My first experience with a dynamic range expander was at a friends place in 1978. She had a Pioneer RG-1 unit and I was amazed at the effect it had on both open reel and cassette tape playback. It was boss. By 1980 I got the Pioneer RG-2. It helps with LP dynamics but is a necessity with tape formats giving more openness and impact to the music. I couldn't afford the (then popular) DBX multiband units in 1980 and still use the RG-2 today for tape listening. An interesting and lucid explanation of dynamic range, thanks.
It appears that some soundbars, for home cinema, have expanders built in and not defeatable. The designers are unaware that not everyone lives in a huge mansion and people often want to watch a movie after their children have gone to sleep. I have a Tascam tape multitracker with DBX: the audio signal gets compressed during recording and expanded back out again upon playback. The level tracking isn't very accurate and is why DBX isn't liked a huge amount. It also exaggerates variations in tape stock density, which can result in a kind of pumping sound. Naturally, since the introduction of DAWS, these issues aren't relevant. Thanks for you informative upload. 🙂
No. There are upward expanders and downward expanders. Upward ones bring up low level details and can expand a sound's dynamic range. Downward expanders reduce the level of low level signals such as noise gates. Downward expansion can also be used for transient shaping.
Thanks for this video. Is a downward expander the gate version? I’m trying to reduce the sound on stage that gets picked up by my mic, or rather, make my voice louder but the rest softer. It sounds like an expander might work?
For the sake of other people wondering the same thing: yes. If you expand the dynamic range of a signal, and then lower the output gain of it, you achieve a reduction of the unwanted stage sounds.
i must be daft. i understand what an expander is and how it works, but the video shows you using Neutron's Gate and gives no indication that something has been done to the gate so that it behaves like an expander (like: flip a switch so the gate works inversely??). Am i missing something?
If you check the ratio control you’ll see it’s down low. In an expander you have a low ratio, in a gate it’s a high ratio, that’s the only real difference 🙂 In a gate the ratio goes so high that it attenuated the signal below the threshold to silence.
Similarly confused. This video is more advertisement than tutorial. It would help enormously if the software actually and clearly gave you access to something called, "Expander."
Hi, as i tested it right now, izotopes Gate plugin let you adjust ratio so the signal under threshold is quieter than above depends on ratio. In upward compression signal above threshold is louder, but under threshold it remains the same. If im wrong let me know :)
Strange decision not to turn gain matching on when demonstrating your before and after. I mean, yeah - it's louder, and we know that to many people's ears louder is just better. If you had gain matched the two examples, it would have made for a more accurate comparison. I mean - your output levels are going above 0db in your mastering example - surely this isn't what you were intending to demonstrate...
@Sarah, IMO it is a useful contrast for those who already understand what a compressor is. It's like saying that an accelerator is the opposite of a brake in a car. It's a useful contrast in utility, since both of the controls often appear near to each other on the same device (brake / accelerator; gate / expander / compressor).
@@KalikoTrapp better to say "expanders" make the quiet parts of music "quieter" and the louder parts more "loud".....or makes the db range of a song bigger (wider..more db differences).... And define what each different "knob" means and does....i.e. This knob works on the quiet parts of a song....or this works better on cymbals...ect.... Saying a 45 Cal gun is "like" a howitzer or S.A.M. missle is not accurate or truthful... Other than saying both kill things effectively...
