In the first part of this series, the question was raised whether EQ or compression could be used to bring drums forward in a guitar-bass-drum submix. The answer was, in a nutshell, “not really. ” The best solution to the problem is to use the Sony Oxford Trans Mod plug-in. While The Trans Mod is a program-dependant dynamics processor, it doesn’t work the way one would normally expect from a program-dependant processor like the Universal Audio LA-2A. It follows that an understanding of the controls is essential before we can give user advice. Let’s start with the Ratio control. On a “normal” compressor, ratio is calibrated in fixed steps such as 2:1, 4:1, 8:1, etc. A ratio of 2:1 means that it takes an increase of 2dB coming into the compressor to cause the output to increase by 1dB. The ratio of the Trans Mod is divided into hundredths and is continuous from 0 to +1. At a ratio of +1, a transient that is 10dB louder than the average level of the audio will double, such that the transient’s output will be 20dB above the average level. At the midpoint setting (.50) using the same numbers, the transient output would be 15dB above the average. The ratio control also acts in the negative to attenuate transients. A negative ratio of -1 would be reduce the transient to the corresponding average level of the signal and therefore will be removed. In the central position (0) the Trans Mod doesn’t affect the signal at all. In the next part of this series, we’ll explain the Overshoot control.
