a control source by using a key input. With de-essing, for example, a frequency-modified version of the input signal is used as a trigger. This is known as sidechain processing.

Side-chain processing allows the D3 compression or limiting to be controlled by another independent audio signal. In this way you can compress or limit one track’s audio using the dynamics of a different track’s audio.

Using D3 in Stereo

In stereo configurations, all D3 controls except the Input Level affect both channels of the stereo signal. The D3’s RMS detector (which derives the control signal that drives the dynamics processing) uses a composite of the two channels. Because of this, when stereo processing occurs, there is no image shift when signal levels differ between the two channels (since the composite control signal drives processing for both channels).

Compressor

Compressor and Limiter icons

Chapter 14: Focusrite D3 78

Limiter

D3 Common Controls

Input Level

Input Level attenuates signal input level to the compressor or limiter. The range of this control is from –30 dB to 0 dB.

When you use the stereo version of the D3 plug-in, each channel has its own separate Input Level knob. To adjust input levels for both channels simultaneously, Shift-drag. Option-Shift clicking (Mac) or Alt-Shift-clicking (Windows) either Input Level knob resets both channels to 0 dB.

Input Level

Output Level

Output Level adjusts the overall output gain. Because large amounts of compression can restrict dynamic range, the Output Level knob is useful for compensating for heavily compressed signals and making up the resulting difference in level.

When you use the stereo version of the D3 plug-in, this single knob controls the master output for both channels. The range of this control is from –12 dB of attenuation to +18 dB of gain.

Output Level

External Key and Key Listen

The side-chain is the split-off signal used by a plugin’s detector to trigger dynamics processing. External Key lets you designate an external source (known as the key input) for the side-chain, while Key Listen lets you monitor the key input.

External

Key

Key Listen

External Key and Key Listen toggles

See “Using the Side-Chain Input in D3” on

page 83 for detailed information on external

side-chain processing.

Chapter 14: Focusrite D3 79

Meters

The meters indicate gain reduction (the top meter) and output level (the bottom meter). The Gain Reduction meter indicates the amount of gain reduction in dB. The Output Level meter indicates the output signal level in dB.

In Stereo mode, two Output Level meters appear, one for each channel. However, a single Gain Reduction meter is used for both channels, since the D3’s RMS detector uses a composite control signal.

A red Clip Indicator appears to the right of the output meter(s). Clicking on the Clip Indicator clears it. Option-clicking (Mac) or Alt-clicking (Windows) clears both channels when the plug-in is used in stereo.

• White indicates enabled. In this state the com-

pressor is active and using available DSP resources.

• Black indicates disabled. In this state, the com-

pressor is not using DSP resources.

• Gray indicates bypassed. In this state the com-

pressor is not active, but is still using available DSP resources.

Compressor controls

To disable the compressor:

 Control-click (Mac) or Start key-click (Win-

dows) the icon. When the compressor is disabled, the icon is black.

Meters

The following metering indications are used:

• Green = nominal levels

• Yellow = pre-clipping at –6 dB below full scale signal

• Red = full scale signal (clipping)

To re-enable the compressor:

 Click the icon. When the compressor is enabled,

the icon is white.

To bypass the compressor:

 Click the icon a second time. When the com-

pressor is bypassed, the icon is grey.

If you are using the Compressor/Limiter plug-in,

D3 Compressor Controls

The Compressor icon, which represents a compression curve, acts as a three-state switch for enabling, disabling, or bypassing the compressor. Its current state is indicated by the icon’s color.

Compressor icon

Chapter 14: Focusrite D3 80

which allows you to use either the compressor or the limiter (but not both simultaneously), you must disable one module by Control key-clicking the icon (Mac) or Start-clicking it (Windows) before you can enable the other.

Ratio

Release

Ratio sets the compression ratio. If the ratio is set to 2:1 for example, it will compress changes in signals above the threshold by one half. The range of this control is from 1.5:1 (very little compression), to 10:1 (heavy compression, bordering on limiting).

Ratio

Threshold

Threshold sets the threshold level. Signals that exceed this level will be compressed. Signals that are below it will be unaffected. The range of this control is from 0 dB to –48 dB. A setting of 0 dB is equivalent to no compression.

Threshold

Release controls how long it takes for the compressor to be fully deactivated after the input signal drops below the threshold level. In general, this setting should be longer than the attack time and long enough that if signal levels repeatedly rise above the threshold, they cause gain reduction only once. If the release time is too long, a loud section of the audio material could cause gain reduction that persists through a soft section. The range of this control is from 25 milliseconds to 2.5 seconds.

Auto Release

Auto Release enables the automatic release function. In this mode the Release control has no effect on release time. Instead, the D3 uses a release time value that is program dependent and based on the audio being processed.

Attack

Attack sets the compressor attack time. To use compression most effectively, the attack time should be set so that signals exceed the threshold level long enough to cause an increase in the average level. This helps ensure that gain reduction doesn’t decrease the overall volume. The range of this control is from 1.0 ms to 150.0 ms.

Attack

Chapter 14: Focusrite D3 81

Auto Release

D3 Limiter Controls

The Limiter icon, which represents a limiter curve, acts as a three-state switch for enabling, disabling, or bypassing the limiter. Its current state is indicated by the icon’s color:

• White indicates enabled. In this state, the limiter is active and using available DSP resources.

• Black indicates disabled. In this state, the limiter is not using DSP resources.

• Gray indicates bypassed. In this state, the limiter is not active, but is still using available DSP resources.

Limiter controls

If you are using the Compressor/Limiter plug-in, which allows you to use either the compressor or the limiter (but not both simultaneously), you must disable one module by Control key-clicking the icon (Mac) or Start-clicking it (Windows) before you can enable the other.

Limit LED

When lit, the Limit LED indicates that limiting is being applied. When unlit, limiting is not being applied.

Limit LED

Threshold

This sets the threshold level. Signals that exceed this level will be limited. Signals that are below it will be unaffected. A setting of 0 dB is equivalent to no limiting. The range of this control is from –24 dB to 0 dB.

Limiter In/Out icon

To disable the limiter:

 Control-click (Mac) or Start key-click (Win-

Threshold

dows) the icon. When the limiter is disabled, the icon is black.

To re-enable the limiter:

 Click the icon. When the limiter is enabled, the

icon is white.

To bypass the limiter:

 Click the icon a second time. When the limiter is

bypassed, the icon is grey.

Chapter 14: Focusrite D3 82

Using the Side-Chain Input in D3

The side-chain is the split-off signal used by a plugin's detector to trigger dynamics processing. D3 lets you switch between internal and external sidechain processing.

With external side-chain processing, a plug-in's detector is triggered by an external signal (such as a separate reference track or audio source) known as the key input.

A typical use for this feature is to use a kick drum track to gate and tighten up a bass track, or a rhythm guitar track to gate another instrument.

External Key

External Key toggles external side-chain processing on or off. When this button is enabled, the plugin uses the amplitude of an external signal (the key input) to trigger compression or limiting. When this button is disabled, the plug-in uses the amplitude of the input signal to trigger dynamics processing.

Using a Key Input for External Side-Chain Processing

To use a key input to trigger dynamics processing:

1 Click the Key Input selector and select the input

or bus carrying the audio from the reference track or external audio source.

Selecting a key input

2 Click External Key to activate external side-

chain processing.

3 To listen to the key input that will be used to

control side-chain processing, click to enable it.

4 Begin playback. The plug-in uses the input or

bus that you chose as an external key input to trigger its effect.

Key Listen

External Key

5 Adjust the plug-in Threshold control to fine-

tune external key input triggering.

Key Listen

Key Listen enables and disables auditioning of the key input controlling the external side-chain. This is useful for fine-tuning the compressor’s settings to the key input.

Key Listen

Chapter 14: Focusrite D3 83

Chapter 15: Impact

Impact is available in DSP , Native, and AudioSuite formats. Impact plug-in provides critical control over the dynamic range of audio signals, with the look and sound of a mixing console’s stereo-bus compressor.

Impact supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

Impact supports mono, stereo, and greater-thanstereo multichannel formats up to 7.1.

Greater-than-stereo formats are only available with Pro Tools HD.

Impact

Impact Controls

Impact Ratio Control

Ratio sets the compression ratio. If the ratio is set to 2:1 for example, it will compress changes in signals above the threshold by one half. This control provides four fixed compression ratios, 2:1, 4:1, 10:1, and 20:1. Selecting 2:1 applies very light compression; selecting 20:1 applies heavy compression, bordering on limiting.

Impact Attack Control

Attack sets the compressor attack time. To use compression most effectively, the attack time should be set so that signals exceed the threshold level long enough to cause an increase in the average level. This helps ensure that gain reduction does not decrease the overall volume. The range of this control is from 0.1 ms to 30.0 ms.

Impact Threshold Control

Threshold sets the decibel level that a signal must exceed for Impact to begin applying compression. Signals that exceed the Threshold will be compressed by the amount of gain reduction set with the Ratio control. Signals that are below the Threshold will be unaffected. The range of the Threshold control is from –70 dB to –0 dB. A setting of –0 dB is equivalent to no compression.

Chapter 15: Impact 84

Impact Release Control

Impact Ext Control (Side-Chain)

Release controls the length of time it takes for the compressor to be fully deactivated after the input signal drops below the threshold level. In general, this setting should be longer than the attack time and long enough that if signal levels repeatedly rise above the threshold, they cause gain reduction only once. If the release time is too long, a loud segment of audio material could cause gain reduction to persist through a low-volume segment (if one follows). Setting this control to its maximum value, Auto, selects a release time that is program dependent, based on the audio being processed. The range of this control is from 20 milliseconds to 2.5 seconds.

Impact Make-up Control

Make-Up adjusts the overall output gain. Because large amounts of compression can restrict dynamic range, the Make-Up control is useful for compensating for heavily compressed signals and making up the resulting difference in level. When Impact is used on stereo or multichannel tracks, the Make-Up control determines master output levels for all channels. The range of this control is from 0 dB of attenuation to +40 dB of gain.

Applying large amounts of Make-Up gain will boost the level of any noise or hiss present in audio material, making it more audible.

External On/Off enables and disables side-chain processing. With side-chain processing you can trigger compression from a separate reference track or external audio source. The source used for triggering side-chain processing is referred to as the

Key Input.

See “Using the Impact Compressor” on page 86 for instructions on setting up and using a key input.

Impact Listen On/Off Control

Key Listen On/Off enables and disables auditioning of the Key Input (the reference track or external audio source used for triggering side-chain processing). This is useful for fine-tuning Impact’s compression settings to the Key Input.

Impact Gain Reduction Meter

The Gain Reduction meter is an analog-style meter that indicates the amount of gain reduction in dB. The range of this meter is from 0 dB to 40 dB. The gain reduction meter displays the amount of gain reduction linearly from 0–20 db, and non-linearly from 20–40 dB.

Chapter 15: Impact 85

Impact Meters

Side-Chain Processing

The Input/Output meters indicate input and output signal levels in dB. When Impact is used in mono or stereo, both input and output meters are displayed. When Impact is used in a multichannel format, only output meters are displayed by default. You can toggle the meter display to show only input meters by clicking the blue-green rectangle at the lower right of the meter display.

A red clip indicator appears at the top of each meter. Clicking a clip indicator clears it. Alt-clicking (Windows) or Option-clicking (Mac) clears the clip indicators on all channels.

Using the Impact Compressor

Compressors reduce the dynamic range of audio signals that exceed a user-selectable threshold by a specific amount. This is accomplished by reducing output levels as input levels increase above the threshold.

The amount of output level reduction that Impact applies as input levels increase is referred to as the compression ratio. This control is adjustable in discrete increments. If you set the compression ratio to 2 (a ratio of 2:1), for each 2 dB that the signal exceeds the threshold, the output will increase only by 1 dB. With a setting of 4 (a ratio of 4:1), an 8 dB increase in input will produce only a 2 dB increase in output.

Compressors generally use the detected amplitude of their input signal as a control source. However, you can also use other signals, such as a separate reference track or an external audio signal as a control source. This is known as side-chain processing.

Side-chain processing lets you control Impact compression using an independent audio signal. In this way you can compress the audio of one track using the dynamics of a different audio track.

The reference track or external audio source used for triggering side-chain processing is referred to as the Key Input.

Using the Impact Side-Chain Input

Impact provides side-chain processing capabilities.Compressors typically use the detected amplitude of their input signal to cause gain reduction. This split-off signal is called the side-chain. However, an external signal (referred to as the Key In- put) can be used to trigger compression.

A typical use for side-chain processing is to control the dynamics of one audio signal using the dynamics of another signal (referred to as the Key Input). For example, you could use a lead vocal track to trigger compression of a background vocal track so that their dynamics match.

Chapter 15: Impact 86

To use a Key Input signal for side-chain processing:

1 Click the Send button and select a bus path for

the audio track or Auxiliary Input you want to use as the side-chain signal.

2 From Impact’s Key Input menu, select the input

or bus path carrying the audio you want to use as the side-chain signal to trigger Impact compression. The Key Input source must be monophonic.

3 To activate external side-chain processing, click

Ext.

4 Begin playback. Impact uses the input or bus

that you selected as a Key Input to trigger its effect.

5 If you want to hear the audio source you have se-

lected as the side-chain input, click stop listening to the side-chain input, click

again).

ten

Listen. (To

Lis-

Remember to disable Listen to resume normal plug-in monitoring.

6 Adjust Impact’s Threshold control to fine-tune

Key Input triggering.

Chapter 15: Impact 87

Chapter 16: JOEMEEK SC2 Compressor

The JOEMEEK SC2 Compressor is a dynamics processing plug-in that is available in DSP, Native, and AudioSuite formats.

SC2 supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz,

176.4 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates.

SC2 operates as a mono, multi-mono, or stereo plug-in.

JOEMEEK SC2 Compressor

Legendary producer Joe Meek used to say, “If it sounds right, it is right.” Nowhere is this more apparent than in Joe Meek’s masterful use of non-linear, sometimes severe compression in his productions. In use by top producers the world over, JOEMEEK compression is the secret weapon that gives your sound the character and excitement it deserves!

The JOEMEEK Compressor is designed purely as an effects compressor. Its purpose is to change the way the ear perceives sound; its action changes the clarity, balance, and even rhythmic feel of music.

JOEMEEK Compressor Controls

The SC2 Compressor provides the following controls:

Input Gain

compressor.

Compression

gain to the side-chain of the compressor. Use it along with Slope to adjust the amount of compression.

Output Gain

after compression.

Slope

controls found on other compressors. However, on the JOEMEEK, the actual ratio varies based on program material so the term Slope is used instead. In practice, 1 is very gentle compression and 2 or 3 are typically right for voice and submixes. The higher numbers are better for instruments and extreme sounds. (At the suggestion of the original designers, the 5 setting found on the later-model JOEMEEK SC2.2 were added. Use 5 to create severe pumping effects.)

Attack

takes to act. Slower attacks are typically used when the sound of the compression needs to be less obvious.

Release

returns to normal after compression. With longer release times, the compression is less noticeable.

Input Gain adjusts the input level to the

The Compression control affects the

Output Gain provides makeup gain

Slope is similar to the compression ratio

Attack sets the time that the compressor

Release sets the time during which signal

Chapter 16: JOEMEEK SC2 Compressor 88

JOEMEEK Compressor Tips and Tricks

Not Perfect, Just Right

Standard engineering practice says that a compressor should work logarithmically. For a certain increase of volume, the output volume should rise proportionally less, with a result that the more you put in, the more it’s pushed down.

The JOEMEEK compressor doesn’t work this way. As volume increases at the input, a point is reached where the compressor starts to work and the gain through the amplifier is reduced. If the input level keeps rising, gradually the gain reduction becomes less effective and the amplifier goes back to being a linear amplifier except with the volume turned down.

This is by design, and is based on an understanding of how the human ear behaves! The result is that the listener is fooled into thinking that the JOEMEEK compressed sound is louder than it really is—but without the strange psycho-acoustic effect of “deadness” that other compressors suffer from.

Attack and Release Times

It may be difficult to understand the interactions between the Attack and Release controls, because the JOEMEEK Compressor behaves very differently than typical compressors. Experimentation is the best option, but an explanation may help you understand what’s going on.

The JOEMEEK Compressor uses a compound release circuit that reacts quickly to short bursts of volume, and less quickly to sustained volume. While the unit was being prototyped and designed, the values and ranges of these timings were chosen by experimentation using wide ranges of program material.

Because of these intentional effects produced by the compressor, the JOEMEEK makes a perfect tool for general enhancement of tracks to “brighten,” “tighten,” “clarify,” and catch the attention of the listener, functions that are difficult or impossible to achieve with conventional compressor designs.

Overshoot

At fast Attack settings, it is possible to make the JOEMEEK “overshoot” on percussive program material. This means that the compression electronics are driven hard before the light cells respond to the increased level. The cells catch up and overcompress momentarily giving a tiny dip immediately following the start of the note.

To hear it, use a drum track, set Slope to 5, and Attack and Release to Fast. Used sparingly, this effect can contribute to musical drive in your tracks.

Chapter 16: JOEMEEK SC2 Compressor 89

Pinnacle Systems Pro Tools - 11.0 User's Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Chapter 1: Audio Plug-Ins Overview

Plug-In Formats

Avid Audio Plug-Ins

Using Plug-Ins in Pro Tools

Conventions Used in Pro Tools Documentation

About www.avid.com

System Requirements and Compatibility for Plug-Ins

Chapter 2: Installing and Authorizing Avid Paid Plug-Ins

Authorizing Avid Audio Plug-Ins

Removing Plug-Ins

Installing Plug-Ins for Pro Tools

Chapter 3: Adjusting Plug-In Controls

Dragging Plug-In Controls

Editing Control Values

Dragging in Graphic Displays

Adjusting Controls with Fine Resolution

Resetting Controls to Default Values

Part II: EQ Plug-Ins

Chapter 4: EQ III

EQ III Configurations

Adjusting EQ III Controls

EQ III I/O Controls

EQ III EQ Band Controls

1-Band EQ III

7-Band EQ III

Chapter 5: Focusrite D2

D2 Configurations

D2 Controls

Using D2 in Stereo

Chapter 6: JOEMEEK VC5 Meequalizer

JOEMEEK Meequalizer Controls

Chapter 7: Pultec Plug-Ins

Pultec EQP-1A

Pultec EQH-2

Pultec MEQ-5

Pultec Tips and Tricks

Part III: Dynamics Plug-Ins

Chapter 8: BF-2A

BF-2A Controls

Using the BF-2A Side-Chain Filter

BF-2A Tips and Tricks

Chapter 9: BF-3A

BF-3A Controls

BF-3A Tips and Tricks

Chapter 10: BF76

BF76 Controls

BF76 Tips and Tricks

Chapter 11: Channel Strip

Channel Strip Sections and Panes

Channel Strip Input Section

Channel Strip Output Section

Channel Strip FX Chain

Channel Strip Dynamics Section

Channel Strip EQ/Filters Section

Chapter 12: Dynamics III

Dynamics III Common Controls

Compressor/Limiter III

Expander/Gate III

De-Esser III

Dynamics III Side-Chain Input

Chapter 13: Fairchild Plug-Ins

Fairchild 660

Fairchild 670

Chapter 14: Focusrite D3

D3 Compressor

D3 Limiter

D3 Side-Chain Processing

Using D3 in Stereo

D3 Common Controls

D3 Compressor Controls

D3 Limiter Controls

Using the Side-Chain Input in D3

Chapter 15: Impact

Impact Controls

Using the Impact Compressor