Set the Threshold control to the maximum level you want to send to your recorder which, for most
digital recorders, is 0 VU. Because 0 VU is referenced differently from one manufacturer to another,
start by setting the Limiter Threshold to +10 dBu. For additional protection, you can engage the
compressor at 2:1 ratio with a threshold just below the Limiter setting.
Gating
One of the most basic uses of a gate, is to reduce the noise floor raised by compression. Other appli-
cations include removing unwanted low level sounds from instrument and vocal tracks as well as
reducing ambient sound level in a vocal or announcement mic. More creative use of a gate involves
the use of a sidechain processor. This is discussed in the Sidechain section below.
De-essing
The De-esser in the VCS-1 is optimized for vocal applications where gain reduction is applied on
the sibilant parts of speech or singing. Vocal tracks that require de-essing are usually the result of
large amounts of compression and/or the addition of high-mid frequency EQ. These techniques
increase the intelligibility of the vocal but they also increase the amount of harsh high frequencies.
You should start by setting the de-ess attenuation to 6dB and evaluate the full length of the program
material if you can. If you have a vocal track where the sibilant range is higher than the VCS-1’s 4.5
kHz, you can connect an equalizer into the Sidechain. In this way you can experiment with the opti-
mum frequency by boosting individual frequencies until you find the correct one.
Because sibilance and vowels generally do not occur together, the De-esser is a broadband-type that
attenuates all frequencies simultaneously.
Sidechain
The most common application of the sidechain is to insert an equalizer with certain frequencies
boosted or cut causing frequency-sensitive compression. An EQ in the sidechain does not affect the
frequency balance of the audio you intend to compress, it only affects what specific frequency caus-
es the compressor to activate. Boosting frequencies above 4 kHz produces the classic “de-essing”
effect. There is a convenient circuit in the VCS-1 that does this for you but additional sidechain EQ
usages include:
• cutting of low frequencies to make the compressor less sensitive to bass drum in an overall mix,
for example.
• boosting high frequencies to make the compressor more sensitive to cymbals or the high-mid blare
of guitar amps.
• To vary the gate’s sensitivity-bias to certain frequencies.
Sidechain can also be used to adjust the response of the gate in the VCS-1. A common usage is to
feed a bass drum track into the sidechain return while a send from a bass guitar track is connected to
the VCS-1’s line input. The line output of the VCS-1 is fed to another mixer channel at a slightly
higher level so that when the gate opens in time with the bass drum, there is a little dynamic boost
in the bass track.
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