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The Ratio control
As indicated above, this determines the ratio between the in- and output
level above the threshold setting. The preset value specifies how the input
dynamics should behave with respect to the output: a ratio of 1 to 2 means
that only half of the dynamic change will be present on the output. At 10 dB of
dynamics there will only be 5 dB on the output, whereas using a ratio of 1:8
means 10dB becomes just 1.25 dB, etc.
In short, this determines how much dynamics is allowed to remain. If the
compressor is used to process vocals with very large variations in loudness,
you would select a high ratio value (1:5 – 1:10) to produce a well-balanced and
intelligible signal. When processing summed signals on the other hand, very
high settings will be used in part to process only the peaks of the signal. This
means careful setting of the threshold control is very important.
The slope of the compressor curve may be straight with a sudden rise (hard-
knee, Fig. 2), but it may also show a softly curved slope in which compression
begins slowly (soft-knee, Fig. 3).
Operating
Understanding and enjoying the Kultube
Fig. 2,
„Ratio Hardknee“
Fig. 3,
„Ratio Softknee“