CAKEWALK CA-2A Benutzerhandbuch Seite 16

Sidechaining
CA-2A T-Type Leveling Amplifier lets you use a secondary audio input to control the Gain
Reduction control. Sidechaining is typically used with compressors to limit one signal
depending on the signal level of another. Common applications are to reduce the level of a bass
guitar when there is a kick drum, or to reduce the level of music whenever a speaker talks (often
used for background music in radio and television programs). Another use for the CA-2A
Sidechain inputs is frequency dependent compression.
To enable/disable sidechaining in CA-2A T-Type Leveling Amplifier, click the Options menu
button , point to External Side-chaining and choose Enabled or Disabled on the pop-up
menu.
Please consult your host program's documentation for information about using sidechain inputs.
Using CA-2A T-Type Leveling Amplifier on drums
Used carefully, CA-2A T-Type Leveling Amplifier can make drum tracks sound fuller and bigger.
By itself, however, CA-2A T-Type Leveling Amplifier is not well-suited for compressing drums
and other percussive instruments that have lots of peaks. The reason is due to the slower
release time and lack of precise control, thus changes in the input level cannot be compensated
for quickly enough to make the output volume totally consistent.
A good compression trick is to chain different compressors together on the same track. This lets
you use another compressor with a faster release time and more precise control as a peak
limiter to first tame the peaks before they reach CA-2A T-Type Leveling Amplifier, then use
CA-2A T-Type Leveling Amplifier for general compression.
Note: When chaining multiple compressors together, each successive compressor should
have a lower compression ratio than the one before it.
As a starting point, place a separate peak limiter type compressor in front of CA-2A T-Type
Leveling Amplifier. Configure the peak limiter compressor with a high compression ratio, like
12:1, and a fairly fast attack and release. Set the input gain carefully so the highest peaks are
reduced by 2-3 dB, then adjust the output gain until you can't hear a difference between the pre-
and post-processed level (frequently enable/disable the peak limiter compressor so you can
compare the pre- and post-processed levels). The goal is to only flatten the highest peaks, and
not compress the overall audio signal.
Next, configure CA-2A T-Type Leveling Amplifier for general compression: set Compress/Limit
to Compress, and adjust Gain and Peak Reduction to taste.
16