The Peak Reduction and Output Gain controls combine with the Comp/Limit switch to determine the amount and sound of the compression. The following controls and meters are provided:
Peak Reduction controls the amount of signal entering the side-chain. The more Peak Reduction you dial in, the more “squashed” and compressed the sound will be. Too little peak reduction and you won’t hear any compression action; too much and the sound becomes muffled and dead sounding.
Output Gain provides makeup gain to make the signal louder after passing through the peak reduction.
The Comp/Limit switch affects the compression ratio. The common setting for audio production is Comp, which provides a maximum compression ratio of approximately 3:1. In Limit mode, the unit behaves more like a broadcast limiter, with a higher threshold and compression ratio of approximately 15:1.
Both Gain Reduction and Output metering are provided. The Meter knob operates as follows:
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When set to Gain Reduction, the meter needle moves backward from 0 to show the amount of compression being applied to the signal in dB.
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When set to Output, the needle indicates the output level of the signal. The meter is calibrated with 0 VU indicating –18 dBFS.
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