Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Pro Audio DSP

January 30th, 2010 – The Dynamic Spectrum Mapper is one of the most powerful compressors I’ve ever seen. Unlike a multi-band compressor which only has a few bands, the Dynamic Spectrum Mapper is able to sample a full frequency spectrum map and apply compression whenever anyspecific part of the frequency spectrum goes over that established threshold.

If it sounds complicated, it is, however the fact that the DSM does this all for you, behind the scenes, makes it very easy to use. So let’s say you have a part of your mix that sounds great, and you want your whole song to sound like that specific part. You take a snapshot of the frequency spectrum (holding the sample button lets you take an average sample over the amount of time you hold the button down), and then apply it as the compression threshold. Then whenever the DSM is active, it will compress any frequencies that go above that threshold. If you’re having a hard time imagining how to use it, think about how annoying it is to set up a de-esser. If you establish a threshold when there aren’t any “ess” problems, then when the DSM sees an “ess” stick out, it will only compress that frequency at that time.

I’m not sure if I’m explaining it adequately enough, but when I watched the demo video, I was blown away. You can even sample thresholds from a completely different source, save the snapshot, and apply it to something else. This means you could use the DSM to mimic the frequency signature of a mix you really like and apply it to your own. If you have 14 minutes, check out the video below to see what I’m talking about.

Dynamic Spectrum Mapper