BONUS MODULE: Negative-ratio Compression For Sustain Enhancement
In this video, I explain what negative-ratio compression is, and how you can turn it to your advantage for sustain enhancement purposes.
(If you have trouble downloading or playing this video, here’s a mirror file on an alternate server.)
I mentioned that Melda’s MCompressor plug-in offers a freeware route to negative-ratio compression, but if you don’t like that, then another option is to use the ‘Broadband Gain’ filter type in Toneboosters TB Flx
, as this also lets you set up negative-ratio transfer functions. (TB_Flx is one of my all-time favourite plug-ins, in fact, so it’s well worth getting hold of anyway!)
DOWNLOADS
Demo Project: The Reaper demo project used for this video.
Demo Screenshots: Screenshots of all the plug-ins in my demo project.
Test Yourself: The multitrack stems used for my demo project, so that you can experiment with negative-ratio compression of the snare drum. I chose to feed my compression channel with equal levels of the oversnare and undersnare mics, but you can of course choose to adjust this balance to taste.
Video Transcript: A rich-text file of the video’s full voiceover script.
FURTHER RESOURCES
If you’d like to experiment further with the demonstration production I used for this video, you can find its full-length unprocessed multitracks in the ‘Mixing Secrets’ Free Multitrack Download Library here:
- Human Radio: ‘You & Me & The Radio’ – For more mixing tips, check out the April 2021 Cambridge-MT Patrons Podcast.