ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on sound manipulators. This includes processing that is used to control a sound, or effects that add an additional sound to an existing sound. Sound transducers take one form of energy and change it into another. Microphones take mechanical energy, or sound waves, and change it into electrical energy. There are three components to sound: volume, frequency, and time. Volume faders control the volume of each sound in the mix, including effects. Compressors are sometimes used in the same way to create more sustain on tom and cymbal sounds. Visuals are especially effective in explaining the functions of the threshold and ratio knobs on compressor/limiters. Thirty-one band graphics are common in recording studios and live sound reinforcement on the entire sound system. As the threshold is lowered on a compressor/limiter, the volume, or gain, of the sound is reduced.
