Upward-Compressor (Logic? Free?) for getting Delay&Reverb-Tails in front?

[Sir Hannes]

Hi,

often I'd like to get my reverb tails or delay tails very loud, but I do not want to automate and using a compressor to squash it (and make it loud) doesn't work for me.

Does Logic has an upward compressor or sth similar?

Do you know free plugins out there?

Does PlugIn-Alliance have one (except Sculpture)?

Thank you

[Dan Banan]

Have you tried the Expander in RMS mode, perhaps it can do what you want.

[Sir Hannes]

Hi Dan. I thought the Expander will increase the dynamic. I am seeking to reduce it.

[Dan Banan]

I see, i give it some more thoughts tomorrow and post if something comes up.

[David Nahmani]

Kilohearts has a free bundle that includes a plugin called "Dynamics" that does upward compression, that is listed in our "Free plug-ins" thread: 

... and interestingly enough, that very bundle was originally suggested by @Dan Banan himself! 😄 

[Dan Banan]

Thanks David, i think this is what we call meta-event in the Logic world 🤓

[Sir Hannes]

Thank you guys! 😄 

[David Nahmani]

You're welcome! 🙂 

[Holger Lagerfeldt]

Not free, but Flux has one of the better (best?) true upward compressors, the De-Expander module in Solera.

Importantly it's got a range parameter, so you can tweak the threshold and ratio a bit more without risking overcompression. I use this on rare occasions for orchestral/classical music and jazz.

However, it's possible to do something very close to upward compression with some downward compressors. This usually requires either a ratio dependent range or a separate range control, as well as a non-linear release that shortens release speed during low gain reduction. Waves Renaissance will let you do this. TDR Kotelnikov GE can approximate it as well (on sale right now BTW).

The closest you'll get in Logic Pro is the Studio VCA with the right settings. Basically you want to constantly compress the signal at a steady level using low ratio (the Studio VCA has the highest correlation between ratio and range of all the circuits) and low threshold, and probably fast attack, but let the release pull up during low level sections.

Another solution I use is to externally side-chain compress (duck) the delay or reverb to the source. This has the same effect as pulling up the tails relatively speaking, but can be tailored much more to the source material.

This lets you avoid regular or upward compression and is usually a better fit as what you really want is to keep the rest of the signal down but pull up on tails during the "free" space.

The latter is the more common solution.

[Sir Hannes]

Hi Holger,

thanks for explaining that, I found it really interesting about the possibilities I've got.

I read, that the side-chain-latency-issue might be gone in Logic. But due to years fighting with that, wasting time, I will never ever touch Side-Chain within Logic. Burnt.

Have a nice day. 🙂