The audio examples on this page accompany my review of the Dynamics 2806 Compressor and Expander module by Frap Audio. I’ve provided a range of ‘before and after’ examples along with an idea of the settings I used and how I arrived at these sounds.
www.soundonsound.com/reviews/frap-audio-dynamics-2806
Drums
01_Drum Room_RAW
A mono drum room mic with no processing.
02_Drum Loop_2806
I used the 2806 to add heavy pumping compression to a drum room track. The attack and release were in their fastest settings, with upwards of 20dB gain reduction being applied. The Contour control helped allow more low end to come through, and I used a 4:1 ratio. (Higher ratios made little difference when using the compressor this aggressively.)
03_Snare Top_RAW
A snare drum close miked with a Shure SM57.
04_Snare Top_2806
I used the expander effectively as a gate, to isolate the snare from the kick and toms. The EQ filters were helpful here in directing the expander towards the snare and away from the lower kick drum and higher cymbal frequency information. As the compressor can also be used at the same time, I’m also applying a couple of dB of gain reduction, with a medium attack and fast release.
Acoustic Guitar
05_Acoustic Guitar_RAW
A strummed acoustic guitar recording.
06_Acoustic Guitar_2806
I used the Contour control to direct the compression towards the higher frequencies of the guitar. The compression was in the Classic setting, with a medium attack and release and with 6-8 dB of gain reduction. This felt a bit heavy at first, but I blended in a bit of the clean signal using the Parallel control.
Vocals
07_Female Vox_RAW
An unprocessed vocal recording of the artist Naomi Randall.
08_Female Fox_2806
With a 3:1 ratio, I used the 2086 to add around 6-8 dB of gain reduction, using a medium attack in release and in the Classic setting. If the ‘sound’ of the compression is too much in this setting, it’s east to dial it back using the Parallel control. I also used the expander to gently bring down the level of some mouth noise and paper rustle between phrases.