Basic Setup & Applic Ations

out, Gate Threshold knob is fully counter-clockwise, Compressor Ratio knob is set to 1:1 (fully counter clockwise).

To set the compressor: turn the Ratio to the 2:1 mark on the legend. With the vocalist yodeling into the mic, turn the compressor’s Threshold until the gain reduction meters read about –7dB. Now you will probably need to boost the compressors’output by turning the Gain knob clockwise so that your mixer or multi-track meters read 0 dB (in the case of some digital recorders this is –14 dB).

This would be a basic, very simple but useable setting for recording a vocal. Things to vary to suit your taste might be: adjusting the ratio and threshold for more/less dynamic range. Push the Soft button in and check out the Soft Knee compression curve. Take the compressor out of Auto mode and adjust the Attack and Release times to taste. Get a new vocalist (just kidding).

Compressing and gating drums or percussion instruments. Limiting the dynamic range of a drum kit may or may not be

something you want to do to your drum tracks, but there are some other cool things the ACP-88 can do to help you get that "killer" drum sound on tape.

If you consider the sound of a snare drum, you will notice the sound has a beginning loud sound (transient) followed by a sound of decreasing intensity (decay). Patch a channel of your ACP-88 for compressing the snare drum as described above and we can explore some dramatic changes that compression can have on the snare drum's sound.

For a simple setup, make sure that: Soft button is out; Auto button is out; Ratio is set to 4:1 on the legend; Attack is fully counter- clockwise; Release is straight up at the 12:00 o'clock position; Gate Threshold is fully counter-clockwise; Link button is out and the Bypass button is out. Adjust the Threshold until you see about -lldBon the gain reduction meters. At this point, the snare's volume is simply lowered by lldB. Now slowly raise the Attack time by turning the