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MD3 NATIVE
User Manual
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TC Electronic MD3 NATIVE User Manual

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User Manual
MD3 NATIVE MULTIBAND DYNAMICS
EQ, 3-band Compressor/Expander and True-Peak Limiter Based on the Legendary and Award-Winning System 6000 as a Native DAW Plug-in for Mixing, Mastering and Post-Production
2021-03-12, Rev. 2
2 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
Table of Contents
2.1 Installation on a PC ............................................................. 4
2.2 Installation on a Mac ......................................................... 5
3.1 Activation............................................................................... 5
3.2 Get a Free Demo License ................................................. 5
4.1 Inserting the MD3 NATIVE plug-in in your DAW
project ............................................................................................ 6
4.2 Operating the MD3 NATIVE ............................................ 6
4.3 Signal ow through the algorithm:.............................. 6
5.1 Overv iew ................................................................................ 7
5.2 Main Page .............................................................................. 8
5.3 EQ Page ................................................................................ 10
5.4 Expander Page ................................................................... 12
5.5 Compressor Page..............................................................14
5.6 Output Page ....................................................................... 16
6. Dynamics Processing In-Depth .............................. 18
6.1 Compressor ......................................................................... 18
6.2 Limiter ................................................................................... 19
6.3 Gate/Expander .................................................................. 19
6.4 Modern Mastering, Loudness and True-Peaks ...... 19
7. Presets .......................................................................21
7.1 Factory Presets ................................................................... 21
7.2 User Presets ......................................................................... 21
7.3 Favorite Presets ..................................................................22
7.4 Make Current Preset Default ......................................... 22
7.5 Reveal User Preset Folder in Explorer ........................ 22
8. Software Updates ................................................... 23
9. Specications ...........................................................23
3 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
9. Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized
20. Please keep the environmental aspects of battery
This apparatus may be used in tropical and moderate
Microphones and Coolaudio are trademarks or registered
Important Safety Instructions
Terminals marked with this symbol carry electrical current of sucient magnitude
to constitute risk of electric shock. Use only high-quality professional speaker cables with ¼" TS or twist-locking plugs pre-installed. Allother installation or modication should be performed only by qualiedpersonnel.
This symbol, wherever it appears,
alertsyou to the presence of uninsulated
dangerous voltage inside the enclosure-voltage that may be sucient to constitute a risk ofshock.
This symbol, wherever it appears,
alertsyou to important operating and
maintenance instructions in the accompanying literature. Please read the manual.
Caution
To reduce the risk of electric shock, donot
remove the top cover (or the rear section). No user serviceable parts inside. Refer servicing to qualied personnel.
Caution
To reduce the risk of re or electric shock,
do not expose this appliance to rain and moisture. The apparatus shall not be exposed to dripping or splashing liquids and no objects lled with liquids, suchas vases, shall be placed on the apparatus.
Caution
These service instructions are for use
by qualied service personnel only. Toreduce the risk of electric shock do not perform any servicing other than that contained in the operation instructions. Repairs have to be performed by qualied servicepersonnel.
1. Read these instructions.
2. Keep these instructions.
3. Heed all warnings.
4. Follow all instructions.
5. Do not use this apparatus near water.
6. Clean only with dry cloth.
7. Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in
accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.
8. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including ampliers) that produce heat.
or grounding-type plug. A polarized plug has two blades with one wider than the other. A grounding-type plug has two blades and a third grounding prong. The wide blade or the third prong are provided for your safety. Ifthe provided plug does not t into your outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet.
10. Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the apparatus.
11. Use only attachments/accessories specied by themanufacturer.
12. Use only with the cart, stand, tripod, bracket, or table specied by the manufacturer, orsold with the apparatus. When a cart is used, use caution when moving the cart/apparatus combination to avoid
injury from tip-over.
13. Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time.
14. Refer all servicing to qualied service personnel. Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as power supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has beendropped.
15. The apparatus shall be connected to a MAINS socket outlet with a protective earthing connection.
16. Where the MAINS plug or an appliance coupler is used as the disconnect device, the disconnect device shall remain readily operable.
17. Correct disposal of this product: This symbol indicates that this product must not be disposed of with household waste, according to the WEEE Directive (2012/19/EU) and
your national law. This product should be taken to a collection center licensed for the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). The mishandling of this type of waste could have a possible negative impact on the environment and human health due to potentially hazardous substances that are generally associated with EEE. At the same time, your cooperation in the correct disposal of this product will contribute to the ecient use of natural resources. For more information about where you can take your waste equipment for recycling, please contact your local city oce, or your household waste collection service.
18. Do not install in a conned space, such as a book case or similar unit.
19. Do not place naked ame sources, such as lighted candles, on the apparatus.
disposal in mind. Batteries must be disposed-of at a battery collection point.
21.
climates up to 45°C.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
Music Tribe accepts no liability for any loss which may be suered by any person who relies either wholly or in part upon any description, photograph, or statement contained herein. Technical specications, appearances and other information are subject to change without notice. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Midas, Klark Teknik, Lab Gruppen, Lake, Tannoy, Turbosound, TC Electronic, TC Helicon, Behringer, Bugera, Oberheim, Auratone, Aston
trademarks of Music Tribe Global Brands Ltd. © Music Tribe Global Brands Ltd. 2021 All rights reserved.
LIMITED WARRANTY
For the applicable warranty terms and conditions and additional information regarding Music Tribe’s Limited Warranty, please see complete details online at musictribe.com/warranty.
4 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
1. Introduction
Congratulations on the purchase of your MD3 NATIVE Multiband Dynamics Processor.
Originally launched in 1999 and available in Music, Mastering, Broadcast and Film variants, TC Electronic's Flagship System 6000 processor is recognized as an industry standard for mix, mastering and post-production applications. You will nd System 6000 in literally thousands of world-leading recording, lm, post and mastering studios all over the world, and in quite a few OB vans and broadcast production studios as well. The platform has won no less than three of the prestigious TEC Awards over the years: in 2000 for the original System 6000, in 2005 for Mastering 6000 and in 2010 for System 6000 MKII. No longer the preserve of the recording elite, these native DAW plugins will deliver all of the performance of the iconic original unit combined with modern day convenience.
TC Electronic set about re-imagining the legendary System 6000 as native DAW plug-ins without sacricing any performance, character or useability. The Danish engineers, including many from the original System 6000 team, rened audio quality whilst staying faithful to the original hardware version. The development team fastidiously re-engineered these new native plug-ins to oer full support for standard DAW automation and project recall with new optimized user interface ergonomics.
MD3 NATIVE Main Features
• Four band Parametric EQ (Dual Mono capability)
• Normalizer with softclipper
• Full featured Three band Exp/Comp
• MS Encode/Decode for operating EQ and Exp/Comp in Mid/Side mode
• Updated True-Peak BrickWall Limiter with legacy sample peak option
If you still have questions about your TC Electronic product after reading its manual, please get in touch with TC Suppor t:
www.tcelectronic.com/brand/tcelectronic/support
2. Plug-in Installation
The MD3 NATIVE plug-in installer can be downloaded from the following page:
https://www.tcelectronic.com/p/P0ED5
The MD3 NATIVE plug-in requires an active PACE iLok license to work. See Chapter 3 for more details.
Save the installer le (.pkg or .msi le) in a convenient location on your hard drive.
2.1 Installation on a PC
Double click the installer (.msi le). If you get a security warning, click ‘Run’.
The MD3 algorithm is a renement of our legendary MD2 dynamics algorithm from the award-winning M5000 eects processor. The MD3 NATIVE plug-in is tailor-made for music production in all forms. It uses a multi-band, high­resolution oating-point structure, and features high-denition 4-band EQ, 3-band compressor/expander, soft clipping and a newly-designed transparent peak/true-peak limiter.
The MD3 NATIVE parametric equalizer features a natural and well-dened band­width behavior at all gain and width settings, making it suitable for surgical as well as broad spectral adjustments. MD3 features four bands, switchable between Notch, Parametric, Shelving and Cut Filters.
MD3 NATIVE is known for its musical and dynamic behavior. The multi-band section features full dynamics control of each of the 3 bands, with or without automatic makeup gain, and with ability to choose compression of RMS, Peak or anything in between. Further, it gives you the advantage of adjustable look­ahead delay for gentle processing of transients, while the limiter lets you use its own overshoot-proof micro-delay to prevent output samples above the either peak or True-Peak dened threshold.
MD3 NATIVE operates in stereo and true mid/side processing with rare artifact­free split and recombination crossover lter banks and includes EQ unlinking. MD3 NATIVE is the perfect tool for use for a wide variety of content material, ideal for single sources, buses and master mixes.
TC Electronic wish you all the best, and hope that you will enjoy using the MD3 NATIVE in your audio projects.
Accept the license agreement and click ‘Next’.
Select which VST and/or AAX components you want to install. Pro Tools uses AAX and most other DAW programs use VST. The installer will oer a default location to save the le, but you can choose another location by clicking the ‘Browse’ button.
About this manual
Read this manual to learn how to install and use your TC Electronic MD3 NATIVE plug-in. This manual is only available in PDF format from the TC Electronic website. To get the most from this manual, please read it from start to nish, or you may miss important information.
To download the most current version of this manual, visit the web page:
www.tcelectronic.com/Categories/c/Tcelectronic/Downloads
Click ‘Next ’ to begin the installation. When installation is complete, click ‘Finish’.
5 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
Note: If your DAW fails to detect the newly installed plugin, this can often be xed by adding the following paths to the Plug-in Manager (or similar) of the DAW. The default paths on a PC are "C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST2" and "C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3" for VST2 and VST3, respectively.
2.2 Installation on a Mac
Double click the installer (.pkg) le.
Proceed through the prompts to begin installation.
3. Activate the MD3 NATIVE iLok license
3.1 Activation
Step 1: Install iLok
The rst step is to create an iLok user account at www.iLok.com and install the PACE iLok License Manager on your computer if it’s your rst time using iLok.
Step 2: Activation
In the received mail when buying the MD3 NATIVE, you will nd your personal Activation Code. To activate your software, please use the "Redeem an Activation Code" feature in the PACE iLok License Manager.
Click ‘Continue.'
A default location will be selected for installation, or you can select another folder manually. If you have administrator authorization in place, you will need to enter your password before beginning installation.
3.2 Get a Free Demo License
Make use of this hassle-free oer to try out our plug-ins before you buy.
• 14-Day Trial Period
• Fully Functional
• No Feature Limitations
• No Physical iLok Key Needed
Step 1: Install iLok
The rst step is to create a free iLok user account at www.iLok.com and install the PACE iLok License Manager on your computer if it is your rst time using iLok.
Step 2: Get your free trial license
Go to:
https://www.tcelectronic.com/brand/tcelectronic/free-trial-md3-native
and enter your iLok User ID.
Step 3: Activation
Activate your software in the PACE iLok License Manager.
Click 'Close' when done.
6 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
4. Connection and Setup
4.1 Inserting the MD3 NATIVE plug-in in your DAW project
Once you have downloaded the plug-in, you can now apply it to a channel in your DAW to begin using the eect. This process may vary slightly depending on your software, but generally should require these steps:
• Select a channel or bus in your DAW to which you would like to add the eec t. Access the mixer page where you should see a section dedicated to eect slots.
• Open the menu where you can select from a list of eect types, which probably includes many stock plug-ins that are included with the DAW. There should be submenu to view general VST/AU/AAX options.
• The plug-in will likely be found in a dedicated TC Electronic folder. Select the MD3 NATIVE and it will now be added to the signal chain.
Double click on the eect slot that contains MD3 NATIVE to view the plug-in UI.
4.2 Operating the MD3 NATIVE
After you have installed the plug-in, and activated the iLok license, you can begin working with the plug-in on your tracks.
Adjustments to the eect are done using the plug-in user interface:
4.2.3 Bypass
Press the BYPASS button at the top to bypass or engage the MD3 NATIVE.
4.2.4 Automation
Please be aware that automation of cer tain parameters, can cause audible artifacts.
In case you need to automate these parameters, you should take care that changes only take place in parts where no audio is sent to the plug-in.
4.2.5 Parameter Overview
The MD3 NATIVE is a 3-band 2-Channel Dynamics processing algorithm. The algorithm contains:
• • Stereo four band precision EQ (linked, left/right, or mid/side operation)
• • Stereo 3-band compression/expansion (stereo or mid/side operation)
• • The MD3 NATIVE will run at sample rates up to 192kHz
4.3 Signal ow through the algorithm:
NORMALIZER
GAIN
EXP/COMP
Most DAWs oer the ability to move or drag plug-ins from one track/bus to another, and MD3 NATIVE supports this as well.
Most DAWs also feature an on/o switch for plug-ins, accessible inside the plug-in window and/or the track itself.
Note that some DAWs don’t oer smooth on/o switching. Use the Global Bypass button on the MD3 HD plug-in inter face for a smooth and latency-compensated bypass.
4.2 .1 Insert vs Aux Eect
The MD3 NATIVE is intended for insertion directly into an eect slot on a single channel, sub mix bus or master bus, which passes the entire signal through the eect.
Be careful if using MD3 NATIVE on an auxiliary bus, as mixing the output of MD3 NATIVE with the original track sound will potentially create a phasing issue depending on your DAW's ability to correc tly compensate for latency in plug-ins.
MS ENCODER
EQ
TRIM GAIN L/R
NORMALIZER
SOFT CLIPPER
MS DECODER
SOFT CLIPPER
LIMITER
OUT GAIN
4.2.2 Mono/Stereo Operation
The MD3 NATIVE can be used both as a mono instance on mono tracks and a stereo instance on stereo tracks.
In the case of a mono out instance, the output signal is made by outputting the left plug-in channel only. In this case, panning should not be used.
7 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
Global Bypass
5. User Interface
5.1 Overview
There are ve tabs along the left edge of the interface, that bring up various pages of controls. As a general note, the parameters, controls, and graphs are color-coded as shown below:
The top part of the display:
• • Bypass: Press this to bypass or engage the MD3 NATIVE. This makes it
easy for you to listen and compare the overall eect of your awesome work.
• • The EQ, expander, compressor, and limiter can be individually bypassed
using the ON button in each of their control pages
Tabs on the Left
• • Main: This brings up controls for the normalizer gain and soft clip, trim
gain left, right (purple), and controls (yellow) for initial setup of the compressor and expander
• • EQ: The parametric equalizer, with controls for adjusting the frequency,
gain, EQ type, low and high cut, EQ bypass. The color coding is as follows: Low (red), low mid (yellow), high mid (green), and high (blue)
• • Expander: Controls (purple) for expander threshold, range, ratio, attack,
and release
• • Compressor: Controls (yellow) for compressor threshold, range, ratio,
attack, and release, with compressor bypass
Meters
• • Gain reduction meters for compressor and expander: these show the
low, mid, and high for left/mid and right/side. The range (+/- 18 dB) can be changed (+/- 9 dB) using the G/R Zoom button in the expander and compressor pages
• • Input L/R meters (0 to -60 dB range with peak indication)
• • Output L/R meter (0 to -60 dB range with peak indication and limiter
action)
• • Use the input and output gain/trim controls in the MAIN and OUTPUT
pages to adjust the levels if required.
Near the Bottom
• • Assign Focus Fields: You can place your own favorite set of parameters in
the 6 focus elds. (See section 5.2.1 for more details)
• • The EQ, expander, and compressor (see the following pages), each
have a horizontal row of parameters just below their controls, such as threshold, gain, etc. If you click on any of these, the parameters are shown in this focus elds area for low, mid, high, and All. Click again to return the focus elds to your assigned elds.
Along the Bottom Lef t
• • Preset number, preset name, factory or user, favorite, preset up/down
Along the Bottom Middle:
• • Tool Tips shows useful information about the current selection
• • Output: Limiter controls (purple) for gain, soft clip threshold, threshold,
ceiling, release, and mode, with limiter bypass. Output controls (yellow) for output gain, balance, compare enable, and compare gain
Controls
• • Any of the circular controls can be adjusted either by dragging on the
dials or numeric value in the box, or by double-clicking and entering a numeric value.
Main Tab
Normalizer
EQ Tab
Expander/Compressor Setup Controls
Expander
Compressor
Output
and Limiter
Bottom Right Corner:
• • Setup
• • Shopping cart
• • User Interface size adjustment
The controls and features are described in more detail in the following pages.
Input Controls
Gain Reduction Meters Left/Mid Right/Side
Low Mid High
Input Meter L/R
Output Meter L/R
Assign
Focus Fields
Preset Up/Down Preset Name Preset Type
Preset Number Preset Favorite
Tool Tips Window
Setup and
Cart
Focus Fields 1-6
Window Size
Adjustment
8 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
5.2 Main Page
Input (purple controls)
Normalizer Gain
Range: -18 to +18 dB in 0.1 dB steps
The Normalizer Gain is the rst gain stage in the plugin, used to adjust the overall level of the input signal.
Norm Soft Clip
Range: +5 dB; O
The Soft clipper is placed between the Trim Gain and Exp/Comp section. By enabling the Soft clipper you are able to reduce potential overshoots relative to 0dBFS.
Trim Gain (L/R or M/S)
Range: -12 to +12 dB in 0.1 dB steps
Trim the gain level for the two input channels to the Exp/Comp section.
When using the EQ section, the gain might have been increased or decreased. The Trim Gains are used to optimize the gain before hitting the Expander/Compressor section.
Expander/Compressor Setup (yellow controls)
Conguration
Options: Stereo, Mid/Side
Stereo
In Stereo Mode, the Expander/Compressor section of the algorithm uses by default one common Sidechain for both Left and Right channels, and the EQ section is linked. It can be unlinked.
Mid/Side (MS)
In this mode, the MS encoder is activated. The Expander/Compressor section of the algorithm uses Sidechains as follows:
• • When DYN LINK is enabled there is only one Sidechain.
• • When DYN LINK is disabled there is a separate Sidechain for the Mid and
Side channel.
EQ can be linked or unlinked.
In Mid/Side mode, the left meter shows the Mid channel, and the right meter shows the Side channel.
NOTE : When a mono signal is processed, only the left channel of the algorithm is active
DC Block
Range: O, On
The DC block is a Low Cut lter at 2 Hz which is used to remove potential DC noise.
Detector Crest
Range: Peak, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20, 24, RMS
Select the Sidechain level detection method of the compressor between RMS and PEAK for all three bands. The dB steps between RMS and Peak are the number of dBs needed for a peak-value to override the RMS measurement, and can be perceived as a Threshold setting.
Example:
If the Crest parameter is set to 6dB, the Compressor will respond to RMS values and to peaks 6dB higher than the current RMS value.
In Stereo mode, the gain reduction meters show the left and right channels.
9 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
Auto Makeup Gain
Options: O, On
Switches the Automatic Make-up gain on or o for the Compressor bands. When set to ON, the gain for each band is adjusted according to the Threshold and Ratio settings. When set to OFF, no automatic gain adjustments are per formed.
Reference Level
Range: -24dBFS to 0dBFS in 0.5dB steps
This parameter sets the reference level in the algorithm.
The reference level is the level at which the Compressor Threshold parameters will start operating when set to 0 dB.
The setting of the reference revel also aects the band gains applied using the Auto Makeup feature. It can be benecial, for example, in order to keep “unity gain,” to set the reference level close to the RMS level you are aiming for and from then on use the Threshold parameter to set the amount of compression.
Look-ahead Delay
Range: 0 to 15ms
<2ms in 0.1ms steps
>2ms in 0.5 ms steps
Sets the look ahead Delay of the signal compared to the Sidechain signal. This enables the compressor section to become more responsive to the incoming signal, thereby performing a more precise compression.
5. 2.1 Focus Fields
Each of the six Focus Fields along the bottom can be assigned to any of the available controls. These useful assignments remain visible when you switch to dierent pages. For example, you can adjust the Compressor Ratio while you are on the Expander page.
Click on the Pin Icon inside the ASSIGN but ton, and the Assigned Focus Fields will remain when presets are changed. The numeric values within the Focus Fields will change to the new preset values.
In the example below, Focus Field 1 has become Trim Gain Left by dragging the control down and releasing it over the Focus Field 1 button. It will stay like this, even when you move to the COM page or Expander page.
In the Expander, Compressor, and EQ pages, the Focus Fields will show other parameters if any of the buttons are selected in the lower area of each page. For example, here are the Focus Fields when GAIN has been selected in the row of buttons below the EQ graph. To return to your assigned Focus Fields, deselect GAIN by pressing it again.
Click on ASSIGN in the lower left, and you will notice that the control knobs will become blank. (This is a good reminder that you are in ASSIGN mode.) Click and drag any of the controls and drop it down onto the desired Focus Field 1 to 6. You can also click the desired focus eld and then click the control to assign to it. When nished assigning, select the ASSIGN button again.
10 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
5.3 EQ Page
Introduction
This page features a 4-band parametric EQ, switchable between Notch and Parametric lters. The Low and High bands can also be changed to Low/High Cut or Low/High Shelving.
• • The needle-sharp notch lter has a range down to 0.02 octave
• • The parametric equalizer features a natural and well dened bandwidth
behavior at all gain and width set tings
• • The shelving lters have a variable slope, with options of 3, 6, 9, and
12 dB/oc t
• • The low-cut and high-cut lters are switchable bet ween 12 dB/oct
maximum at amplitude (Butterworth) or at group delay (Bessel) types
Basic Operation
• • Press the colored but tons Low, Lo Mid, Hi Mid, and High at the top of the
graph, to activate/deactivate the EQ bands. Alternatively, double-click on the colored handles in the graph
• • Click and drag left/right the colored handles in the graph to adjust the
frequency and drag them up/down to adjust the gain. Use CTRL+Drag (or CMD+Drag on a Mac) to change the bandwidth
• • Press the ON button at the graph's top right, to bypass all bands
• • Below the graph, select Freq, Gain, Type or Lo/Hi to access all four
parameters on individual bands.
• • Press FREQ again, and the Focus Fields will return to their assigned elds
• • Select GAIN, and the Focus Fields show the gain in dB for each band.
Adjust the values in the Focus Fields as desired
• • Select LOW, and the frequency, gain, and type of the Low and Low Mid
bands are shown. Adjust the values in the Focus Fields as desired
• • Select HIGH, and the freqency, gain, and type of the High Mid and High
bands are shown. Adjust the values in the Focus Fields as desired
• • For example, if you press the FREQ button, the Focus Field below it
shows the frequency in Hz of all bands.
• • Click and drag the value in the Focus Field to adjust it, or double-click on
the value and manually enter a valid value
11 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
Type /BW Selector
• • Select TYPE/BW and use the 4 Focus Fields to select lter types and vary
the parameters. Click and drag on the numeric value to scroll through the types and their available values
• • Low and High lter options: Notch, Parametric, Shelve, and Cut
• • Low Mid and High Mid lters options: Parametric and Notch
• • Typical graphs of the dierent lter types are shown below:
Parametric Filter - Broad type
Notch Filter - Narrow Type
• • Bandwidth Range: 0.02 octave to 1 octave
• • Frequency Range: 20 Hz to 20 kHz
• • Gain Range 0 dB to -100 dB
Cut Filter - Bessel type
• • Bandwidth Range: 0.1 octave to 4 octave
• • Frequency Range: 20 Hz to 20 kHz
• • Gain Range -12 dB to +12 dB
Shelving Filter
• • Bandwidth Range 3, 6, 9, or 12 dB/octave
• • Frequency Range: 20 Hz to 20 kHz
• • Frequency Range: 20 Hz to 20 kHz
Cut Filter - Butterworth type
• • Frequency Range: 20 Hz to 20 kHz
• • Gain Range -12 dB to +12 dB
12 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
5.4 Expander Page
Stereo or Mid/Side
The conguration control in the MAIN page allows you to select Stereo or MID/ SIDE for the expander and compressor setup (as well as the EQ, Trim Gains and Normalizer Soft Clip).
Stereo Conguration
Mid/Side (MS) Conguration
Stereo Operation
If Stereo conguration is selected in the MAIN page, then the top section of the Expander page shows STEREO, and the gain reduction meters are shown as LEFT and RIGHT.
If Mid/Side conguration is selected in the MAIN page, then the top sec tion of the Expander page shows STEREO initially, and the gain reduction meters are shown as MID and SIDE. The DYN LINK selection allows the expander and compressor controls to be linked between the stereo and mid/side.
13 MD3 NATIVE User Manual
Turn o DYN LINK to allow separate expander control of the Mid and Side . The Expander controls aect the Mid (initially) and Side instead of Stereo. Note that an "M" appears in the controls as a reminder they are for the Mid.
Select SIDE, and the Expander controls will aect the Side instead of MID. An "S" appears in the controls, to show they are for the Side.
If at any time you want the SIDE control set tings to be the same as the MID settings, press the COPY button. (It will not copy from SIDE to MID).
X Over
The expander and compressor operate in three bands, using a low crossover and a high crossover. The Gain Reduction meters show these three bands: L, M, and H.
Select X OVER along the bottom, and the Lo Xover and Hi Xover frequencies can be viewed and adjusted by clicking and dragging in the rst 2 Focus Fields. Note that any changes you make here will also aect the compressor, as it uses the same crossovers.
The two crossover frequencies can be set to OFF (turned all the way down) in order to run MD3 NATIVE as a two band or full band compressor/expander.
The example below shows THRESH. selected, and the separate threshold values in the Focus Field displayed for each band, and the "Exp All" parameter in the 4th Field.
The Mid Band value follows the Exp All value. If you vary Exp All then all three bands will change, but maintaining the same relative levels to each other.
Note that an "M" appears in the controls if they are for the Mid.
Note that an "S" appears in the controls if they are for the Side.
Threshold
Range: -50dB to 0dB (in 0.5dB steps)
When the signal drops below the set Threshold, the Expander is activated.
Range
Range: -40dB to 0dB (in 0.5dB steps)
The Range parameter sets the Max attenuation relative to the Ref level setting (see Main page). Example: With a Ref Level setting of -6 dB and Range set to -10 the max attenuation can be -16dB.
Ratio
Controls
Use the rotary control knobs to adjust the overall Threshold, Range, Ratio, Attack and Release. The knob values correspond to the EXP ALL value shown in the 4th Focus Field mentioned below.
If you select Threshold, Range, Ratio, Attack or Release buttons, then the Focus Fields will show the Exp Lo, Exp Mid, Exp Hi, and Exp All values for the selected parameter. This allows you to adjust the expander parameters for the low, mid, and high bands. Adjusting the Exp All value adjusts the value of all three bands. However the Exp Mid value only adjusts itself and the Exp All value.
Range: O to Innity
The Ratio of the Gain Reduction.
Example: If the signal drops 1 dB below the Threshold with a Ratio set to 1:3 the actual attenuation will be 3 dB.
Attack
Range: 0.3 to 100 ms (Exponential)
The Attack time is the time the Expander uses to release its gain reduction when the Input signal rises above the set Threshold.
Release
Range: 20ms to 7 sec. (Exponential)
The Release time is the time the Expander uses to achieve the attenuation specied by the Ratio parameter when the signal drops below the set Threshold point.
G/R Meter Zoom
Press to zoom in on the range of the Gain Reduction meters, from +/- 18 dB to +/- 9 dB
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5.5 Compressor Page
Stereo or Mid/Side
The conguration control in the MAIN page allows you to select Stereo or MID/ SIDE for the expander and compressor setup (as well as the EQ, Trim Gains and Normalizer Soft Clip).
Stereo Conguration
Mid/Side (MS) Conguration
Stereo Operation
If Stereo conguration is selected in the MAIN page, then the top section of the Compressor page shows STEREO, and the gain reduction meters are shown as LEFT and RIGHT.
If Mid/Side conguration is selected in the MAIN page, then the top sec tion of the Compressor page shows STEREO initially, and the gain reduction meters are shown as MID and SIDE. The DYN LINK selection allows the expander and compressor controls to be linked between the stereo and mid/side.
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Turn o DYN LINK to allow separate expander and compressor control of the Mid and Side. For MID, an "M" appears in each of the controls.
Select SIDE, and the Compressor controls will aect the Side instead of MID. An "S" appears in each of the controls.
If at any time you want the SIDE control set tings to be the same as the MID settings, press the COPY button. (It will not copy from SIDE to MID).
X Over
The expander and compressors operate in three bands, using a low crossover and a high crossover. The Gain Reduction meters show these three bands: L, M, and H.
Select X OVER and the Lo Xover and Hi Xover frequencies can be viewed and adjusted in the rst 2 Focus Fields. Note that any changes you make here will also aect the expander, as it uses the same crossover.
The two crossover frequencies can be set to OFF (turn all the way down) in order to run MD3 NATIVE as a two band or full band compressor/expander.
The Mid Band value follows the Com All value, and is the same value as the rotary knob. If you vary Com All then all three bands will change, but keeping in the same relative levels from each other.
Note that an "M" appears in the controls if they are for the Mid.
Note that an "S" appears in the controls if they are for the Side.
Threshold
Range: -25dB to 20dB (in 0.5dB steps)
Relative to the Ref.Level setting (Main page).
When the Input signal exceeds the Threshold value, the Compressor star ts to reduce the dynamic content of the signal according to the set Ratio.
Ratio
Range: O to Innity
Controls
Use the rotary Compressor control knobs to adjust the overall Threshold, Range, Ratio, Attack and Release. The knob values correspond to the Comp All values you will see in the 4th Focus Field shown below.
If you select from the row of Threshold, Range, Ratio, Attack and Release buttons, then the Focus Fields will show the Com Lo, Com Mid, Com Hi and Com All values for the selected parameter. This allows you to adjust the compressor parameters for the low, mid, and high bands. Adjusting the Com All value in the 4th Focus Feild adjusts the value of all three bands. However, the Com Mid value only adjusts itself and the Com All value.
The example below shows RATIO selected, showing the separate ratio values in the Focus Fields for each band, and the "Com All" parameter in the 4th Field. In this example, the Lo band ratio is 3.20:1 and the Mid and Hi are 2.00:1.
Species the Ratio of the performed compression.
Example: With a Ratio setting of 2:1 the compressor will reduce every 2dB above the Threshold point to only 1dB.
Makeup Gain
Range: -12dB to 12dB in 0.5dB steps.
Manual Makeup-gain for each compression band.
Where the Auto Gain control in the Main page compensates for the total gain reduction caused by the Compressor, the Gain controls in the Compressor page are used as additional gain controls on the individual bands.
Attack
Range: 0.3 to 100ms
The Attack time is the time the Compressor uses to reach the gain reduction specied by the Ratio parameter.
Example: If the Input signal increases by 4dB above the set Threshold, with a Ratio set to 2:1 and the Attack time is set to 20ms, then the Compressor will use 20ms to reach a Gain reduction of 2dB.
Release
Range: 20ms to 7s
The fallback time. This is the time it takes for the Compressor to release the attenuation of the signal.
G/R Meter Zoom
Press to zoom in on the range of the Gain Reduction meters, from +/- 18 dB to +/- 9 dB
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5.6 Output Page
The Limiter
The limiter cannot prevent destruction of dynamic range from happening at earlier stages in the production process, but it can get rid of the signals we know are going to get distor ted in consumer CD players, radio processors or data reduction codecs.
The limiter operates with extended precision in both level and time. Double­precision calculations are always used.
The Limiter employs adaptive time constants to combat distortion at low frequencies, while maintaining quick adoption to occasional peaks.
Limiter Gain
Range: -12 dB to +12 dB in 0.1 dB steps
The Limiter Gain is used to control the output loudness (sits between the compressor and the limiter soft clipper)
Limiter Soft Clip
Range: -6 dB to 0 dB in 1 dB steps; +3 dB; o.
Soft clipper threshold (sits after the Limiter Gain).
The softclip threshold is relative to 0 dBFS - not to the Ref Level.
Limiter Threshold
Threshold is relative to 0 dBFS - not to the Ref Level.
Range: -12 to 0 dB in 0.1 dB increments, OFF
Limiter Release
Range: 10 ms to 1 second, in 10 ms steps
Release time for the Limiter.
If quick recovery and loudness is important, move the Release setting in the Fast direction. Processing of very sensitive material might sound better with the Release settings in the Slow direction.
Limiter Ceiling
Range: 0 to -2 dB in 0.1 dB steps.
This ne-tuning parameter is used to set the Ceiling for the Limiter.
Limiter Mode
Options: Sample or True Peak
We recommend using the limiter in True Peak mode, for hyper precision in limiter timing. True Peak is required from standards when delivering for modern music streaming services, web and TV.
However, if you wish to just limit the signal based on sample by sample values like a normal digital limiter, then select Sample mode.
ON
Press to engage/bypass the Limiter section.
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Output Gain
Range: O to 0dB (<-40dB: in 3dB steps, >-40 in 0.5dB steps)
Output level adjustment for both channels.
Output Balance
Range: 6 dB Left to 6 dB Right in 0.1 dB steps
Changes the Output balance between the Left and Right channel.
Compare Enable
Click to activate the compare function, and tactivate these controls. Due to the dierence in level, "in-circuit" and "out-of-circuit" comparisons are often dicult to make using the BYPASS key. Use the Compare Gain parameter to compensate.
Compare Gain
Range: -20 to 0 dB in 0.1 dB steps
Processing with MD3 NATIVE will most often also mean raising the level of the signal.
To make a realistic comparison of processed and unprocessed signal, it is important to compare at equal levels. Use the Compare level to set a level for the processed signal.
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6. Dynamics Processing In-Depth
After the Normalizer Gain, the signal is gently split into 3 overlapping bands ­the low, mid, and high frequencies. It will then compress each band somewhat independently. Thereby, for example, a powerful kick-drum will not modulate the processing of the lead vocals. After compressing/expanding, the 3 bands are combined again.
6.1 Compressor
The very basis of compression can be reduced to "controlling the dynamic content" of an audio signal. This basically means turning down the loudest parts of the source material and raising the volume of the parts with low level content. But how this is done, and how this is applied in audio production, is slightly more elaborate.
Keep an eye on the illustration below and let us look at the basic compression parameters:
Examples of Compressor Threshold, Ratio, Curve, and Factor
Let us look into setting the Threshold and Ratio. In many cases, you would use a low threshold, in combination with a small ratio and vice-versa. Let us choose a low threshold of -23 dB and a small compression ratio of 2.5:1.
We have now set the compressor – but with identical settings for all three bands. With identical settings, we are not taking full advantage of the multiband capabilities.
This is where the individual band controls come in. Click on the Threshold control and the Focus Fields will change to show the threshold values for Low, Mid, and High, and All. The controls allow you to create dierent settings for each of the three bands. Click the control again to return to the Assigned Focus Fields.
Threshold
The Threshold parameter sets the limit where the compressor kicks-in/ releases its grip of the signal. As soon as the level is above the set threshold the compressor is active. When below - it is not.
Ratio
The Ratio sets the amount of gain reduction applied when the signal exceeds the threshold. In the illustration above, the Ratio is the steepness of the curve after the compressor threshold.
Attack
The Attack time is the time it takes for the compressor to reach the compression amount specied by the set ratio.
Release
The Release time is the time it takes for the compressor to release the signal after the input signal is below the threshold point again. How each of these parameters are set is very important, and only the correct combination gives the desired result.
Examples of Attack, Release and Crossover frequencies
Let us look into how to set the Attack and Release Times.
We start with small values for both parameters. If the attack time is too short, we may remove some nice transients or “kick” from the material. This may not be what we want, so we could try a greater value instead. Heavy peaks can be smoothed using the limiter section.
If the release-time is too fast, it may result in a “pumping” eect, because the compressor returns to the uncompressed signal immediately whenever the signal falls below the compressor’s threshold setting. If so, we could increase the value of the release time until we are satised with the result.
You could start with an Attack time of 1ms and a Release time of 0.2 s.
If you do not get the desired result, you could also try some dierent crossover frequencies. Keep in mind that you have three independent bands – why should a bass drum signal aect the mid and high bands when its peak is in the low end? You could start out by using 125 Hz and 2.5 kHz if applied on drums, or 315 Hz and
3.15 kHz if applied on a full range mix.
Note: Sometimes it is easier to adjust the Attack and Release times and the Crossover frequencies by using extreme values for Threshold and Ratio during setup. This will make the eec t of your settings much easier to hear.
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6.2 Limiter
The Limiter is actually yet another compressor. It uses a very fast attack time and has a ratio of 1 to innity. But why is the Limiter necessary?
For the compressor to be used as a musical tool, the set attack times are relatively long (from 1 to 100 ms). This gives the disadvantage that certain peaks can pass. Therefore a limiter with an attack time of as little as 0.1 ms and a ratio of 1 to innity prevents nearly all overshoots.
You may want to use the Limiter carefully, as a limiter is always a somewhat “drastic” tool to apply to your audio. If on a full mix, just a couple of dB should be enough to limit strong peaks. If on a channel, feel free to sculpt your sound but beware that the more compressed and limited it is, then the less “life” and more “ear-fatiguing” it will most likely sound.
As an example, you could chose a threshold of -6 dB. The release time could be set to a value that could avoid unwanted pumping (0.3 s).
6.3 Gate/Expander
By compressing the signal, we made it sound louder due to the auto make-up gain in the compressor (set in the Main page). An unwanted side eect is that the ground oor level is also brought up. The noise will be most evident in the pauses.
Noise, whether it is hiss, hum or just background noise, is always a parameter to evaluate and deal with. Initially, noise must of course be reduced to a minimum from the source, but with a Gate/expander it is also possible to reduce the noise on channels when no signicant signal is present.
A Gate - or downward expander, - is used to attenuate the signal when the signal is below a certain threshold. When talking about attack and release times in reference to a noise gate: - the attack time is the time is takes for the gate to "open" when the signal rises above the threshold and the release time is the time it takes for the gate to reach the specied attenuation.
Use the Expander carefully. The modulated noise, due to the Expander shifting between opening up and reducing the noise, of the ground oor level is much more audible than a higher ground oor level without such modulation.
The Expander’s threshold must be lower than the compressor’s threshold. If you raise it too much, you might cut into low parts of the signal, such as reverb tails.
The Expander’s Ratio parameter determines the width of the level range.
Note: The Attack time is a critical parameter for an expander. A short Attack time will be suitable for transient content like drums, but may create audible artefacts if applied to less-transient content like drone synth sounds.
Note: A rather seamless way to reduce noise by using a gate or expander, is to turn down the treble, then the mids and then the bass.
6.4 Modern Mastering, Loudness and True­Peaks
The MD3 NATIVE is a multi-band dynamics-multi-tool, highly suitable for the mastering process, with many ways to make your mix sound better, but if not used wisely, there are many ways of making it sound worse!
There is a risk of becoming speed-blind in the tuning process, and at rst prefer an over-compressed and loud-sounding track. This is a situation that can be avoided by:
The Expander is one possible cure for this, as it will reduce audible noise when applied to vocal tracks, for example.
• • Knowing your music genre deeply
• • Using relevant reference tracks for comparison
• • Ensuring calibrated monitoring levels
• • Using an optimized monitoring environment
The resulting Loudness and Dynamic Compression are two of the most important properties of a track, adjusted nally in mastering. These two properties can be regarded as counterparts to each other. In other words, it is important to:
• • Decide how loud your tracks should be
• • Design the dynamic prole of your music
Due to the xed 0 dBFS ceiling in digital audio, louder tracks have less dynamics, and “weaker” tracks will potentially have more dynamics.
We recommend that you do not hyper-compress and limit your tracks to the extreme in the mastering process, in order to achieve a loud track. If you overdo it, it will potentially reduce the audio quality of your work. And often, there is even a penalty in playback stages so your loud track may end up sounding weaker, rather than louder.
6.4.1 Loudness
The Loudness approach to music mastering is based upon similar methods introduced more than a decade ago by the industry producing audio for TV.
Loudness measures how loud we actually hear audio, which is dierent from “level” PPM meters that look at transients only. The Loudness method includes K-ltering that emulates human hearing, where bass aects the perceived loudness level less, and where frequencies from approximately 2 kHz and up aect the perceived loudness level more.
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Loudness is a modern, but still well-rehearsed reference method, which is standardized in BS-1770, and many music streaming services refer to this standard, or similar proprietary methods.
Loudness is measured on the LUFS metering scale. LUFS stands for "Loudness Units Full Scale." The scale does not measure sound as a dB meter or a VU meter would. Rather, it accounts for how the human ear (and brain) perceives the loudness of a track. That is also why there is only one loudness value or level, instead of one per channel.
Loudness examples: Some Streaming Services will aim for -16 LUFS loudness when they play back music tracks with “Sound Check” enabled. The AES community recommend streaming music between -20 and -16 LUFS. Often you will see songs that measure -14, -12, -10 or even -8 LUFS and it will vary for example by music genre.
6.4.2 True Peak
Often, there can be small peaks of sound in-between digital samples, intersample peaks, that go undetected in most digital tools. Where traditional peak meters and conventional peak limiters fail to read these true peaks of sound, a True Peak meter will provide the mastering engineer with the actual reading.
Without a True-Peak Limiter, a mastered track could go into digital clipping when converted to a lossy format like MP3 or AAC or when being Digital-to-Analog converted in normal playback systems. This can happen, even if no distortion is heard when monitoring the nal master.
that aligns the loudness of the songs in the library. And if that happens, your very loud song may well end up sounding much less impressive than the competition!
6.4.4 Compress-O-Meter - Master Analyser
TC Electronic has launched a free on-line service at the following address:
https://nalizer.com/analyzer
This analyzer can help you investigate and decide the suitable loudness level and amount of dynamics processing for your music, when you compare it to your preferred reference tracks, or pre-analyzed giant hits through the history.
A central part of this service is the Compress-O-Meter:
Although it doesn't have a True-Peak meter, the MD3 Limiter can be set to True­Peak mode, which ensures that there are no intersample peaks above the level that the limiter threshold is set to. Set the parameter "Limiter Mode" to True Peak to activate this. Be aware that further processing af ter the MD3 might introduce intersample peaks again.
6.4.3 Beware of The Loudness Wars
An important note on loudness, is that there has been a trend in mastering toward making songs appear louder and louder. Since you can never exceed the 0dBFS digital ceiling, applying a brickwall Limiter at the nal stage, the result often has been to apply very aggressive settings on dynamics tools such as multiband compressors, so-called ‘loudness optimizers’, as well as the nal Brickwall Limiter itself. This phenomenon has been referred to as ‘The Loudness Wa rs ’.
This escalated because we naturally perceive a louder version of a song to be better than a sof ter version, when you compare them directly. Another cause is that record industry people would compare an ‘airplay’ version of one track to a newly mastered CD track, where the former tended to sound louder and fatter due to FM broadcast processing – leading to a request to make the master louder, with more cowbell. Well, the ‘wars’ may have peaked, but it is still something that you should be aware of and pay attention to. And while we say that they may have peaked, they are not completely over…
Further, if you apply extreme amounts of compression, distor tion occurs, which may lead to listening fatigue for you as well as your audience. Of course, the amount of compression that you can use in order to t a certain music genre can vary, but just stay aware of how it aects your music, and act accordingly.
It is also very important that you always listen to your own mastering project and your reference library at the same loudness level when you compare them. There is no doubt that while a heavily compressed song – dynamically speaking – may sound more impactful at rst, you will sacrice detail and nuance.
The X-axis is the amount of Dynamic Compression. It is unit-less, so you should not add “dB”, “ratio”, or similar, when thinking about it.
The Dynamic Compression is based on the track’s Peak-to-Loudness (PLR) value and a measurement of the micro-dynamics of the track.
• • Very dynamic music with lots of transients and loud and soft passages,
will have a low Dynamic Compression value, to the left in the Compress­O-Meter.
• • Very dense music with little transients, will have a high Dynamic
Compression value and show up to the right.
The Y-axis is the full track Loudness value, shown in LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale).
6.4.5 Additional tools
We recommend using the Icon Series BRICKWALL HD for adding detailed True Peak limiting and loudness awareness to your chain, which will ensure a solid master audio le that will comply with any play back system or streaming service.
Finally and as mentioned above, keep in mind that the current trend in music streaming is a target loudness of approximately -16 LUFS, so if you deliver a signicantly louder song, it will get turned down automatically if the listener chooses to apply the ‘normalization’ feature such as ‘SoundCheck’ or ‘Same Level’
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7. Presets
The MD3 NATIVE oers a collection of factory presets, as well as the option to create and save your own custom settings as user presets and favourites.
Note that most DAWs have a built-in preset function that appears on every plug­in, which is often found at the top of the plug-in window.
It is not recommended to use this as your primary method of saving presets, as it has limited functionality and does not allow the saved presets to be transferred easily to other DAWs. Instead, we suggest using the Preset section at the bottom corner of the user interface window:
A single click on this PRESET window brings up a menu with several preset­related options. You can recall a fac tory or user preset from the libraries, save the current preset, or create a new user preset with the 'Save as' option.
7. 2 User Presets
If you make an alteration to any of the parameters in the current preset, the preset name changes to italics as a reminder that something has changed from the original factory preset.
To save this new setting as a User preset, click in the PRESET window, then select the Save As option. Save it with an appropriate name.
To discard the changes without saving, simply navigate away from that preset.
The presets menu is divided into Factory Presets and User Presets.
7.1 Factory Presets
Factory presets are built into the plug-in and cannot be overwritten, so if a factory preset is modied and you want to keep the changes, you need to save it as a User preset. User presets can be edited and organized as you like.
When recalling a Factory preset or saved User preset, the name will appear in plain text as shown below.
It will have a number to the left of the title, if it has been assigned as a favourite (see later), otherwise it will show "--" next to it. Do not be alarmed.
The altered preset will be saved as a user preset, with your new name for it, and its name will appear in the presets window.
If you modify a saved user preset, you have the option to "Save" (overwriting over the existing user preset) or "Save As" (save as a new user preset).
If you modify a factory preset, then only "Save As" is available (to save as a new user preset). Factory presets cannot be overwritten.
User presets are not given a number unless you assign them as favourites. (See Favourite Presets below.)
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7. 3 Favorite Presets
Creating your own presets will make them accessible from the Preset menu, but they will only appear in the list of 100 favorite presets in the plug-in if you set them as a favorite. This is done by assigning a favorite slot number to the preset using the Favorite menu.
Click the FAVORITE (heart-shaped) button at the right edge of the preset window, then select one of the 10 banks. Assign one of your custom presets to a favorite slot, then save the preset.
7.3.1 Browse Favorites Only
The 'Browse Favorites Only' option in the preset menu allows the UP/DOWN arrows in the bottom bar of the plug-in. Otherwise, scrolling goes through all presets.
7.4 Make Current Preset Default
Selecting 'Make current preset default' will cause this preset to appear every time a new instance of the plug-in is created.
7. 5 Reveal User Preset Folder in Explorer
To change the name of a preset, select 'Reveal User Preset Folder in Explorer' and modify the le name. This will open a Finder (Mac) or Explorer (PC) window where the user presets are stored. You can rename as well as delete, copy and paste presets. This allows you to share presets with other users online, simply pasting the new ones in this folder.
When a preset is assigned a favorite slot number:
• • The preset is part of the 100 presets that can be recalled
• • The favorite number will be locked so that two presets cannot be
assigned to the same favorite slot number. This is shown in the Favorite menu by graying-out the number in question
• • The favorite number will be displayed in brackets when you browse the
presets menu
You can remove the favorite assignment by selecting the “Remove Assignment” feature in the Favorite menu, then saving the preset.
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8. Software Updates
New versions of the sof tware may be released to add new features and improve performance. Updates can be detected from the plug-in directly and can be installed after download from the website. See Chapter 2 for plug-in installation.
If the ’Automatically check for updates’ option is checked inside the update menu, the red dot will appear on the settings icon when a new plug-in is available.
Click the gear icon and select “Check for Updates” to perform a scan.
9. Specications
Sound
Processing 3 Band expansion/compression/
limiting, softclip
Sample rates 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz
Software Support
Operating systems Mac OS X 10.13 High Sierra or above,
Windows 7 or above
Plugin formats AAX-native, Audio Units, VST2.4,
VST3. 64 bit
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