Safe Sound Audio P1 User Manual - page 21
P1 Audio Processor
User Manual
Page
21
We will now detail some common uses of the P1 expander. In each case
remember to set the input gain correctly before switching in the expander.
As a effects unit noise reducer : You have a really favourite classic guitar effects
peddle but it has a very high background noise level. So record your killer guitar
track as normal, then playback the recorded track through the P1.
Switch in the P1’s expander and start with the THRESHOLD setting at the -60dB
setting. This should have no audible affect. Now turn up the threshold control just
far enough that most of the background noise disappears and the killer guitar solo
still comes through loud and clear. Check the threshold setting on a few guitar
phrases with slowly decaying notes and maybe make a final small adjustment to
ensure the decaying notes sound as ‘natural’ as possible.
To improve the isolation of one drum sound; It’s quite common when multi-track
recording a full drum kit that getting enough sound isolation between the individual
tracks can be difficult. For example it’s quite common to get ‘spill’ from the high-hat
onto a snare drum track.
Switch in the P1’s expander and start with the THRESHOLD setting at the minimum
--60dB setting. This should have no audible effect. Now increase the threshold
slowly until the extra high hat beats between the snare drum beats are removed. If
you push too far then the dynamics of the snare sound will become altered.
Sometimes this is actually used as a way to get a synthetic ‘tight’ sound from an
acoustic drum kit. Keep turning up the threshold control and you’ll hear what we
mean.
To remove background noise on vocal tracks; this may be due to fan noise from
your PC or general room background noise, sometimes made worse if you have
used high levels of compressor gain reduction to really tighten up a vocal track.
Switch in the P1’s expander and start with the THRESHOLD setting at the –60dB
setting. This should have no audible affect. Now turn up the threshold control slowly
so you lose as much as the background noise as possible without losing the natural
decay of the vocal phrases. Make sure you turn up the threshold control far enough
so that the background noise doesn’t drift back during very quiet or silent passages.
Occasionally, there are times when you may want to use the expander when
recording; for example;
You are doing some ‘guide track’ vocal recording through the P1 into an absolutely
state of the art super fast PC which generates fan noise of a similar level to an F16
fighter jet! And no amount of microphone placement in your studio makes it much
better. Whilst you could strip out the worst of the background noise after recording
using the P1 you just want a quick guide vocal track and the background noise in the
headphones is getting on your nerves, so;
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