User manual ANTARES AVOX 2

[. . . ] AVOX 2 Antares Vocal Toolkit Owner's Manual v1. 1 11 March 2008 ©2008 Antares Audio Technologies. Antares Audio Technologies 231 Technology Circle, Scotts Valley, California 95066 USA www. antarestech. com Printed in USA Rev 1. 0 PN P35035-0308-M01 The Obligatory Legal Mumbo-Jumbo The Antares AVOX 2 software and this User's Manual are protected by copyright law. Making copies, adaptations, or derivative works without the prior written authorization of Antares Audio Technologies, is prohibited by law and constitutes a punishable violation of the law. Antares Audio Technologies retains all ownership rights to the AVOX 2 software and its documentation. [. . . ] The Gain, Impact, and Ceiling controls should be set in combination such that no clipping occurs. Usage Tips · · · · · PUNCH is available in mono and stereo versions. Since the point of PUNCH is to optimize the impact of your vocal track in the mix, it makes sense to set the controls while listening to the track in the context of the entire mix. Finding the optimum settings for PUNCH is very much a matter of experimentation. Luckily there are only two controls that really matter, so the prospect is not exactly daunting. The Impact control has been purposely designed with a wide enough range to produce some pretty odd effects at its extreme. While PUNCH has been designed for the voice, it can perform its magic effectively on pretty much any recorded part. Check it out. 25 Chapter 8: SYBIL Variable Frequency De-Esser SYBIL is a digital equivalent of a traditional vocal de-esser. When recording spoken or sung material, the sibilant sounds (Ss, Ts, CHs, and SHs) in the track sometimes (depending on the individual performer) appear louder than the rest of the signal. The solution to this problem is to compress only the sibilants, thereby lowering their level relative to the rest of the track. The diagram below shows how a compressor and a high pass filter are traditionally configured to accomplish de-essing. IN OUT Controls OUT IN COMPRESSOR Gain Reduction Meter HIGH PASS FILTER SIDECHAIN INPUT The Gain Reduction Meter displays the amount of compression taking place. If the frequency and threshold controls are set properly, the meter will display little gain reduction during vowel sounds and soft consonants, and substantial gain reduction during sibilants. For this reason, the meter is a useful tool when setting the other controls. SYBIL uses a digital algorithm to implement the de-esser function. While the details of the algorithm are quite complex, the resulting effect is functionally equivalent to the diagram above. High Pass Frequency This control sets the frequency of SYBIL's side-chain high pass filter. The goal is to set the frequency such that the filter passes any sibilance (thereby keying the compressor), but not any of the desired signal. 26 Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to reset it to its default value of 8000 Hz. Usage Tips · · Threshold This control sets the threshold level of SYBIL's compressor. Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to reset it to its default value of -48 dB. Compression This control sets the compression ratio of SYBIL's compressor. Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to reset it to its default value of 2. 4:1. SYBIL functions solely as a mono processor. If the high pass frequency is set too low, non-sibilant components of the signal will be compressed and the vocal will have its highs attenuated. The trick is to find that ideal point where only the sibilance is affected. When set correctly, you can't tell that there is processing going on. If you can hear something happening, SYBIL needs to have its settings tweaked. Attack Time This control adjusts the speed with which SYBIL's compressor responds to peaks in the signal coming from the high pass filter. Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to reset it to its default value of 10 milliseconds. Release Time This control adjusts the time it takes the compressor's gain to increase 6 dB after the signal coming from the high pass filter drops below the threshold. Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to reset it to its default value of 20 milliseconds. 27 Chapter 9: ARTICULATOR Vocal Formant and Amplitude Modeler The alien offspring of a vocoder and a modern-day version of the venerable talk box, ARTICULATOR lets you extract the formant and amplitude information from a vocal (or other dynamic source) and apply it to any other audio track or to a built-in broadband noise generator. Perfect for talking guitars, singing synths, whispering voices, and a wide range of special effects. ARTICULATOR is designed to use a vocal track to control the processing of a second track, ideally a track with broadband harmonic content like a rich synth patch, a processed guitar, or the built-in noise generator (but typically not another vocal track). Finally, because different hosts offer different (or no) capabilities for routing multiple tracks to a single plug-in, the version of ARTICULATOR for each plug-in format features a unique Input Routing subsection that is designed for the specific capabilities of that format. Signal Selection So what's going on here? ARTICULATOR is unique among the AVOX 2 plug-ins in a number of basic ways: First, it requires two different audio sources, what we call the Audio Signal and the Control Signal (more about those in a bit). [. . . ] To adjust Reduction, click on the knob and move the cursor up to turn the knob clockwise, or down to turn it counterclockwise. Command (Mac)/Alt (PC) clicking on the knob will reset it to its default value of -6 dB. INCREASE This control allows you to increase the amount of the aspiration noise (although see the section on EQ below for an explanation of how this function can also be used for selective reduction). The red aspiration noise plot on the graphic display will move to reflect the setting of the control. [. . . ]