Compression - In Depth

[rubixdub]

Cheers for posting this
Safe

[serox]

nice one!

[graish]

thanks man

[upstateface]

Sweet

[deadly_habit]

Sweet

if you can track down last months i think SoS (sound on sound) they had a whole article on compression as well

[ENZA]

awesomeee

[brex]

<3

[OlzaMK]

Very informative thread. Thank you for this vast amount of pirate treasure.

[kontrol]

Thank you.

[RandomEyez]

Feel the need to echo the gratitude for the post!

Compression is something I feel I understand reasonably well but if I go a while without paying it much attention, I start to forget what its all about. (a bit like the meaning of Donnie Darko)

That was really easy to read, and its got me thinkin again.

Merci beaucoup!

[Ldizzy]

wow. greatness.

bet u could write some crazy dubstep-oriented mixing content...

[Y_H]

Thank you!

[mrlithium]

Yeah this totally helped me finally figure what all this talk is all about especially where it delves into the separations between technical and creative uses of compression. What I need to know now is what compressors to use and when, I have the Waves suite and the names are C2 L3 its really confusing - so I've just been using the Ableton default one.

[Ldizzy]

Yeah this totally helped me finally figure what all this talk is all about especially where it delves into the separations between technical and creative uses of compression. What I need to know now is what compressors to use and when, I have the Waves suite and the names are C2 L3 its really confusing - so I've just been using the Ableton default one.

when you buy something this pricy, u have to read its manual. otherwise it's just like you're throwing away your money.

they are great tools and waves write amazing manuals.

[AllNightDayDream]

What i never understood was when people talk about how you need a "good" compressor. I know some of these machines go for exhorbitant prices. The process seems simple enough, so what sets apart a "good" compressor from "bad"?

[wub]

What i never understood was when people talk about how you need a "good" compressor. I know some of these machines go for exhorbitant prices. The process seems simple enough, so what sets apart a "good" compressor from "bad"?

Our own ears, by way of complex physiological processes, do a fine job of compressing by responding to roughly the average loudness of a sound. Good compressor design includes a detector circuit that emulates the human ear by responding to average signal levels. Even better compressor designs also have a second detector that responds to peak signal levels and can be adjusted to clamp peaks that occur at a specific level above the average signal level.

That being said, hardware compressors each add their own unique sound to signals that are run through them. Some of the audio engineers (and if Macc is around, maybe he can confirm this) have trained their ears to know the difference that the different compressors will make to the signal they are applied to, and thus choose the right compressor for the job as and when required.

[nowaysj]

Something I don't get about compressors and compression, is that they often don't reduce the dynamic range. They increase it. Often that initial transient peak is fast enough to make it through before the compressor clamps down, then it clamps down, and decreases the volume of the rest of the signal until it fully releases. How can you actually transparently compress a signal, meaning actually reduce the dynamic range? I've been using a limiter to tame these transient peaks a bit, after the compressor, but is there a compression technique that would catch those peaks, and reduce their gain, but not just chop them in the way a limiter does?

[zonetrooper5]

Should be more productions tips/guides like this in the forum rather than a hundred billion how to make pro bass threads, big up to Shig for this thread however old it is haha.

[frankynuts]

Thanks for the info dude!
especially the compression settings!