(BONUS) Knee, Range, Hold, and Lookahead
A quick answer to a FAQ:
“What’s considered a ‘hard’ knee? What is a ‘soft’ knee?”
Knees use different units depending on the plugin. Some knees go from 0.0 to 1.0. Others go from 0dBs to 50dBs.
The exact numbers that are on your compressor’s knee are irrelevant. The important question is this: do you want a hard knee or a soft knee?
The rule of thumb is this: the closer the knee is to 0, the “harder” it is. The farther the knee is from 0, the “softer” it is.
Remember: a hard knee leaves the compressor’s threshold as a single dB, but a soft knee turns the threshold into a range of dBs.
Hopefully that will clear up some confusion!
“What’s considered a ‘hard’ knee? What is a ‘soft’ knee?”
Knees use different units depending on the plugin. Some knees go from 0.0 to 1.0. Others go from 0dBs to 50dBs.
The exact numbers that are on your compressor’s knee are irrelevant. The important question is this: do you want a hard knee or a soft knee?
The rule of thumb is this: the closer the knee is to 0, the “harder” it is. The farther the knee is from 0, the “softer” it is.
Remember: a hard knee leaves the compressor’s threshold as a single dB, but a soft knee turns the threshold into a range of dBs.
Hopefully that will clear up some confusion!