[Bob Katz]

Pendulum

[Bob Katz]

These ten-turn pots can be logged in steps from 1 to 1000! Precision and repeatable to less than 0.1 dB. Mmmm, mmmm, good.

[Bob Katz]

I send a test tone from my DAW to align threshold and output gain after getting things in the ballpark by ear. The pots are so accurate that I can manually match left and right by number and typically be within 0.1 dB anyway. But I like to log the results with the test tone as this is a tube compressor and may drift.

[Jeff Lowes]

Hi, Bob. New member to the forum. Thanks to you and all the mods. Looking forward to learning and sharing.

Would you mind explaining with some detail how you go about using tones to recall the settings on your gear that has no switches? I’ve developed a pretty good numbering system and I also use Session Recall but, as you say, tube processors tend to drift a bit and sometimes it can be difficult to get a unit back to where it was sonically.

Any and all help with this would be much appreciated.

Thnx

 

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Jeff Lowes · OTR Mastering

[Bob Katz]

Dear VU-1. For equalizers I do NOT use tones…    just the visual recall from Session Recall and all my equalizers are detented. Or in the case of the Bettermaker mastering EQ it’s digital recall of analog.

My method is to play a -14 dBFS 1 kHz tone which is always residing in my DAW session.

For compressors and expanders that are not detented, like the Pendulum, I only set the threshold and output gain with tones. I’m comfortable setting attack and release visually as they do not have to be precise within a tenth like TH and output.

First step of course is to get the sound you like. You can use test tones to help match left and right gains at that time. My new multiturn pot mod makes it easy to match the gains and thresholds of each channel without needing tones. And/or listening to ensure the vocal is (typically) centered. If you don’t have my multiturn numeric pots, then once you have dialed in a sound, send the 1 kHz tone into the compressor, note the return level on your meters. Then turn down the threshold all the way and note the amount that the output has increased. That’s the gain reduction. Then tweak the two output levels to match left and right perfectly. Note that level for recall, on your DAW meters or loudness meter or RMS meter. Then turn up the threshold until the outputs reduce equally by the amount of GR that you had previously noted. Now log that output level.

For restore, start with the tone from the DAW, threshold all the way down, and set the output level of the comp to produce the logged reading. Then turn up the threshold until the output reduces to the other logged reading. Done.

By the way. We don’t allow handles on this forum. Would you please go into your profile and add your first and last name. Thanks! 

[Jeff Lowes]

Thanks, Bob. Sorry, changed my display name.

That sounds like it works quite well. My “issue” is with getting “exact” recalls when using the Hendyamps The Oven and also with the Ceiling setting on the Pendulum PL-2. Not sure how I’d implement that procedure when there’s 7 pots on The Oven….

Thnx

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Jeff Lowes · OTR Mastering

[Bob Katz]

Well, hopefully the Oven is pretty repeatable with something you can log in Session Recall. Imagine back in 1960 when cutting engineers would log their pultec settings with a set of written numbers. It’s seat of the pants, but you know the secret? Make sure the loudness matches. If you match the perceived loudness of the revision master to match that of version 1, any small differences in the Oven settings will very likely be “below the radar”.  Other than that, good luck!