Appendix A: Application Notes
As most dynamics processing is a matter of personal taste and preference, these application notes are provided as a guide only. Experimenting in unconventional areas can often yield interesting and useful results. Always remember, be creative with your DN530 — and have fun!
When using noise gates, try experimenting with the attenuation depth for more subtle gating. Bear in mind that 20dB of attenuation is equivalent to switching the pad in on your console’s mic amp!
Removal of background noise from electronic sources
Gating can be used, typically, when an electric guitar with noisy effects pedals is set at high gain. On the appropriate channel, insert your DN530’s processor and, with just the unwanted noise present, turn the threshold up until the gate closes. Set long hold and release times so that the gate does not close on decaying notes, but gates the noise rather that closing abruptly.
Note: Don’t be tempted to set extremely fast attack times. This is an electronic instrument, so we want to avoid
Try setting the sidechain filter so that the gate is more sensitive to the frequency spectrum of the instrument. Most noise problems will have a predominantly high frequency content.
Drums and percussive instruments
Ideally, to obtain the best results you would set the threshold as low as possible to utilise the gate’s fastest possible attack. However, in practice the threshold setting is dictated by the noise floor level, that is, adjacent drums, cymbals etc.
A solution is to use the sidechain filter so that the gate is more sensitive to the bandwidth you want to hear. Do this by adjusting the filter setting to tune the gate to a specific frequency. Then, use the sidechain solo facility to help set the filter; you can do this without interrupting the audio by monitoring from the solo bus output via a spare input on your mixing console.
Transient accentuation
Many instruments have a percussive start to notes that are played. These transients can be enhanced or reduced by careful adjustment of the attack time as described above. Additionally, the DN530 has the ability to accentuate this transition even more through application of its transient accentuation capabilities.
Every time the gate opens, an accent is applied. This is a controlled boost in the signal level that lasts approximately 50ms. The amount of boost applied is determined (in dB) by the accent control, and the speed at which it is applied is determined (in ms) by the attack control. The boost is gradually removed during the 50ms accent period, returning the signal level to normal.
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