Technical information

McDSP plug-ins
transients produced by the hi-hat of the drum kit. If the compressor is
made to operate on the combination of these signals, the bass guitar and
hi-hat will trigger di erent responses from the compressor, and the overall
e ect may not be suited to either (or both instruments). Certainly the two
elements are mixed on di erent tracks, but will eventually be combined
into a rough mix for a mastering engineer to tweak. Since the original tracks
are not available, a multi-band compressor will be able to separate the bass
guitar and the hi-hat, operate on each with their own compressor threshold,
ratio, attack, and release settings, and then re-combine the signals for a
better overall result.
Extending the multi-band concept to gates and expanders, the variety of
applications is astounding.
The ML4 Multi-band Dynamics Processor has four bands, each with a Gate,
an Expander (upwards or downwards), and a Compressor fed into the same
limiter algorithm found in the ML1.
Each band’s Gate, Expander, and Compressor can be con gured separately or
linked together. Steep 24 dB/octave crossover  lters minimize signal leakage
into adjacent bands. An output gain per band is available along with Solo,
Master, and Link controls. The ML4 limiter section ensures that output levels
are not exceeded and overall signal levels are maintained.
At the left of the ML4’s user interface, you will  nd the same meters as on
the ML1, showing the input into the mastering limiter itself, the amount of
gain reduction applied to signal peaks, and the master output level. You will
also find the same controls that are on the ML1, including output Ceiling,
Threshold, Knee, and Release and the mode selector that lets you choose the
type of limiting – Clean, Soft, Smart, Dynamic, Loud, or Crush. Below this mode
selector, you will  nd bypass switches for the Gate, Expander, Compressor, and
Limiter sections.
The controls and displays for the Gate, Expander, and Compressor are displayed
in the large area to the right of the Limiter section. Along the top of this display
there is a pair of tabs that allow you to select either the Main or the Crossover
display ‘pages’.
The Main display ‘page’ shows the IO response curves for the Gate, Expander,
and Compressor in each band, and switchable meters are provided to let you
view either the input or output signals in each band. Below the response
curves, meters for each band are positioned to the right of the band gain
sliders. To the right of these meters, the combined gain reduction from the
Gate and Expander, and the Compressor gain reduction are displayed.