Do you have a good compressor/expander studio unit?

[leecovuk]

Hello again compression fans,

I bought a new AC/AC lead/adaptor today from a well known UK electronics retailer. I decided not to cut this one in two using a pair of scissors.

The RNC seems pretty good from what I have found and heard so far. It is a small unit, much smaller than many other compressors but appears to be pretty good.

For my usage, which is wanting to level out and almost limit a pretty wide range of levels, the following settings so far seem the most suitable, using Normal Mode :-

('o'clock' means the position of the knobs with respect to a hand on an analogue clock)

Threshold 9 o'clock
Ratio 3 o'clock
Attack 9 o'clock
Release 2 o'clock
Gain 3 o'clock

For the record, Gain Reduction on 'average' input levels is showing a considerable workload on the meter, at 16-20.

Such settings are of course subjective and relevant to local input level, but feel free to make any suggestions if appropriate. Seems fine for me so far, anyway, with very little or no unavoidable 'clicking' artefacts.

Lee

[TrevCircleStudios]

so kind of as we said all along then...?

BTW - 20db is a LOT of gain reduction.

[leecovuk]

Yes Trev, it seems a good little unit.

I'm wanting to raise low levels significantly, with the overall aim of wanting a consistent almost limited level. I think my current settings are doing that, but I'm still of course getting acquainted with the unit.

Lee

[FrankGIK]

As Trev said, that's a *very* aggressive set of settings. It's a testament to the quality of that little RNC that you can use it that aggressively and still use the end result.

Glad you like it.

Frank

[leecovuk]

Hello again,

I thought I'd waddle back briefly;
The RNC indeed has proved to be a worthwhile purchase. I would recommend it for pretty much any compression usage.
Yes, if you push the settings as I like/need to, you do hear something approaching an unavoidable 'click' as discussed earlier in this topic, but not as bad as my DBX.

I don't really find Super Nice of much use to me, however it occured to me that I could build my own 'quasi super nice' mode by using my DBX into the RNC. I'm trying this with both units set to their nice/easy modes with moderate compression on each and fairly fast attack times (to hopefully avoid any possible clicking), and the results seem pleasing. I may go back to normal mode on one or the other, but we'll see.

One reason for my doing this, is I can somewhat raise and also peak limit first in the DBX, before letting the RNC finish the compression.

One thing I have noticed in my RNC however (without adding the DBX or anything else into the chain), is that it doesn't seem to 'like' audio which is/resembles out-of-phase audio. For want of a better explanation, the RNC seems to 'ignore' such audio and it appears not to be compressed.
I don't know if any of you have also found this on the RNC.
(By the way, I'm not intentionally feeding in poorly phased audio; I'm talking about unexpected phase errors on a stereo mix/feed. I assume therefore I couldn't 'fix' this by always having a phase reversal lead in the circuit)

Thanks,
Lee
UK

[ecc83]

Hi Lee.
Re out of phase signal components. If the compressor simply sums the input signals and rectifies the result for the sidechain then it will indeed sum totally o.o.p. signals to zero thus no control voltage.

If a true rms rectifier is used then this will ignore phase differences because the sum of squares is always positive.

Dave.

[leecovuk]

Thanks Dave, however that's a little technical for me to understand and apply.

Essentially, does anyone with an RNC find that out-of-phase signals come through very loud / apparently uncompressed?
I'm just wondering if the behaviour is typical of the unit or just local to mine.
If it's not just mine, I would then be wondering if the units are built correctly/acceptably in this regard.

Lee

PS I'm not using the side chain.

[ecc83]

"PS I'm not using the side chain."

Oh yes you are! Otherwise it is not a compressor!

The diagram only shows a mono diagram but a stereo signal will be summed to feed the sidechain.

If you sum +x volts and -x volts you get FA volts! Thus no control and the gain control element does not attenuate the signal.

Summing the squares of the signals DOES result in a control voltage (true rms) but it would seem the RNC is not quite that sophisticated. Thus the only recourse is not to have a large, out of phase component in your signal. This would normally be the case for "normal" mic'ed up signals.

In the days of those horrible 12" black things o.o.p. signals had to be fiercely watched out for and smashed down relentlessly!

Dave.

[leecovuk]

Thanks Dave,

I meant I'm not using the 'side chain' input on the rear, in case that was relevant.

It sounds then that my RNC isn't 'faulty' in this regard, and presumably its treatment of such signals is known, understood and accepted as fine for a unit of its price and design?
I'm not trying to criticise; just wanting to find out if the behaviour is 'to be expected', as I don't recall experiencing the same with other compressors.

I emailed this question to the FMR Audio support address a week or so ago, but haven't had a reply. They did reply to an earlier unrelated question.

Lee