Enshape

Precise Vocal Dynamic Shaper – Compression, Shaping & Expansion

Enshape is a surgical vocal dynamic shaper that offers a unique and straightforward thresholdless approach. This plugin enables consistent compression across your entire signal, regardless of the varying loudness in different parts. By using two envelope followers with adjustable attack and release values, Enshape allows you to boost or reduce specific parts of the signal. This innovative method ensures that your signal is neither over-compressed nor under-compressed, leading to a consistent sound across the entire vocal track.

How Enshape Works:

Unlike traditional compressors, Enshape does not rely on a threshold value to modify the dynamics of the audio signal. Instead, it employs two envelope followers that capture the envelope of the incoming signal independently. Each envelope has its own attack and release parameters. The difference in gain between the first and second envelope is applied to the signal—when the second envelope’s value is greater than the first, the gain is boosted, otherwise, it is reduced.

Example 1: Both envelopes have a low attack value, with the first envelope (blue) having a low release value and the second envelope (yellow) a high release value. Because the attack values are identical, the envelopes rise at the same speed. However, the second envelope decays more slowly, leading to higher gain during sustain or non-transient phases. This boosts the quieter parts of the signal, similar to traditional compressors but with a dynamic response tailored to the specific context of the audio signal.

Advantages:

• Transient Protection: Transients are not affected by gain changes because there is no gain difference between the two envelopes during these phases.
• Consistent Dynamic Reduction: The dynamic reduction remains consistent regardless of volume changes in the track, unlike traditional compressors that rely on a static threshold value.

Example 2: In this scenario, both envelopes have the same attack time, resulting in no gain adjustment during the attack phase. The first envelope has a higher release value, leading to a slower decay. As a result, during sustain phases, the gain of the audio signal is reduced (expansion).

Parameters:

• Attack: Determines how quickly the envelope rises in response to changes in the incoming audio signal. A shorter attack time results in a more responsive envelope, while a longer attack time leads to a smoother, more gradual rise.
• Release: Controls how quickly the envelope falls in response to changes in the incoming audio signal. A shorter release time results in a more responsive envelope, while a longer release time leads to a smoother, more gradual fall.
• Mix: Adjusts the ratio between the dry input signal and the Enshape output.
• Minimum Envelope Limit: Limits both envelopes by a set value. For example, by setting this value to -12 dBFS, you can expand or reduce peaks only above this threshold, which is useful for capturing vocal peaks.
• Maximum Envelope Limit: Similar to the minimum limit, this parameter allows you to apply heavy compression without affecting transients or to reduce the dynamic range only when below this threshold.
• Autogain: Activates automatic gain adaptation with two modes:
  • PEAK: Reduces the signal’s gain by comparing the peaks of the incoming and outgoing signal, preferred for perceived loudness.
  • AVG: Compares the average loudness of the incoming and outgoing signals, maintaining the same average gain. This mode is effective for settings that reduce the dynamic range of the signal but may significantly boost gain when performing strong expansion.
• Length: Controls the length of the displayed envelopes. Higher values provide a broad overview, while lower values allow for precise observation of differences and gain changes.

Settings:

• Tooltips: Enables or disables the plugin’s tooltips.
• Restart Tutorial: Restarts the tutorial that appears when the plugin is first opened.
• Lookahead: Detects the input signal with a recommended value above 10 milliseconds, except in recording scenarios. Without lookahead, low attack values combined with strong gain differences could distort transients.
• Autogain Speed: Controls the speed of gain adaptation. For instance, a speed setting of 3 seconds smooths out sudden changes caused by local differences or peaks in the input. Higher values are recommended for mastering, while lower values are better for real-time feedback during production.
• Default Autogain Speed: Sets the default autogain speed for new Enshape instances without overriding existing settings.