Type A

What it does

An emulation of the encode stage of the Dolby A noise reduction unit, the half engineers repurposed as a brightener. Four compression bands split at 80 Hz, 80 Hz to 3 kHz, 3 kHz and 9 kHz, the top two overlapping, each with its own level feeding a shared compressor with attack and release. A noise generator, input, mix and direct switch sit alongside.

In the demo

Jade puts it on a drum stack in Logic, then mutes bands one at a time so each frequency split is audible on its own. On a lead vocal she disables the two lower bands, the setting associated with the Lennon trick, and plays it soloed and inside the full mix.

Worth knowing

It does one thing and has few controls, so anyone wanting a general-purpose multiband compressor is looking at the wrong tool. A desktop version for Mac and PC is sold direct from AudioThing.