recommendation for a budget ducker

[apa]

Apologies for the bottom feeder question, but can anyone recommend an
inexpensive ducker with control over the attack, release and reduction
level? It's for jury rigged echo cancellation in web based
teleconferencing setups whose software echo cancellation doesn't
always cut the mustard in a room with distributed microphones
(and users crank the room volume up). There were some old Behringer
compressors sitting around here unused so I fed the far end audio to
side chain to duck the room mics when there far end speaks. I know
it's a hack but it's worked well enough for people trying to do Skype
calls in small conference rooms. The knee of the compressor doesn't
seem ideal for the task though and I thought it might work better on a
dedicated ducker if I could find one with enough control to fine tune
it. Everything I've found seems to be for paging applications and
lacks anything but a threshold and reduction level control.

Thanks, Andy

[Mark]

>*The knee of the compressor doesn't seem ideal

what do you mean by this?
what do you want it to do that it isn't doing?

do you have the ratio set up high like 10:1?


Mark

[Scott Dorsey]

apa > wrote:
>Apologies for the bottom feeder question, but can anyone recommend an
>inexpensive ducker with control over the attack, release and reduction
>level?

How about an RNC? $200 for two channels and it does a respectable job
as a ducker.... it's really quite fast.

It's for jury rigged echo cancellation in web based
>teleconferencing setups whose software echo cancellation doesn't
>always cut the mustard in a room with distributed microphones
>(and users crank the room volume up). There were some old Behringer
>compressors sitting around here unused so I fed the far end audio to
>side chain to duck the room mics when there far end speaks. I know
>it's a hack but it's worked well enough for people trying to do Skype
>calls in small conference rooms. The knee of the compressor doesn't
>seem ideal for the task though and I thought it might work better on a
>dedicated ducker if I could find one with enough control to fine tune
>it. Everything I've found seems to be for paging applications and
>lacks anything but a threshold and reduction level control.

You want a sharper knee or a less sharp one? The RNC has hardly any knee
at all, which I have found a good thing for ducking music under voiceovers
for film work.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[[email protected]]

On 2010-10-27 (ScottDorsey) said:
>You want a sharper knee or a less sharp one? The RNC has hardly
>any knee at all, which I have found a good thing for ducking music
>under voiceovers for film work.
I used to use it for doing much the same, for music beds
under voice-overs for commercials, and music on hold stuff.
Get two, as well as the func logic rack mount for them.





Richard webb,

replace anything before at with elspider
ON site audio in the southland: see www.gatasound.com

[apa]

On Oct 27, 1:24*pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
> apa > wrote:
> >Apologies for the bottom feeder question, but can anyone recommend an
> >inexpensive ducker with control over the attack, release and reduction
> >level?
>
> How about an RNC? *$200 for two channels and it does a respectable job
> as a ducker.... it's really quite fast. *
>
> *It's for jury rigged echo cancellation in web based
>
> >teleconferencing setups whose software echo cancellation doesn't
> >always cut the mustard in a room with distributed microphones
> >(and users crank the room volume up). There were some old Behringer
> >compressors sitting around here unused *so I fed the far end audio to
> >side chain to duck the room mics when there far end speaks. I know
> >it's a hack but it's worked well enough for people trying to do Skype
> >calls in small conference rooms. *The knee of the compressor doesn't
> >seem ideal for the task though and I thought it might work better on a
> >dedicated ducker if I could find one with enough control to fine tune
> >it. *Everything I've found seems to be for paging applications and
> >lacks anything but a threshold and reduction level control.
>
> You want a sharper knee or a less sharp one? *The RNC has hardly any knee
> at all, which I have found a good thing for ducking music under voiceovers
> for film work.
> --scott
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I was looking for a sharper one. If I set the threshold and ratio to
get the right amount of ducking at low sidechain input levels I get
too much reduction at high levels (too much mostly because the
recovery time gets too long). If I set it for the right amount at high
sidechain input levels I get almost no reduction at lower levels and I
get some echo. What I'm looking for is something closer to a fixed
amount of gain reduction once the threshold is crossed. It's seems
counter intuitive but the closer I get to that the better it seems to
work (it may well have something to do with the way the telephony
software treats the audio, I really don't know). I have an old DBX
Super Gate which has a "duck" mode that inverts the expander/gate
function. It works great but it's my personal equipment and there's no
way to purchase used equipment with a PO so I anything I use here
needs to be in current production. Is there any reason I couldn't put
back to back zener diodes on the sidechain input of the compressor to
fake the same sort of function as the Super Gate? If that would work,
would I need a dropping resistor in there too to limit the current
from the device feeding it?

Thanks, Andy

[Scott Dorsey]

apa > wrote:
>I was looking for a sharper one. If I set the threshold and ratio to
>get the right amount of ducking at low sidechain input levels I get
>too much reduction at high levels (too much mostly because the
>recovery time gets too long). If I set it for the right amount at high
>sidechain input levels I get almost no reduction at lower levels and I
>get some echo. What I'm looking for is something closer to a fixed
>amount of gain reduction once the threshold is crossed.

Hmm... so you want a cheap limiter with a sidechain, maybe? I don't
know of such a thing today... old MXRs are now selling for way more than
they used to....
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[apa]

On Oct 27, 2:52*pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
> apa > wrote:
> >I was looking for a sharper one. *If I set the threshold and ratio to
> >get the right amount of ducking at low sidechain input levels I get
> >too much reduction at high levels (too much mostly because the
> >recovery time gets too long). If I set it for the right amount at high
> >sidechain input levels I get almost no reduction at lower levels and I
> >get some echo. *What I'm looking for is something closer to a fixed
> >amount of gain reduction once the threshold is crossed. *
>
> Hmm... so you want a cheap limiter with a sidechain, maybe? *I don't
> know of such a thing today... old MXRs are now selling for way more than
> they used to....
> --scott
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Yeah, that would probably do it. I just remembered a friend who has
an RNLA. I'll give that a shot.

Thanks, Andy

[alex]

Il 27/10/2010 17.45, apa ha scritto:
> Apologies for the bottom feeder question, but can anyone recommend an
> inexpensive ducker with control over the attack, release and reduction
> level? It's for jury rigged echo cancellation in web based
> teleconferencing setups whose software echo cancellation doesn't
> always cut the mustard in a room with distributed microphones
> (and users crank the room volume up). There were some old Behringer
> compressors sitting around here unused so I fed the far end audio to
> side chain to duck the room mics when there far end speaks. I know
> it's a hack but it's worked well enough for people trying to do Skype
> calls in small conference rooms. The knee of the compressor doesn't
> seem ideal for the task though and I thought it might work better on a
> dedicated ducker if I could find one with enough control to fine tune
> it. Everything I've found seems to be for paging applications and
> lacks anything but a threshold and reduction level control.
>
> Thanks, Andy
i think you can get a used drawmer ds201 for less than $150.
Superb dual channel noise gate with the ability to work as ducker and
sidechain hpf/lpf variable filtering.

http://www.drawmer.com/products/pro-series/ds201.php