Questions about MWLeveler

[Prime Mover]

Okay, so I've been using the MWLeveler for years now, and I'm still not sure exactly what it's doing some of the time, which bothers me because it's still largely trial and error (with more error than I'd like). I understand that it (and a hardware LA-2A) don't have any exact mathematical values, and that's fine, I'm just wondering about its function relative to itself, and it's relationship to parametric compressors. I've read all of the manual material as well as Magic Dave's explanations here, and they've been very helpful, but I just have a few more questions and thoughts.

First off, the meter display. It seems quite sluggish, and I'm gathering it's not very useful in understanding what's going on with the sound?

What would the Knee look like if you could draw an approximate attenuation curve? I'm guessing the amount of attenuation increases exponentially as the signal increases; in traditional terms: the compression ratio increases as the signal increases. Is this accurate?

I tend to use compressors for emphasizing attacks almost as much as I do for evening out the sound. Now, I've found the MWLeveler to be incredibly magical at boosting attack transients on already percussive instruments, like snare or piano (especially). I've been less successful in using it this way for instruments with less-defined attacks, like bass guitar or fiddle. Obviously, this is going to be harder to begin with, but some methods of compression tends to work better than others, I'm guessing that the MWLeveler is just too smooth to be as effective in this manner? Or are there some tricks.

I'd be interested to hear how everyone tends to use it, and little methods they've developed. I'm getting better, but I'd like to hear others' thoughts.

[Dan Worley]

I don't use the MW Leveler, so I can't answer your question directly, but...

No comp is going to fill all your needs (I know you know that), so when you're not fully getting the results you want from the MW Leveler (or any comp), but you still want to add its character to the track, use it in series with another comp.

Use one comp for its attack and another for its overall attitude or tone or even for a second attack if the first comp didn't quite get it there. Multilayered compression is very common and a heck of a lot of fun to set up.

[Shooshie]

When you use the leveler, just remember that it's a light, first of all, and that the sound is being modulated by the level of that light, which is being lit by the level of the sound. It's one of those wonderful moments in technology when it's discovered that one medium can interact with a completely different medium. So, electrons are transformed to photons, which then are detected and used to modulate the signal.

It's one thing to acknowledge that it works this way, but it's another to become an electron and get bumped into a photon by a quantum event, after which you rush to the detector and play your quantum tricks on it; and it rises and falls in time to your passage, which generates electrons that are now back in play in the signal modulation game.

Thus you find that the signal is not always responding in a completely linear way, and that's something more understood by this interaction of two media that are related but separate, and with different languages they speak.

Maybe that doesn't help at all, but that's what goes through my head when I'm following the actions of the LA2A. It's averaging things out with a little delay, so that transients don't get squashed, but the signal gets leveled. Does that make sense? I mean, it's a perfectly sensible device, but its peculiar way of doing things is precisely what made it one of the kings of studio compression devices. Electrons are too quick; they can squash the very thing that generated them and sent them to modulate it. But this light transfer… that's genius. It has its own delay curve for attacks and releases, and not one you may immediately draw in your imagination.

So, listen closely to what it's doing, then compare it with the dry signal and even another one wet with a standard compressor. You'll see that the LA2A is creating the magic bridge in its T4 cell, where things get gently suppressed over time, but quick changes get past it till it gets hot.

It's not perfect for everything. But there are things that we recognize as part of our lexicon of musical phrases, and they were originally and always created with the LA2A and can't be created any other way, really. The darn thing is a part of our lives. But like bread and butter, its perfect taste isn't appropriate for quite a lot of things.

Shooshie

[Prime Mover]

Absolutely, and good explanation.

I understand how it works, and the principals behind it, but it's one thing to understand how something works, and it's another to accurately know what it's going to do. Because it's basically an analog device that works on a virtually infinite number of variables, it's obviously not possible to give exact answers to how it will function in a given situation. But what I'm looking for are people's day-to-day experiences with it, and what kinds of things seem to work, and any tips or tricks they've learned along the way.

[Tim]

While looking at your computer screen, close your eyes and notice the light decay time.
Keep them closed for a while, then flash them open and shut real fast.
Repeat.
Different decay times?

Hey... I'm a photocell!

[philbrown]

You could go completely the other way and simply forget all the inner workings of it. How does it sound and how does it respond? What does it sound good on, or not sound good on? In comparison is it generally fast or slow? Of course there's nothing wrong with understanding the inner workings of a compressor on a deep level, but at some point (unless you're designing and building them) it's just a tool. Just like you may not know exactly how a circular saw is built or what it's torque specs are, to know it's good for one job and a jigsaw is better for another task.

I find the metering on a lot of compressors is not that reliable. You can clearly hear some of them working and the meter shows nothing at all. Sometimes it's helpful, a lot of times it's not really telling you much.

[Audio adjective warning]
I think of LA2A comps as the polar opposite of 1176-style
1176 - fast and crunchy. In yo face.
LA2A - slow and creamy-smooth. Unobtrusive.

Extraneous info:
In the modular synth world there is a similar light-based device commonly called a vactrol which has an LED and light sensor all built into one little package (some folks even DIY them with an LED, a photocell and black electrical tape). Similar to the T4 in an LA2A, vactrols are prized for their response curves when used as a filter/"VCA", especially the the slow curve back down (actually resistance going up) after it's been "pinged" with a voltage trigger. The result is a really organic sounding envelope that can mimic certain instruments like wood blocks and bongos very well. Vactrols are made with different substances to create various response curves. There's something about the electrons>photons>electrons transfer (that Shooshie described eloquently) that ends up sounding good to our human ears and tends to be described as "natural" and "organic" but the math is beyond me- I just know it sounds good! You can listen to just about any Morton Subotnick recordings and hear vactrols at work in the famous Buchla synthesizer.
Technical info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistive_opto-isolator

[Shooshie]

While looking at your computer screen, close your eyes and notice the light decay time.
Keep them closed for a while, then flash them open and shut real fast.
Repeat.
Different decay times?

Hey... I'm a photocell!

Isn't it cool? Tomorrow try being a diode!

[Phil O]

Hey... I'm a photocell!

I always suspected that.

[Phil O]

...any tips or tricks they've learned along the way.

I like the sound of UAD's LA2A plug better, but when resources are low on my UAD-2 card, I'll turn to the MW Leveler. My primary use for this type of compression is vocals. If the vocalist is REAL good, compression is sometimes not needed. If the vocalist is good, I'll use the MW-L by itself. If the vocalist is all over the place, I'll use a fast compressor earlier in the chain just to catch the peaks, and then the MW-L to do it's magic.
I like subtle compression on most pop vocals, and these light-cell emulations do a really good job at that. If you're looking for that "squashed-to-crap" vocal sound of the heavier rock stuff, they'll do a decent job at that too, but may pump a bit with certain material.

Phil

[FMiguelez]

I confess I haven't used MW Leveler much, mainly because I haven't bothered to understand the plug-in properly (but I understand it now a little better thanks to this thread).

Also, I remember people complaining about not being able to recreate its exact state at later sessions. I trust this has been completely corrected?

I think I read somewhere that one of the characteristics of this original unit was its SLOW attack, is this correct?

What instruments do you use it on, or which ones do you avoid it for?

[Tobor]

The MW Leveler really does have a nice special 'something'. For a while I was using it as the only comp in my vocal/horn chain, and it sounded great, although the fact that often a vocal would initially jump out too loud if the Leveler hadn't 'warmed up' was annoying. It seemed silly to have to play the track back for awhile before trying to print a mix.

I now use Waves' CLA Vocal plug a lot, but find that having the MW Leveler inserted just before it is a winning combination. The CLA LA2A (Classic Comps) is also very nice, but the Leveler holds its own and I've left it in the chain more often than not.