General
The Inflator plug-in is primarily designed to address the current preference to produce the maximum apparent loudness from popular music mixes. Many processes are already in use, which are variously reliant on compression and limiting to produce maximum modulation and engender an impression of excitement to the sound of the programme. The Inflator plug-in goes further than these methods and can increase the loudness of almost any programme material, regardless of the levels of prior compression or remaining dynamic range. It will even make full level white noise sound louder! The Inflator plug-in can also be used to create much of the warmth, character and dynamic excitement of analogue systems within the digital domain.The Inflator process functions by changing the relative probability of the samples in the programme such that there is a greater predominance and likelihood of larger values than the original signal. Because the Inflator does not employ signal compression there is no ‘pumping', dynamic level changes, loss of presence or flattening of percussive attacks. The full dynamic information of the music is largely preserved despite the increase in average modulation density.
In addition to loudness enhancement, the Inflator process can create a harmonic profile in the signal spectrum that not only increases the apparent dynamic impact of instruments and performances, but also provides 'warmth' to the programme, reminiscent of good tube systems. When used this way, the Inflator process even has the ability of good tube systems in producing great sounding programme when significantly overdriven and can therefore be used as an artistic enhancement tool on single performances within a mix.
Input Modes
The Inflator process develops internally (and can process), signal levels that are notionally greater than digital maximum. For instance, with the EFFECT fader at maximum and the CLIP 0dBr off, signal peaks above notional digital maximum can be accommodated and much of their harmonic information can be included into the output signal, even though the peak output level will not rise above digital maximum. The presence of this extra signal range is displayed on the upper sections of the input level meter and represents a range of up to +6dBr of useable overdrive before hard clipping occurs. The CLIP 0dBr function suppresses this extra range and restricts the Inflator process to the normal digital maximum range. Therefore it will be noted that with the CLIP 0dBr selected, the input level meter will not rise above the 0dB level however much input gain is used. Because the potential applications of the process are so varied, the user is encouraged to experiment with the Clip 0dBr on and off to obtain the best results depending on intention. The following are some general guidelines:Generally it is better to start by selecting CLIP 0dBr on (default ) for most loudness enhancement purposes including direct mode (non-band split) since the control of peak levels, settings and sound character is more readily achieved when a maximum reference level is imposed on signals before the Inflator process.
In certain cases better results may be obtained by de-selecting input limiting. In particular the extra useable range can then be used to accommodate short term overshoot sounds produced by compression functions, where they are generated to enhance attack and presence. Since these peaks are mostly short duration, they can often be accommodated effectively in the overdrive ranges without excessive reduction of sound quality or loss of average modulation. Please note that in this case it is important to ensure that the peaks from prior compression are not clipped between plug-ins, by making sure that the output signal from the compressor does not quite hit peak levels before applying it to the Inflator plug-in.
When using Band split modes for loudness enhancement, using the Inflator with CLIP 0dBr off may produce a reduction in unwanted intermodulation side effects when pushing for absolute maximum loudness regardless of possible output clipping etc.
When using direct mode (without band splitting) for distortion generation the results will be quite different with or without input clipping, and may produce useful artistic effects in either circumstance. The Inflator is able to soften clips that occur, either because of the Clip 0dBr setting, or even those that happen before its own processing in prior plug-ins. Therefore overdriving the Inflator with the Clip 0dBr function both on and off, or even applying the Inflator to the output of other plug-ins driven into overdrive can produce a vast range of artistic effects. To explore the full range of possibilities, the importance of experimentation cannot be over stressed.
Direct & Band-Split Modes
The Inflator application can run in either direct or band splitting modes, set using the BAND SPLIT button.In normal operation the whole frequency range of the programme is processed simultaneously. This is usually the best position to run the process under most conditions. One significant advantage of using this mode is that the output relative peak level will not get larger than peak level, however much Effect is applied. Therefore more overall enhancement is possible before clipping the output and louder more powerful results are possible. Also when used for distortion generation the relative phase of the distortion harmonics are better preserved when band splitting is not used, so accurate clip rounding is possible producing a much more pleasing effect.
The band splitting function is offered as an additional mode that may be useful under some specific conditions. When band splitting is selected the processing is split into three frequency bands to avoid intermodulation distortion between parts of the programme signal spectrum. This mode is occasionally advantageous when going for maximum loudness enhancement where there is a significant predominance of specific frequency ranges in the programme content. However it should be noted that, depending on programme and settings, operation in this mode produces output levels that are beyond the relative input peak level. This means that the signal is more likely to clip at the output, which may produce an increased harshness to the sound. If this becomes obtrusive, reducing the input or output levels to avoid clipping will obviously somewhat negate the purpose of the exercise.
Basic Loudness Enhancement
For basic loudness enhancement the procedure is to get the programme up to maximum normalised level at the input (0dBr) in order to fully benefit from the Inflator process, apply the Inflator processing to get the desired effect and adjust the output level to maintain desired maximum modulation.It is important to note that output overloads are entirely avoided only when the Effect level control is set to maximum position (100%). In general the best results are most likely to be obtained by operating the Inflator effect level at maximum and adjusting the input level and curve controls to produce the best sonic compromise.
Further user modifications to the Inflator process can be invoked to either gain greater loudness or different characteristics in sonic detail, as described below.
Metering & Overload Indication
For most workstation applications, the metering overload warning indicator is intended to correspond to digital maximum modulation. Different software host applications (and different versions of those applications) may present varying interpretations of what this actually represents numerically. Because the Inflator requires a very accurate and independent internal representation of numerical maximum, differences in overload indication may arise between the Inflator and host applications. However since the Inflator overload indication is set to respond to full level samples very precisely, it will produce legal programme if overloads are not being recorded on the plug-in GUI, even if overload indications are being triggered within the host mixer application.Further user modifications to the Inflator process can be invoked to either gain greater loudness or different characteristics in sonic detail, as described below.
Curve Modification
The curve modification control subtly affects the characteristic of the Inflator process to affect both the perceived loudness and tonal character of the signal.With the CURVE fader set at minimum position (-50.0), the Inflator produces the most subtle changes to the sound. Overall loudness enhancement is minimal but significant harmonic content is added to produce a richer overall sonic character. When applied to composite mixes, the predominantly loud parts of the mix will apparently be accentuated over the background and reverberant parts of the programme, producing the effect of dynamic expansion (without a time constant). This setting is particularly useful when treating drums and percussion instruments, when the impression of dynamic presence needs to be enhanced, or the contribution to the mix needs to be ‘tightened up' somewhat. This kind of setting is also useful when used on single instruments (such as acoustic guitars) where a softening of percussive aspects or ‘highs' of the sound is needed without loss of apparent dynamic range.
Settings of the CURVE between -50.0 and 0.0 have varying degrees of this behaviour and style of overall impression, but with increasing ‘fatness' and volume as the CURVE fader is moved upwards.
The CURVE fader at mid position (default 0.0) produces a special behaviour, which in many respects may give the best results in most situations. The overall loudness of the signal is considerably enhanced whilst retaining good dynamic balance between loud and soft portions of the programme, with a minimum of intermodulation effect. The sonic character has a much enhanced warmth and harmonic detail, adding presence and texture to instruments, especially in the low frequency register. The highs and peaks in the programme are softened in character without loss of apparent presence, attack or ‘bite'. Occasional peak programme overloads are softened and become less intrusive and can therefore be tolerated more readily. With the curve control in this position the Inflator process produces a gentle and forgiving behaviour, which has many aspects in common with the character of good tube amplification systems, including a natural tolerance to overload conditions. For instance, when used in direct mode (BAND SPLIT de-selected) with CLIP 0dBr selected and EFFECT set to 100%, even clipped programme signals can be rendered musical in nature. This can be used to produce artistic distortion effects on single instruments within a mix or produce dynamic ‘breaking up' effects, much like that possible with tube amplifiers. Or it may be used just to obtain an overall tube-like character and warmth to the sound.
At positions between 0.0 and +50.0 the CURVE fader provides increasing ‘fatness' and volume enhancement at the partial expense of dynamic precision, producing the loudest and most exciting effects at +50.0. In this position the sound becomes most powerful with a harmonic profile reminiscent of systems under great stress and running to their very limits. The music will take on ‘in your face' quality, creating the maximum excitement, yet fine detail and subtleties within the mix will be retained. Despite rendering the signal significantly louder, the impression of considerable dynamic range is retained even though the output peak level range is largely unchanged. The low level and background parts of the mix will become enhanced and more audible, and extreme LF contributions from instruments such as Bass parts will stand out more readily on smaller reproduction systems. Programme treated with this process will produce louder sounds on all reproduction equipment and in particular it will produce unsuspected volume and power from small domestic and portable systems.
Mixing with the Inflator
The inflator process can bring added benefit to the mixing process if the Inflator is active on the main output buss throughout the mixing session. In this case it is possible to use the valve-like harmonic characteristics and the extra overload area to greater advantage because these form part of the sound of the mix as it is built up. In some respects this process is reminiscent of analogue mixing where line-up operating levels may be breached by transients without actual signal clipping and the sonic character of the signal chain is to some degree dependent on balance and instrument contribution levels.It is suggested that in this case, the best initial settings are with the Inflator set to direct mode (i.e. not BAND SPLIT) with the CURVE set to the neutral mid position (0.0) with CLIP 0dBr de-selected. The input gain should be set somewhat above unity (+6dB) to allow the mixer to operate without clipping overshoots prior to the Inflator and the OUTPUT fader should be set to max (0db) to provide full output modulation. These settings will establish a virtual operating level at –6dBr within the mixing environment with a possible overload area provided by the Inflator process for short-term level peaks to be accommodated without clipping. The Inflator input and output meters can then be used as main output buss level reference monitors during the mix session.