Manley ELECTRO-OPTICAL LIMITER - 1997 - 9/2000 MELOPB319 - 564 - Manual (Page 8)

Advanced Tricks
Here are a few tricks that are not really for rookies. They come from guys doing major records for years
and won't work unless you've mastered the basics. In other words if we gave you a Strat and Marshall it
won't make you another Jimi. Also we don't suggest that you try these out while paying big-time studio
rates - they may not be easy to get right at first. OK, you have been warned.
Trick #1. Each compressor or device in the chain has certain flavours and characteristics and with
experience we grab the ones we like because of the sound - not because "it is a compressor". The idea is to
use several cool compressors in a chain getting flavours from each depending on how much GR is used in
each and how hard they are driven. It's this second concept that can be tricky. How far to turn up each
Make-up Gain to overdrive or not overdrive the next unit - and still not get flooded with noise when the
music stops. You can chain the two channels of the El-OP and turn up the make-up of the first channel.
This works best with classic discrete and tube units and usually IC units are to be avoided. The finesse
comes from which order they are patched. See how long it might take to get best results .....
Trick #2. This one is easier but also requires serious listening. Rather than just "inserting" a limiter - drive
the limiter from the tape patch (pre EQ) and return it to a spare fader and mix it with the original. So what
is so tricky ? How you EQ and automate and add effects to these channels. You can also have fun phase
reversing one of the channels. You get cancellation but only at a certain level. It is sort of like gating but
different - it is a way of controlling the "ambiance".
Trick #3 Using one track to "duck another. This may work better with compressors with attack and release
and ratio controls if you are thinking drums. Bass and vocal is very cool with the El-Op. Set it up like
trick#2 with bass in one side vocal in the other, in LINK mode and experiment with each threshold. Two
guitar tracks also work here sometimes. Obviously we pull out this trick when two tracks are stepping on
each other and EQ isn't making enough room for clarity.
Trick#4 Drive the compressor from an AUX send and return it to a channel. Once you have some limiting
now carefully turn up that aux send on the return channel to "feed back" into the limiter. Watch out for real
howling feedback and over the top limiting. If you are lucky it won't scream during the quiet parts. The key
is balancing the faders, track auxes, the return auxes, the thresholds and make-up gains. The technique can
get pretty crunchy and wild. Works best with not-so-clean compressors but is interesting with the El-OP.
Trick#5 This one is a way to get a very good single channel De-esser from the El-Op or other compressor
good enough for lead vocals. Mult the Insert send of the vocal to the El-OP and to a spare channel. EQ the
snot out of that second channel -boosting the 5 or 6KHz band and chopping everything below that. Use the
insert from this channel to drive the other channel of the El-OP but it is unlikely that you want this fader
up. Set the EL-Op to Link. The threshold of the first channel sets compression and the second channel sets
de-essing. Unlike some de-essers it will not chop highs but reduce wide-band which is less obvious. The
only drag is that the release is a little slow. Remember good de-essing is not to remove esses - the idea is to
reduce esses and make them natural sounding. BTW if you need to de-ess, you might want to re-think your
choice of gear. There are 3 main reasons we get horrible esses. 1) a gap in the singers teeth or just a strange
voice, 2) too much or wrongly choosen EQ, or, 3) gear that distorts the highs. If the cause is "2" then we
can tell you some EQs allow one to boost highs with less problems with the esses or you might try boosting
a higher freq, or less during tracking. If it is "3" you may want a better mic or sell off some of that cheap IC
gear that seems to be distorting the top in a way that you don't like. Actually we have heard some pretty
expensive gear - both tube and solid state - that has this particularly ugly distortion. If in doubt try some
tough percussion through it like shakers or tamborines.
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