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This is because by boosting before the compressor you’re boosting only the signal, and not the noise added by the compressor. In fact, as many compressors will introduce a little bit of noise – which is most obvious in the top-end – boosting the top before you compress will help to keep your signal-to-noise ratio as low as possible. So boosting at the top before compression isn’t as problematic. Boosting the ‘air’ frequencies is very unlikely to result in harder compression, because the top-end has much less energy than the bass frequencies.
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An exception to this is the top-end ‘air’ frequencies. There may be times when you might want the compressor to react more to certain frequencies, such as forcing a bass into pumping, but it’s rare. Boosting before the compressor will cause the compressor to respond more to the boosted frequency range than it did before, in turn bringing the signal down more in response to you trying to lift it up.
#FABFILTER PRO Q2 AIR HOW TO#
I explain how to process the air band using different types of filters and demonstrate the process using a mix example.Pulling unwanted frequencies out of the signal before it hits the compressor means the compressor will only be responding to frequencies that you want in the signal and not to those you don’t.Ī high-pass filter will remove any sub-harmonics and rumble that may have been captured in the signal, but tight notches are great for removing resonant frequencies, especially in acoustic bass instruments and drums, which could easily trigger a compressor. I show you the industry techniques we use to clean any piece of audio fast and effectively.
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In the Working the Air Band with Equalisation video I explain what a bandpass filter is, how it works and how best to use it for cleaning audio channels. Once we have tidied up the frequency spectrum of the sound we can start to work on the air band. Once I have the two filters in place I start to move them around until I have cut all the frequencies not needed. The cool thing about this filter is that you can eliminate the lower and higher frequencies and be left with a band of frequencies that you can then process without the worry of redundant frequencies creeping up on you and summing gains and tripping compressors.Ī filter that adjusts the levels of frequencies between a pair of values is known as a peaking filter. It is, in effect, a low-pass and a hi-pass together. In effect I am using band-pass filtering/equalisation.Ī filter that passes frequencies between two limits is known as a band-pass filter.Ī band-pass filter attenuates frequencies below and above the cut-off and leaves the frequencies at the cut-off. I always start by inserting hi pass and low pass filters at either end of the spectrum. We use the same principles when using equalisation to remove problematic or redundant frequencies and the filter type we use to perform corrective processing on any sound is band-pass equalisation. This form of equalisation is termed as ‘corrective or compensatory’ EQ. EQ was used as a means of controlling the gain of a range of frequencies. Tone controls were created and used to compensate technical inaccuracies in the recording chain, more notably, compensating for microphone colouration and room acoustics. It then transgressed into the broadcasting industry. EQ was used to counteract some of the problems in telephone systems. The first process with any equalisation task is to perform what we term as corrective equalisation.Īctually the first ever instances of equalisation was in the communications industry. However, you can make the bell filters work for you instead of against you as there are frequencies that are in the upper-frequency spectrum that we cannot hear so using a shelf to boost this particular area yields no usable results. I find that using shelves to boost the air band range yields far better results than using peaking bell-shaped filters. This is the area of the spectrum that displays detail and clarity for the top end of many sounds.
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The air band is a range that loosely lies between 4 kHz – 20 kHz. One of the areas that is important when using equalisation to process mixes is that of the air band. Working the Air Band with Equalisation is a video tutorial that explains how to use an equaliser to process the much desired air band.