Multiband Considerations

Note! When boosting the range, it is important to anticipate the drop in overall track level. You may then use the AutoTrim button to bring the output level back up to just below clipping. Moderate the range to fit your needs. This is best done by ear while listening to the actual program.

When you have a mixed percussion track or a full drum set it is obviously advantageous to use the Multiband component. You will immediately see how each band responds to the excitation of the sounds within its frequency range. Typically you will see the dynamic gain line jumping in the low bands for the bass drum kicks, the mid, high-mid for the snare drum, and the high band for the hi-hat. Sometimes, you will want to improve the punch of the bass drum and snare, while moderating the attacks of the hi-hat. You can do this by setting the crossovers so that the three lower bands have a positive “boosting” range and the hi-hat gets a negative “cutting” range.

Each band has an On/Off control so you can easily A/B compare between the effect on just one certain band by turning the others off. The On/Off does not shut out the audio in the band but it shuts off the transient processing.

Transient attacks usually have a wider frequency range than the sustained part of the sound and sometimes shaping the transients can be enhanced by spectrally shaping the transient process. For example, a certain bass drum needs help at the higher frequencies of its transient in order to cut through the mix, especially on small speakers. In this case you can insert the Multiband component on the bass drum track and set it so that the two mid bands both react to the bass drum’s attacks and specify higher sensitivity and range for the higher of the bands that shape the transient attack.

Waves Trans-X software guide page 5 of 8