When you want to wring the absolute best out of your mixes and masters, having access to a high-quality multi band dynamics plugin is essential. Here, we’ve rounded up five of the best frequency-splitting compression, expansion and gating tools on the market today, spanning a range of capabilities and price points.
SSL G3 MultiBusComp
Making its debut only a few months ago, the multiband version of SSL’s venerable Bus Compressor lets you apply the same fabulous mix-gluing dynamics control across three bands, with the option to drop that count to two or one via band linking. That on its own would be enough to make G3 MultiBusComp a winner by any measure, but as well as the ability to compress discrete frequency ranges, each band also offers SSL 4000 console saturation simulation, and a sidechain input with three-band EQ that works independently of the main multiband crossovers. These last get their own section at the bottom of the interface, where they’re presented as fully ‘graphical’ editors, giving the whole thing a satisfying ‘SSL from the future’ look and keeping the workflow slick and focussed. On the subject of workflow, we also love the inverse parameter linking, whereby Input/Output levels and/or Threshold/Makeup gain can be set to move in opposite directions when either of each pair is adjusted.
Delivering far more detailed dynamics shaping than the regular SSL Bus Compressor, but with the same sonic character and response, G3 MultiBusComp is an incredible thing. Find out more in our Expert review.
Wave Arts MultiDynamics 7
Also released earlier this year, the latest version of Wave Arts’ compressor/expander builds on what was already one of the best multiband dynamics plugins around with the addition of internal or external sidechaining for each band with onboard EQ, a peak limiter, new metering options (including K-System), a spectrum display and a helpful Learn feature that sets the Threshold of each band automatically based on the peak or RMS input level. Beyond all that, though, what we have here is a very powerful plugin with which up to six bands of highly configurable compression and/or expansion can be brought to bear in any combination via an intuitive but information-rich interface. Notably, the Lo and Hi Gain parameters enable precise shaping of the compression/expansion range; a wealth of visual feedback is provided by the excellent meters and displays; and the Vintage processing mode yields a more saturated ‘classic’ flavour when required. A powerhouse of frequency-conscious volume shaping.
McDSP ML4000
The main event in McDSP’s two-plugin ML4000 bundle, the ML4 Multi-Band Dynamics Mastering Limiter facilitates independent gating, compression and expansion across four bands that then collectively feed into a final broadband brickwall limiter, which is also included in standalone form as the second plugin, ML1. The controls and meters for all four bands are accessible together in the main window, which switches its centre section between metering and crossover editing (with spectrum display); and each processing section – Gate, Expander, Compressor and Limiter – as a whole can be disabled/enabled at a click. Bands are linkable for grouped tweaking, too, as are the Gate, Compressor and Expander thresholds. Very unusually, and fundamental to the overall sound of the ML4 and ML1, the limiter features a continuous Knee control, which is potentially transformative in its capacity for reducing distortion in the interest of transparency, as well as various Character Mode algorithms that alter its general response. It’s a beautifully conceived, tightly implemented design that’s great to work with and sounds fantastic, and you can see and hear Paul Maunder putting it to work right here.
FabFilter Pro-MB
As they’re often wont to do, FabFilter have come at the concept of multiband compression/expansion from a rather different angle to everyone else. Pro-MB loosens up the definition of a ‘crossover’ by allowing the user to simply click in up to six resizable processing bands wherever they like on the spectrum, outside of which no processing is applied. Bands can, of course, be butted up against each other for conventional multiband contiguity, but the ability to simply compress or expand multiple entirely isolated frequency ranges without even thinking about everything in between always feels liberating and ‘next gen’. The other headline is the developers’ proprietary Dynamic Phase mode, which claims to offer the perfect middle ground between Linear and Minimum Phase modes (both of which are also onboard, natch), enabling zero-latency processing without pre-ringing or static phase changes, and only minimal phase changes when the gain is changed. It’s all very clever stuff, and with each band housing both Ratio and Range controls, mid/side balancing, continuous Knee shaping, internal/external sidechaining with band-free filtering, and up to 20ms of lookahead, Pro-MB comes together as yet another stellar proposition from the Dutch masters of mixing plugins.
Once again, Maunder’s your man with the demonstration plan.
Softube Drawmer 1973 and S73
Softube’s exacting emulation of Drawmer’s sublime three-band FET compressor successfully mimics the hardware’s layout, workflow and sonics, and adds mid-side processing; input and output levelling and metering with peak, true peak, RMS and LUFS modes; variable phase invert; and a high-pass filter. It’s one of the company’s finest achievements, we’d argue, with a smooth, classy sound that puts it in the very top tier of plugins for mixing and mastering compression. However, it also has a smaller, much cheaper sibling, the S73, that many producers might actually find more compelling.
Built to deliver every drop of the 1973 sound with almost no user input, the S73 simply racks up ten preset 1973 configurations in ‘Clean’, ‘Bass Control’ and ‘Spatial’ (ie, mid-side) categories, and furnishes you with a single Amount knob for determining the depth of processing, plus an Air switch for optional top-end enhancement, dry/wet mix and output gain controls. Clearly, it’s not as adaptable or versatile as the full Drawmer 1973, but for those who either don’t feel 100% comfortable wrangling multiband crossovers or just like to get superb sounds in seconds, the S73 is a thoroughly viable alternative.
Did your favourite multi band dynamics plug-in make our list? Let us know either way in the comments.