Dynamic Grading

The New Paradigm for Dynamic Processing

Create powerful mixes with depth and punch.

iLok.com account required

With Dynamic Grading, you can precisely shape and control different parts of your audio’s dynamic range. Thanks to its dynamic histograms and intuitive graphical control, advanced dynamic processing becomes easier than ever before.

Land A Punch

Hit your listeners with precise impact. Create depth by placing tracks up front, or at a distance.

Keep the Body in Shape

Usher tracks to their right place in the mix. Make instruments solid as a rock, or shake the dust off and make it groove.

Swipe the Floor

Dial in just the right amount of detail and reverb. Clean up unwanted noise and make your mix shine.

Videos

The best way to discover the power of Dynamic Grading is to see it in action.

Headphones recommended!

Playlist

9 Videos

Guitar Depth Mixing

0:37

Mixing Drums

1:00

Quick Demo - Breakbeat

0:34

Quick Demo - Synth Sequence

0:45

Quick Demo - Acoustic Guitar

0:35

Quick Demo - Synth Bass

0:34

Quick Demo - Maracas

0:34

Dynamic Grading Beginner Tutorial

14:06

3 Minute Rough Mix with Dynamic Grading

3:08

Dynamic Grading transforms the way you think about audio dynamics. You’ll never want to go back to using compressors.

How It Works

Introducing: The Dynamic Histogram

Dynamic Grading is centered around dynamic histograms. Imagine a really fast-moving level meter, and a superhuman statistician sitting in front of it and gathering statistics of the readings over time.

This kind of graph tells us a lot about audio dynamics. It reveals the dynamic range (the highest and lowest readings) as well which loudness regions are most prominent and how much perceived loudness varies (= how dynamic it is).

A sharp peak in the graph hints at rather static audio with low dynamic range, while a broad and flat shape means there is a lot of dynamic variation.

Intuitive Graphical Control

Remember threshold and ratio knobs? Having to use those when adjusting compressors or expanders was fun while it lasted. But we can do better!

Just specify where the relevant dynamic ranges are in the source audio (left markers), and where you want them to be in the result (right markers). Dynamic histograms guide you to quickly find the sweet spots.

When the target range is narrower than the corresponding source range, this part of the dynamic range will be compressed. If it is wider, it’s an expansion. Simple and seamless!

The Anatomy of Audio Dynamics

In Dynamic Grading, you work independently with the three fundamental dynamic regions.

The body range is where the “meat” of the signal is, such as vocal timbre or note sustains of instruments.

Right above, the punch range is home to transients, consonants, percussive elements and note onsets.

Finally, the floor contains elements like late decay of instrument notes, reverb, or background noise. Think of it as the “space between notes”.

Make Sound Decisions

Tightly control depth perception by adjusting the punch. Compress to get smoother onsets and a sense of distance, expand to increase impact and position a track front and center.

Compress the body to make the most prominent features sit firmly in the mix. Create more space by expanding the body when a track totally clogs your mix bus.

Adjust reverberation and background noise with the floor range. Expand to smoothly reduce reverb or noise and gently clean up a recording. Or squeeze it for weird and fascinating artistic effects.

Your Mixing Workhorse

Ready to fully embrace the Dynamic Grading Workflow? Drop it on every track and leave all faders at 0 dB.

That way you can basically paint your mix by placing individual tracks in the dynamic range, right where they belong.

We don’t say you should mix without even listening, but well, with Dynamic Grading you probably could…

Hands-On Demo Mixing Session

We’ve assembled a practical multitrack mixing session for you to explore mixing with Dynamic Grading. Download the trial, load the demo session into your favorite DAW and get started immediately!

Download / Trial

Download Dynamic Grading for your operating system below. The fully functioning trial license is free for 14 days.

An iLok account is required to activate the trial and/or full version.

Also make sure to download and check out our demo session for a hands-on practical example.

macOS

System Requirements

2GHz CPU, 4GB RAM
macOS 10.10 or later
Intel & Apple Silicon Native (incl. AAX)
AU, VST3 or AAX compatible host (64 Bit)

Windows

System Requirements

2GHz CPU, 4GB RAM
Windows 7 or later
VST3 or AAX compatible host (64 Bit)

User Manual

Related Articles

Learn more about Dynamic Grading and its usage in practice on our Blog

It’s Dynamic Grading’s Birthday – save 40%!

One year ago, with the first release of Dynamic Grading, we set out to rewrite the playbook for working with dynamics when mixing audio. Time

May 30, 2023

Dynamic Grading Demo Session Now Available

We’ve put together a demo mixing project for major DAWs for your to explore The Dynamic Grading Way of mixing! With project files for Logic

May 26, 2023

Dynamic Grading 1.2 is here!

The update comes with improved editing functions, smart latency, additional displays and more.

November 1, 2022

Sitemap

Legal

Social

Newsletter

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please see our Privacy Policy.

© 2023 Playfair Audio / Christian Luther