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.