Typically, the dynamics processor is used as a compressor. However, depending on the settings it can act as a compressor, limiter, or expander, or even a combination of all three. Having three dynamic processors acting separately on each band can give you great flexibility while mastering. For instance, you don’t have to worry about your bass causing your lead vocal to get compressed. All bands can be compressed individually, resulting in a tighter, punchier overall sound.

Each dynamics processor has its own key filter. This can be used to emphasize or de-emphasize the key (or control) signal within a band. The key signal is used to trigger the associated dynamics processor. Having separate control of the key filter is one of the most unique features of Final Mix. This allows you to control the dynamics of one frequency band by keying off an- other. This can be useful, for example, if you would like the low frequencies not to overpower your lead vocals.

The crossover points are represented by the black nodes (balls) with vertical yellow lines. These can be adjusted by dragging the two black nodes found at the bottom of the screen. The slope of the crossovers determines how sharply the adjacent bands are separated. The slope can be adjusted by right-clicking on these crossover nodes and moving the mouse.

Below the graph, there are three sets of three buttons labeled IN, KEY SOLO, and M (for mute). These are very handy for helping you to set up your crossover and key filters. Mute will mute the crossover band. By muting all but one band at a time, you can listen to exactly what part of your mix is going into each band. Similarly, KEY SOLO acts as an override, allowing you to listen to just the key signal. The IN button switches dynamics processing on and off for the band. This allows you to hear exactly what is going on in each band.

Control Panel

Double-clicking on the graph brings up a screen which displays all of the parameters for the crossover and key filters.

Crossover/Key Values panel

All the values from this screen can be adjusted by clicking on the digits and dragging up or down with your mouse. For fine adjustments, right-click in the text box to increment the value, and left-click in the box to decrement the value.

12 User’s Guide