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How to Use Waves LinMB

Compression reduces the dynamic range of an audio clip, increasing the volume of quiet parts and decreasing the volume of loud sections. In the audio-mastering process, compression ties disparate elements of a track together and creates sonic cohesion. While a normal compressor applies compression equally across the frequency spectrum, multiband compressors such as the Wave LinMB allow you to divide the audio into different frequency bands, then apply a different level of compression to each band. This lets you, for example, apply a high level of compression to the kick drum on a drum track while leaving the hi-hats relatively uncompressed.

Instructions

    • 1

      Launch your digital audio workstation. Open the project in which you want to use the Waves LinMB plug-in. Drag and drop the plug-in onto the track you want to compress.

    • 2

      Click and drag the sliders at the bottom of the frequency spectrum display to divide the spectrum into frequency bands: sub-bass, bass, medium, medium-high and treble. To specify a precise frequency for a slider, double-click the box next to its name and type in a frequency.

    • 3

      Click and drag the colored dot inside each frequency band up or down to raise or lower the band's volume. To specify a precise volume in decibels, double-click the "Gain" box under the frequency band and type in a new value.

    • 4

      Adjust the "Threshold" slider for each band. The "Threshold" control sets the volume level at which the compressor kicks in. Click and drag the "Attk" and "Rel" controls to determine how quickly the compressor activates and deactivates, respectively.

    • 5

      Click the box next to "Range" and drag it up or down to increase or decrease the degree of compression. Like the "Ratio" control on a normal compressor, this setting determines how much compression the effect applies to the audio.

    • 6

      Click and drag the master volume slide, which is next to the frequency spectrum display, to set the overall volume for the audio.

Digital Music

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