Drawmer DL241 Auto Compressor - Manual (Page 11)

DL241 OPERATORS’ MANUAL 9
The solution is either to use less compression or increase the attack time to allow the
leading edge of the brighter sounds to pass through the compressor before the gain
reduction occurs. In extreme cases, it may be necessary to add a little artificial
brightness to the processed sound using equalisation or some form of exciter, though
the semi-soft-knee compression system used in DL241 tends to minimise this side
effect.
At this point, the expander threshold may be set up and you should try both release time
settings to see which is least obtrusive in operation. For all but sharp percussive sounds,
the longer setting is likely to give the best results. Set the threshold using a piece of
program material that contains pauses and adjust the threshold to be as low a dB level
as possible while still attenuating the noise during pauses. Listen carefully to how the
sounds come in after the pauses and how cleanly they fade away again. If you can hear
the expander changing the sound in an unacceptable way, then the threshold is probably
set too high.
Because the expander is self-adapting to the programme dynamics, it should be
possible to obtain far more satisfactory results than are possible with conventional
expanders. By the same token, do not assume that because the expander threshold LED
flickers during a piece of quiet but wanted material that it is having a detrimental effect.
W hen it first comes into play, the ratio of expansion is very low so trust your ears!
Finally, set the Gain control to give the required output level using the level meter to
guide you. Avoid running at very high output levels as this reduces the available amount
of signal head room and could lead to distortion in extreme cases. Once the gain is
correct, set the Peak Limiter Level control so that the limiter LED only lights briefly on
extreme signal peaks. Alternatively, set the Peak limiter Level to the desired value and
then adjust the compressor Gain control to ensure minimum limiter activity.
If required, the expander may be used on its own with the compressor and limiter
functions disabled. The Peak limiter has no separate on / off control, but turning the
Level control fully clockwise will prevent any unwanted limiter action. To effectively
bypass the compressor section turn the compressor Threshold up to its maximum of
+20dB (fully counter-clockwise), set the Ratio to its lowest setting of 1.2:1 and adjust the
Gain to approximately 0dB.