Playfair Audio - Dynamic Grading 2

Dynamic Grading 2 is Playfair Audio's dynamics plugin for mixing tracks and buses, and it isn't a compressor in the usual sense. Instead of threshold and ratio knobs, you see a histogram of your audio's levels and shape the punch, body and floor separately, compressing one part while expanding another. It's a natural fit for mix engineers who want drums to hit harder or a bus to glue without the flattened sound of over-compression.

See the dynamics you're shaping

The histogram shows how often each loudness level turns up in your audio, much like the histogram in a photo editor. On almost any source you'll see three regions: the punch of the attacks, the body where notes sustain, and the floor of decays, room and noise underneath. You set markers where those regions sit, by hand or with Source Learn, then decide what each one does. The output histogram shows the result as you go, so you always know what you changed.

Punch, body and floor

Punch works like a transient shaper: expand it to push a track up front, compress it to sit it further back. Body is where most of the action happens, letting you tighten or open up the core of a sound without touching its transients. Floor handles the space between notes, so you can pull down room and reverb, clean up noise, or squeeze it for something more unusual.

Under the hood

A sidechain tilt filter measures level the way we hear it, with a display that guides you to the sweet spot. Automatic lookahead keeps gain changes on time, and the release ballistics are built for compressing and expanding at once. It also handles multichannel audio up to 16 channels, including Atmos beds, with continuously variable channel link.

What's new in version 2

Version 2 brought a redesigned interface that pairs the graphical handles with ratio and gain knobs, user and factory presets, and the multichannel support. Version 2.1 swaps iLok for Playfair Audio's own account-based licensing, so activation happens in your browser with no iLok account or dongle.

Features

• Separate compression or expansion of punch, body and floor
• Live input and output histograms
• Source Learn to find the body range automatically
• Spectrum control sidechain tilt filter
• Automatic lookahead and natural release ballistics
• Multichannel support up to 16 channels, including Atmos
• User and factory presets

System requirements

• Mac: macOS 10.13 or later, Intel and native Apple Silicon
• Windows: Windows 10 or later
• Formats: AU, VST3 and AAX
• Licence: activation code redeemed in a Playfair Audio account

SOUND7 is an authorised Playfair Audio reseller. Digital delivery: licence activation code sent by email.

Demo