Be it evil or not, we have a Finalizer and use it weekly to smoosh our mix a little before it goes to the radio airchain. Here is a quick quick summary of the manual, for the benefit of our engineers:
Matrix settings
The finalizing matrix controls the settings of the multiband compressors in the Finalizer. The horizontal axis (“STYLE”) controls the ratio and threshold of the compression. Approximate values are below.
Light < -- STYLE --> Heavy Ratio 1.25:1 2:1 4:1 Thresh -12dB -11dB -15dB
The vertical axis (“RATE”) controls the attack and release times of the compression.
Min < -- RATE --> Max Attack 30ms 20ms 14ms Relse 1.4s 0.5s 0.1s
The manual includes a chart of the compressor values at every point in the matrix (p.17). Also, the function of the emphasis button is to lower the compression threshold when it is activated on a particular band.
Gain staging
The finalizer has two main components: a compressor and a limiter. The compressor comes first: its gain is controlled by the Normalize knob. The gain into the limiter is controlled by the three Spectral Balance knobs. The output level of the limiter is controlled by the Fader control.
Normalize /|\ Compressor ||| Spectral Balance ||| Limiter \|/ Fader
So, if you want to hit the compressor harder, turn up the gain and ease off the spectral balance controls equally. Vice versa to hit the limiter harder.
You can find the manual here.