User`s guide

User’s Guide
15
Final Mix for Tracktion
Contour Edit Screen
The Contour Edit Screen allows you to have
very powerful control over the heart of Final
Mix. Double-clicking on any of the three dy-
namics overview screens brings up this more
detailed screen. The graph you see when fi rst
accessing this screen represents the dynamics
contour for the currently selected band. This
graph shows the band input level (on the hori-
zontal) vs. what the output level will be (on the
vertical) after passing through the dynamics
processor.
The threshold is shown as the black horizontal
line with the “T” node attached. The graph also
shows the contour’s moveable end point (the
node labeled “E”). The end point represents a
selected band’s maximum output level. The tra-
ditional Compression Ratio is affected by both
of these parameters. One of the very powerful
features of Final Mix is that you can set up your
contour to have different compression ratios for
different input levels. This is achieved by us-
ing multiple nodes. The fi gure above shows 3
extra nodes – the blue balls labeled 1, 2, and 3.
These nodes are being used, in this case, to es-
sentially draw a knee for the compressor curve.
This gives a nice smooth transition from apply-
ing minimal compression at low input levels, to
much higher compression at higher levels.
The thin red diagonal line represents unity gain
(i.e., the signal is unaffected by the dynam-
ics processor). Contours which are steeper
than this, as illustrated below by the segment
between T and 1, represent expansion, those
below it represent compression.
Expansion section
Expansion occurs when the amplitude of the
output increases faster than the amplitude of
the input. Compression, on the other hand, oc-
curs when the amplitude of the output increases
slower than the amplitude of the input. Final
Mix allows expansion or compression above the
threshold. Expansion can be used to increase
the volume of quiet passages and bring a little
bit more "life" into a performance. Note that
each individual segment can be set as either a
compressor, an expander, or both. Having ex-
pansion for low input signals and compression
for higher signals is a good way to level out a
signal's dynamics. Quiet signals become louder,
Band view/edit
Gain makeup
Auto makeup
Node Select
In and Out
Ratio
Attack
Release
Threshold
End Point
Right-click to add
or delete a Node
Node Enable