DJ & Sound System volume levellers

What's the difference between our device and other limiters/levellers/auto gain controls?

Let me give a few examples - so, you're enjoying the music at a dance music event and:-

·         There is a quiet section in the track.  The music ramps up louder and louder until the section that's supposed to be quiet and chilled is really loud.  Then the beat and bass drops in again, but too loud, and then audibly pulls back down to the level it was at before the section that should have been "quiet".  That sounded awful, but that's typical of many limiter/leveller/agc units.  They should have used a real engineer (or our device) instead, and then the gain would have remained fairly constant and the music would have come out nicely, without compromise to its dynamic range, just as the artist intended it to.

·         A couple of loud samples or shouts go out from the DJ, or an MC, and the level of the music suddenly drops, then gradually comes back up again.  That sounded awful, why would you want the music to go quiet and then loud again just because of a slightly louder sample or voice?  That's just what a typical limiter/leveller/agc would do, but a real engineer (or our device) would have ignored the louder burst and let it pass so the music would have remained uncompromised.  Of course, if the sample was coming out far too loud then an engineer would have jumped into action with an "emergency response", but then so would the our device just the same.

·         There's a great track playing now and suddenly the most incredible heavy sub bass line drops in, following which the level fades down.  Why would you want the music and vocals to go quieter just because of the bass line coming in?  Then the bass line stops and the music and vocals fade up louder again.  That sounded awful, why would you want it to do that?  That's just what many typical limiter/leveller/agc units would do, but a real engineer (or our device) would have ignored the sub bass provided it was within reasonable proportion to the rest of the music and left the level of the track unchanged.

·         The DJ just dropped such a great track that the crowd roar, so he "winds it back".  After 5 or 10 seconds of apprehension  he cues it up to play again, but this time it starts off unpleasantly and ridiculously loud, but then quickly fades back to the normal level again.   That sounded awful, why would you want it to do that?  That's just what a typical limiter/leveller/agc would do, but a real engineer or our device would hold the gain steady in anticipation of the forthcoming signal at a similar level again.

·         Some tracks are very musical and some are more just percussive sounds.  Strangely the musical tracks seem to come out at a softer level, why is that?  Equally when the vocal line comes in on a track the hi hats and snare go a bit quieter.  That sounds awful, why is that, surely the idea is that all tracks should sound a similar level and gain should remain fairly steady throughout a track?  It is probably because a typical leveller/agc unit can't understand the effects of duty cycle.  The unit tries to hold a consistent average level, but the higher duty cycle of the musical tracks means that they get unfairly prejudiced against on average levels.  It works the other way round too, at events when most of the musical content of a track has stopped but the high hats are still going I've seen levellers ease right off so the top amps are almost clipping with high hat and the crowd is looking a little pained.  Of course if you used a real engineer or our device then this wouldn't be a problem as they would be looking to keep the audible level consistent and of course they wouldn't be fading the level up and down just because the odd instrument or vocal dropped in or out.

An engineer doesn't want to spoil or interfere with the dynamic range of the music, they are just trying to keep the average level at the event sounding fairly consistent and at a level that everyone can enjoy, which typically involves just tweaking the fader up and down a little when necessary.

That is exactly what our device does.  The louder bits of a track will be louder, the quieter bits quieter, but overall the average level will sound consistent throughout the event.

For many years I've been frustrated that I couldn't find a device that I could use that would analyse and maintain the levels like this, so eventually I decided if nobody else can offer me one I'd make it myself.  So that's what I did.  Just have to try it at a few shows now and check it performs as well as hoped.

It is not a substitute for a limiter on the system, it won't prevent anything from clipping and limiters for that purpose are still as important as ever.  But it will keep the show running at audibly perfect levels all night long without any compromise to the dynamic range of the content.  Or that's the theory anyway.......