PreSonus CL44 - Manual (Page 12)

of you snare sound is starting to jump out of the speakers and slap you in the face. This is more accentuated when using
reverberation on the snare.
This simple application applies to any percussive instrument of course. Experiment.
Limiting
Limiting is defined as compressing with a ratio of greater than ten to one. It is like an imaginary ceiling for the level of a
signal. On your CL44, limiting can occur either when the ratio knob is fully clockwise or when the limiter knob is set to an
appropriate level (for example at ‘0’). The limiter knob is separate from the compressor. The limiter has a fixed fast attack
and release and a fixed compression ratio of greater than twenty to one. The limiter knob acts as the limiter’s threshold.
However, you can use the compressor as a fully manual limiter; you would first want to set the limiter knob to twenty-four.
This setting basically de-activates the limiter (for the most part, unless you exceed a +24 dB signal level). At this point, the
threshold knob essentially becomes the 'ceiling' knob for the channel. You will most likely want an instantaneous attack time
while limiting. To achieve this: Make sure the auto button is out, Turn the attack time knob fully counter-clockwise and set
the compressor's release time for the most naturally acoustic sound.
Improper settings of the release time have been known to cause pumping, breathing and coughing in limiters. Consult your
ears when fine tuning.
Compressing Bass Guitar
Very similar to compressing vocals, the bass guitar is almost always compressed or limited during recording. Start with the
setting described above for vocals. Vary the compression ratio, attack and release to suite your taste.
Compressing Acoustic Guitar
It is sometimes easy to over compress an acoustic guitar because your first impression is that compression sounds
awesome on acoustic instruments. If you're adding the acoustic instrument to a mix that includes lots of other instruments
such as distorted guitar, compressing the life out of your guitar will help you later in the mix. If the guitar is recorded as a
solo instrument or part of an acoustic ensemble, you should experiment with less compression because you don't want to
severely limit the natural acoustic dynamic range of a good sounding guitar.
Start by using the setup described in the vocal section.
De-essing using an inserted equalizer into the sidechain.
Try our on board Lo Filter first, if it does not suit your needs then try the following.
A common annoyance when placing a vocal track in a mix is that as you boost the higher frequencies of the track to 'breath
life' into the vocal, all of the 'SSS's of the dialogue or lyrics tend to become louder than the rest of the track. A proven
method of redusssing thissss problem is to de-ess the track with 'spectral' compression.
Patching a de-esser together is illustrated in the patching diagrams above. If you don't have an external equalizer, you can
use a spare channel of your mixer by sending the track to both the spare channel and the original channel. Take the direct
out of the spare channel and send it to the sidechain input of the CL44 (signal on the ring of the tip-ring-sleeve connector).
Once patched, setup the compressor as a limiter as described above. How this works is that when the sidechain has an
inserted signal, the compressor generates the gain reduction from the side chain return signal only. Now, if you boost those
frequencies associated with sibilance (SSS), such as 2kHz to 8kHz, the compressor will apply the gain reduction more to the
sibilance because it is now 'seeing' more signal around the frequency of the sibilance. You will need to adjust the frequency