The 4000 B Dynamics (B-DYN) 500 series module takes the dynamics processor found in the channel strip of the SL 4000 B console and puts it into 500 Series format. Released in 1976, the SL 4000 B was the first commercially available console from Solid State Logic and famously used in ‘The Stone Room’ at Virgin’s Townhouse Studio (London), Le Studio (Montreal) and Record Plant (LA). It was responsible for countless iconic records, including Phil Collins’ ‘In the Air Tonight’ and Peter Gabriel’s ‘Intruder’, both of which feature characterful compression on drums and vocals. The B-DYN allows you to add heavily colored, grabby, saturated compression from one of the rarest studio consoles ever made to your production toolkit.

Compressor/Limiter:

RATIO - Stepped compression ratios 2:1, 4:1, 10:1 and ‘ds’. The ‘ds’ setting is a fixed 10:1 with an additional sidechain filter. When ‘out, the compressor is bypassed.

THRESH - Whenever a signal exceeds the level set by this control, the compressor will start to act at the ratio set by the Ratio control. The Threshold and Ratio controls also provide automatic make-up gain.

HPF - A 6dB/Oct 185 Hz High Pass Filter in the compressor sidechain to help reduce bass pumping effects.

RELEASE - Switched/fixed release ranges from .2 ms to 1.6 ms with additional ‘DS’ & ‘Auto’ release options.

DS - The De-Ess mode changes the attack time from approx. 30 ms to 2 ms.

De-Ess (DS) mode:

By setting Compressor Ratio and Release controls to ‘DS’ the B-DYN module is optimised for reducing sibilance (De-Essing). The De-Ess is a 10:1 ratio with filtered S/C input signal, delivering broadband compression triggered by sibilance. The ‘DS’ release is automatically varied in response to the processed signal between release rates of 30 & 50 ms. This is a much faster minimum release than you would normally expect from an SSL Dynamics section. The attack time is also reduced to a fast 2 ms, slightly faster than the E-Series Dynamics module on its fast setting.

Gate/Expander:

The B-DYN Gate/Expander section can act as a 20:1 Gate or as a 2:1 Expander when the EXP button is pressed. Its attack time is a fast 0.2 ms.

RANGE - Controls the maximum amount of gain reduction applied by the Gate/Expander. When set to ‘out’, the gate/expander is bypassed.

THRESH - Sets the threshold above which the the gate/ expander will be opened.

RELEASE - Sets how long the signal remains audible after the Gate/Expander closes.

EXP - Switches the gate to expander mode with a gentle curve, for subtler control of level below the threshold.