Waves Linear-Phase MultiBand Software Audio Processor manual

How to create your own dynamic EQ setting (for low-level enhancement):

1.Set the Range to the amount of gain reduction desired in each band; this also sets the “EQ” of the compressed signal.

2.Set the Gain of each band so that the desired low-level EQ is seen. For instance, you may want a song to have a little more bass when it is soft, so set the bass band(s) so that their gain values are higher than the other bands.

3.Attack and release values should be appropriate for the frequency band. (This is why it is generally easier to work from a preset, then tweak it for what you need).

4.Set Threshold for the desired behavior. What you want is for the high levels of the song to be compressed closer to the lower edge of the purple area (to get the EQ for the high-level); therefore, the Range values should not be very big. Otherwise you’ll be compressing a great deal, which is probably not what you want for most applications.

LINMB AS A VOCAL PROCESSOR

Voiceover or singing both have similar needs in compression and de-essing, and a multiband device can be quite good for this. In fact, the LinMB also lets you work as an EQ as well, as previously mentioned.

•Load the Voiceover preset from the Load menu.

•Any of the bands can be bypassed! If you don’t need de-popping, just bypass band 1, for example.

•Band 1 is for de-popping, without affecting the deep bass.

•Band 2 is set rather wide, to perform most of the work.

•Band 3 is a de-esser, with a 1dB boost (note that the Gain is 1dB higher than bands 1 and 2).

•Band 4 is just the “air” of the voice, just a tad of compression and boost of 2dB above bands 1 and 2.

•Optionally, you can set Band 1 GAIN to –10, with RANGE set to zero, and the Low Crossover set to 65Hz. This can low-cut any pops or thumps but may remove some low stuff that is important; do it only if there are real problems. Now, while playing voiceover or vocals through the LinMB, solo each band to hear what it will affect. Band 2 certainly has all the “meat” of the voice, and by using Band 1 set to a low crossover, any loud pops or rumble will be isolated. Adjust the Thresholds of each band so that you have reasonable compression on band 2, with relatively strong de-essing on band 5. Then adjust the Gain controls to balance the tonality of the voice.

The Q and Knee controls are set very high in this preset (created primarily for voiceover), and can certainly be softened for a singing voice. Try lower Q and Knee values with smaller Range settings for more gentle compression, while still giving you powerful de-essing and “air limiting”.

AS AN UN-COMPRESSOR

Sometimes you might get a track or recording that has been previously processed, and possibly not in a very flattering way. In other words, someone might have seriously over compressed the track.

To some degree using upward expansion, which is the exact opposite of compression, can restore the squashed dynamics. As the signal goes around

Waves LinMB software guide page 22 of 28