The only way to even the density of the material out is to squish the hell out of it. Thin audio can be thickened up by compression/expansion. The trick is to do it as gently as possible to mask the artifacts as much as you can. That's what the new boxes are able to do: make heavily processed audio not sound as obviously heavily processed. Forget about being pure or true to the original recordings, you're going to be altering the mix and sound of the records.
Just as in production, layering multiple, gentle passes of compression will more gently build things up.
First, make sure your source material is as consistent in level as possible. GIGO, yah know?
Put the Compellor back in. Ahead of the AGC in the Omnia, you need to level the audio out as much as you can. Have the Compellor do the first pass of leveling. You want as consistent an average audio level as you can get going into the Omnia. The advantage to doing this is that you will help "fix" sloppy board work that pegs the needles.
Then on the Omnia AGC, remember fast attack, slow release and gentle make-up gain. You want to avoid "pumping" but you don't want to hear it pull the peaks down and too slowly bring the average level back up.
Also, watch your levels going into the AGC on the Omnia. Too much level going in and you have a mess on your hands. It is really really easy to put way too much audio into the Omnia. Once you've got the initial levels going in set, start cranking up the drive on the AGC. Again, too much you've got a mess. Bypassing the AGC (turning it on/off) will let you A/B the differences. When in doubt, bring the incoming volume levels down into the Omnia.
Then, its a matter of choosing a base preset to use and modify. In the multiband AGC, you can tinker with the attack, release and drives. Judicious use of these will also help even the density out. It will also do the job of broadly re-EQing everything, as well.
Hopefully this will give you a start.
Just as in production, layering multiple, gentle passes of compression will more gently build things up.
First, make sure your source material is as consistent in level as possible. GIGO, yah know?
Put the Compellor back in. Ahead of the AGC in the Omnia, you need to level the audio out as much as you can. Have the Compellor do the first pass of leveling. You want as consistent an average audio level as you can get going into the Omnia. The advantage to doing this is that you will help "fix" sloppy board work that pegs the needles.
Then on the Omnia AGC, remember fast attack, slow release and gentle make-up gain. You want to avoid "pumping" but you don't want to hear it pull the peaks down and too slowly bring the average level back up.
Also, watch your levels going into the AGC on the Omnia. Too much level going in and you have a mess on your hands. It is really really easy to put way too much audio into the Omnia. Once you've got the initial levels going in set, start cranking up the drive on the AGC. Again, too much you've got a mess. Bypassing the AGC (turning it on/off) will let you A/B the differences. When in doubt, bring the incoming volume levels down into the Omnia.
Then, its a matter of choosing a base preset to use and modify. In the multiband AGC, you can tinker with the attack, release and drives. Judicious use of these will also help even the density out. It will also do the job of broadly re-EQing everything, as well.
Hopefully this will give you a start.
