[genericaudioperson]

Hello,

I was reading the FMR audio site on using the RNC as a deesser. I
found the explanations informative but incomplete. Could someone
verify this:

1) using the eq in the insert does not make it a multiband
compressor. the eq only tells *when* to compress ("when you hear a
high frequency sound, reduce the entire signal level"), rather than
*what* to compress ("compress only the highs, leave the rest of the
signal alone"). since esses and consonants are on the front part of a
sound, this is fine. it will simply clamp the whole "ess" sound, and
then release when the voice goes back to singing vowels. so even
though it is not band-splitting, it's still doing what you want
reasonably well.

2) the eq has no effect on the actual frequency spectrum of the
audio. the audio will sound the same, the only difference being when
the compressor decides to kick in or not. therefore making
significant adjustments to the graphic eq only changes the
corresponding level-reduction decision making on the RNC. the eq can
only help determine when the compressor decides to kick in or not. it
cannot sculpt the frequency spectrum of the audio.

3) the graphic eq being patched in is not in the actual audio path. it
is merely sending instructions to the compressor. therefore, you can
use a cheap graphic eq for this purpose and it won't degrade the
sound.

[Scott Dorsey]

genericaudioperson wrote:
1) using the eq in the insert does not make it a multiband
compressor. the eq only tells *when* to compress ("when you hear a
high frequency sound, reduce the entire signal level"), rather than
*what* to compress ("compress only the highs, leave the rest of the
signal alone"). since esses and consonants are on the front part of a
sound, this is fine. it will simply clamp the whole "ess" sound, and
then release when the voice goes back to singing vowels. so even
though it is not band-splitting, it's still doing what you want
reasonably well.

Right. This is actually much more neutral than a multiband compressor
because the audio you hear isn't going through any kind of filters....
only the control path audio is being filtered.

There is a discussion of this standard technique in the Yamaha Sound
Reinforcement Handbook. Folks have been using it since the sixties.

2) the eq has no effect on the actual frequency spectrum of the
audio. the audio will sound the same, the only difference being when
the compressor decides to kick in or not. therefore making
significant adjustments to the graphic eq only changes the
corresponding level-reduction decision making on the RNC. the eq can
only help determine when the compressor decides to kick in or not. it
cannot sculpt the frequency spectrum of the audio.

Yes.

3) the graphic eq being patched in is not in the actual audio path. it
is merely sending instructions to the compressor. therefore, you can
use a cheap graphic eq for this purpose and it won't degrade the
sound.

Right, although you might want narrower filters than you get with a cheap
graphic. Try it and see.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[genericaudioperson]

Thank you, Mr. Dorsey.

And sorry to R.A.P. for the double post. I went back and edited
within a minute or two of the original post, but it's still came up as
a double post.

This happened a day or two ago as well, so I'm going to try to walk
around for a minute or two before I post, so I don't have to go back
and fix an idea in the post.