I FINALLY UNDERSTAND COMPRESSION

[ChadDub]

WOOHOO FOR ME I FINALLY KNOW HOW TO USE A COMPRESSOR I AM SO GLAD EXCITED WOO

[almostskate100]

Do you think you could post a quick explanation / links to information that you found useful? I use compression regularly but I'm still struggling to understand what it actually does...

[fragments]

I'm not expert, but my basic understanding is that compression basically evens out the levels of the sound by reducing the peaks. You set the threshold, and when the signal goes over the threshold the compressor reduces the volume. How quickly it begins it begins depends on the attack setting. How quickly it stops reducing the volume of the signal depends on the release setting. Compression will make a signal seem "louder" or more "up front" because you are reducing dynamics (ie; the you are squishing the peaks).

[ChadDub]

Ok like, what I use it for (or learned how to use it for) is to make shit pop out more and get louder. Drums in my case.

Say you have a kick drum and it's weak and it's peaking at -8. Put a compressor on it, set the attack down and the release up, and set the threshold to -10. Now set the ratio to 2:1. It will now peak at around -9.

The threshold is the level that the signal has to get to before the compressor turns on. So once the signal gets to -10, the compressor kicks in. The ratio controls how much of the signal is compressed, or squashed down. If you set it to 2:1, then that means for every 2 dB that passes the threshold setting, only 1 dB will make it through. So ok, since we had the threshold at -10 and the original signal peaked at -8, one dB was cut off, making it peak at -9.

Ok, now that it is compressed, you need to bump up the volume. You do this by using the gain setting. Since you compressed 1 dB, you should set your gain to 1 dB so that your kick drum is now back at it's original volume. Now your kick drum is back to it's original volume, but it is tighter and more packed down than before. The compressor's effect is more noticeable if you set the threshold lower and the ratio higher. Say if I put the threshold at -16 and the ratio at 5:1, it would cut off around half of the original -8 signal. If you bump that back up to -8 with the gain knob, it will be punchy as shit.



It's a bit complicated if you don't have it down yet, but you should be able to understand.

Most of you guys probably know all of this already but w/e I'm a beast.

[Ayatollah]

Do you think you could post a quick explanation / links to information that you found useful? I use compression regularly but I'm still struggling to understand what it actually does...

http://www.dnbscene.com/article/1474-co ... n-tutorial

this breaks it down nice and easy

[drake89]

Here's a cookie and 1 free Internet :tup:

[ChadDub]

Nevermind

[JTMMusicuk]

after i found what it does it stopped using it, some idiot at college told me everything has to be compressed in music so naturally i did just that and it ends up making the track sound so weak, use it in moderation dynamics is where its at

[um4mi]

after i found what it does it stopped using it, some idiot at college told me everything has to be compressed in music so naturally i did just that and it ends up making the track sound so weak, use it in moderation dynamics is where its at

No offense but if it was making everything sound weak then perhaps you were not using it correctly. I'm not saying the other guy was right either though. I use compression on a lot of stuff in my music to get it to stand out in the mix amongst other things. It can also even out the volume levels within a sound by making the quieter elements in a sound louder without making the louder parts any louder.. if that makes any sense.. I always use it on drums.

Anyway compression does a lot of other stuff but im not really trying to write a tutorial. I guess my point is that for me it does the opposite of making things sound weak.

I understand the importance of dynamic range in classical music and things like that, but for the most part people are making electronic club music here and its a totally different.

[JTMMusicuk]

after i found what it does it stopped using it, some idiot at college told me everything has to be compressed in music so naturally i did just that and it ends up making the track sound so weak, use it in moderation dynamics is where its at

No offense but if it was making everything sound weak then perhaps you were not using it correctly. I'm not saying the other guy was right either though. I use compression on a lot of stuff in my music to get it to stand out in the mix amongst other things. It can also even out the volume levels within a sound by making the quieter elements in a sound louder without making the louder parts any louder.. if that makes any sense.. I always use it on drums.

Anyway compression does a lot of other stuff but im not really trying to write a tutorial. I guess my point is that for me it does the opposite of making things sound weak.

I understand the importance of dynamic range in classical music and things like that, but for the most part people are making electronic club music here and its a totally different.

believe me iv hammered the compression enough to know its capabilities but i dont think its needed unless what your using has a dynamic range so large that you cant hear the quiet bits and the loud parts are too loud, with drums sometimes it can come in handy but alot of the time the sample ends up soudning squashed.
I think what changed my opinion is a thread on here which explained that most of the time compression and some other effects actually just make you think it sounds better because it brings up the volume and the louder something is the better it sounds but when you bring it back down in the mix it not as good.
A good way to check is to make sure you see what the sample sounds like before and after compression at the same volume levels.

[sunny_b_uk]

Most of you guys probably know all of this already but w/e I'm a beast.

haha
all good! we all sometimes miss out things on accident.
i dont use compressors much (only parallel compression sometimes). i only bother with it on certain sounds.
i prefer using EQ, distortion, saturation, overdrive, waveshaping etc.
for punch/a better sit in the mix.. il use a transient shaper, i use them on most channels

[Jas0n]

That's as good an explanation of compression as I've found, I like it. Matter of fact, just 'cause of you OP, I'm going to go put a Compressor on a snare somewhere.

[ChadDub]

That's as good an explanation of compression as I've found, I like it. Matter of fact, just 'cause of you OP, I'm going to go put a Compressor on a snare somewhere.

DAYUM SOOOONNNNNN

INFLUENCIN ******

[Jas0n]

Matter of fact, fuck a snare, I'm gonna comp some industrial samples, shit's gonna be damn near HARD PANNED too.

[55stevieboy2010]

anyone name me a good compressor i can dl/buy? atm im using abletons standard 1 and ive heard its a bit aids

[ChadDub]

As far as I know all comps are the same basically. idk.

[skimpi]

cool bro! i use compression the most for sidechaining really, and then secondly to make things punch throught more by changing the transient shape so it cuts through better or just has a better punch. very rarely do i use it to level out a signal, but i do. also good when you want the heavily compressed sounds obvssss

[Mammoth]

Super job slugger!

[ChadDub]

Super job slugger!

[ChadDub]

Guys, I made this equation last night for fun:

(Input Signal - Threshold){DIV}(Ratio)+Threshold=Compressed Signal

I am a math WIZARD. LIKE MATILDA.