Help with compression

[ieatfunk]

I've been producing around a year and compression is still kicking my ass. When I see people demonstrating compression, they reduce the gain and make up the gain by the same amount and the volume doesn't change, just the perception of volume.
When I compress, I make-up the gain by the amount reduced and then level gets pushed a shit ton.
Help.

[Benji]

Compression is melting my mind too and I literally just watched this, which really helped

It might be useful even if you're not using the same VST

[charles1]

sooo what are you asking..?

[claudedefaren]

Give Densitymkii a go. it's kinda cheating if you don't understand compression, but who knows maybe it will help you learn. Definitely read the instructions so you understand what each knob does.

[ieatfunk]

Compression is melting my mind too and I literally just watched this, which really helped

It might be useful even if you're not using the same VST

Interesting, well, I have the Waves compressors, but I usually stick to the basic Logic one, though what I think I really need is some more visuals to help me understand, which the Pro-C has. I use the Pro-Q sometimes so I'll look into Pro-C and watch the vid, thanks!

sooo what are you asking..?

I'm asking what I'm doing wrong - I'm compressing but when I make-up the gain I get increased dB rather than increased perception of loudness.

Give Densitymkii a go. it's kinda cheating if you don't understand compression, but who knows maybe it will help you learn. Definitely read the instructions so you understand what each knob does.

I understand compression but in practice it doesn't work very effectively for me. I'll take a look at Densitymkii though, thanks!

[AxeD]

Make-up gain is dB increase though.

[ieatfunk]

Make-up gain is dB increase though.

Technically. You're raising the troughs of your audio by the amount you're making up. There shouldn't really be any increase in actual gain at all, just an increase in perceived loudness.

[SunkLo]

Don't match gain based on what the meters read. Match gain based on perceived loudness. You should be able to hit the bypass button without the loudness of the track going up or down. Then you can actually assess whether the compression sounds better or if you're just getting tricked by a gain increase.

[ieatfunk]

Don't match gain based on what the meters read. Match gain based on perceived loudness. You should be able to hit the bypass button without the loudness of the track going up or down. Then you can actually assess whether the compression sounds better or if you're just getting tricked by a gain increase.

That's a good tip. I usually try to resort to that, but when I do I don't hear much change. Maybe everything I've tried to compress hasn't really needed it, or I'm not very good at hearing compression.
I'm gonna get Pro-C so I have more metering to look at and to assess what's going on to help me understand it better.

[SunkLo]

Don't match gain based on what the meters read. Match gain based on perceived loudness. You should be able to hit the bypass button without the loudness of the track going up or down. Then you can actually assess whether the compression sounds better or if you're just getting tricked by a gain increase.

That's a good tip. I usually try to resort to that, but when I do I don't hear much change. Maybe everything I've tried to compress hasn't really needed it, or I'm not very good at hearing compression.
I'm gonna get Pro-C so I have more metering to look at and to assess what's going on to help me understand it better.

Get Compassion instead.

[ieatfunk]

After using Pro-C on a few channels it's really helping! I think being able to actually see the peaks and where the compressor is coming in and what it's actually taking out helps enormously!

[SunkLo]

Get Compassion instead.

[outbound]

Compression can be a lot more subtle than other FX (like EQ) and is tricky at first but give it time and keep practising because it is a massively useful tool to have when you get it right

[Untitle]

Use very little subtle ammounts of compression.

[twilitez]

That Pro-C vid is excellent and most definitely transferable to almost any 'advanced' compressor.