It’s one of the most used yet least understood audio shaping techniques. A common compressor application is to clamp down on unwanted signal peaks, without compressing the overall signal. The release refers to how long it takes for the compressor to revert to normal, or to an uncompressed state. You’ve heard the advice a thousand times — don’t over-compress your tracks. For example: Imagine a whisper and a scream on the same audio track. You’ll need to be able to approach your compressors with a goal-oriented mind-set. To change exactly how the signal is reduced after crossing the threshold, we’ll need to look at the other controls on our compressor. Audio Compression Explained – How it Works and When to Use it. Dynamic range simply refers to the difference between the loudest and quietest parts of your audio. Begin by lowering the threshold just until the very loudest signal peaks are being compressed (check your gain reduction meter). At this point, crank up the ratio as high as it will go — 20:1 creates an effective sonic barrier, and higher settings offer even more peace of mind. A fast attack time is great if you have a sudden spike in volume but a slower attack time will allow the initial transient to pass unaffected, which is vital for instruments such as drums. Dealing With Imposter Syndrome: Making It Or Faking It? Faster attack and release settings will help focus the compression on the peaks without affecting the audio before and after each peak. Your email address will not be published. This would also mean for every 4dB past the threshold the signal will be reduced to 2dB. Kieran is also a guitarist and has performed across the UK. This changes how the gain reduction behaves around the threshold level, but not all compressors have this. Attack determines the time to reach the compression values. Because compression essentially lowers the volume of your audio in a dynamic, intelligent way, you may need to apply some makeup gain to bring the signal level back up after compression occurs. But you absolutely need to maintain control over the dynamic range of your recordings if you want a professional sound. There’s a lot of nuance in artfully controlling dynamic range, and spending some time practicing with a compressor is one of the most valuable things you can do to grow your mixing skills. He has written, produced and recorded for BBC Radio, mixed tracks from Kendall Calling Festival and worked on broadcast sessions for national TV. Are you trying to tame excessive signal spikes on a hi-hat? Exclusive deals, delivered straight to your inbox. Start with this turned all the way up (typically fully clockwise), or at least higher than the signal level you’re sending it. Listen as you make the attack and release faster or slower. Typically you will see either a needle or meter start to move when the compression begins. To learn more about our cookie policy, please check our Privacy Policy. Once you have reduced the volume with compression, simply use the makeup gain to bring the signal back up to the same level as the dry signal and it will now sound louder. It is an extremely important part of mixing and mastering. Get Directions | Typical settings may look like this: Threshold: –8dB. A/B’ing, or comparing your uncompressed and your compressed signal, is a great way to learn. Required fields are marked *. This lets you add more gain to your compressed signal, it’s really just a simple volume control and will probably be labelled “Makeup” or “Output”. Sweetwater has a host of compressor options, from hardware units to the modeling plug-ins and the latest software iterations. At extreme ratio settings (10:1 or higher), a compressor is effectively the same as a limiter, preventing signal levels from spiking beyond a certain point. Tropical studio vibes with @paradisestudiosuk and, Evening sessions with @iampaulkalkbrenner , Only the most high-tier spaces at @larrabeestudios, Beautiful studio space. Sweetwater Sound A good compression setting has a fast attack to catch the stray transient, a quick release so that the compression doesn’t color the sound of the singer, and a low ratio so that when the compressor does go on, it smoothes out the vocals without squashing them. Dynamic range is the difference between the loudest and quietest parts of an audio signal. can sometimes do more harm than good if not applied correctly. The higher the number the higher the amount of compression. With soft knees, the signal is more loosely affected as it approaches the threshold but still tightens up again eventually. If the signal level is not reached, no compression takes place. Compression is a great way of adding punch and aggression to your drums, but setting a fast attack time can negatively effect the sound by ‘choking’ the drum hits and destroying transients. The key thing to remember is that a compressor responds to signal level, and an equalizer adjusts the signal level of various parts of the frequency spectrum — that means an equalizer placed before a compressor can have a big impact on how the compressor behaves. A simple way of doing this is looping your track, and reducing the threshold until you hear or see the compressor begin to work. Compression. We’ve all seen horror movies where a softly spoken scene is interrupted with a loud jump scare from a ghost or monster. Ratio: 1.5:1–2:1 in Recording,Tips and Guides . - @_madebypet, We're loving the symmetry in this sleek set up fro, 10 Best Mini Distortion Pedals (That Money Can Buy In 2020), I Enrolled At Point Blank Music School (Here’s My Review), 6 Of The Best Audio Interfaces For Beginners (2020), Fusing Sound Design & Architectural Principles (Interview With Ténèbre), Empowering Communities Through Knowledge Sharing (Interview With Stranjah), It’s All In The Details (An Interview With Objectiv), 11 Organizations Making A Difference To Music & Mental Health. This guide will help you understand exactly how to use a compressor to improve your mixdowns and get that pro sound. If you feel like the track has lost some punch and impact, slow down the compressor’s attack time to allow more transients to come through uncompressed. Being music makers ourselves, we love geeking out on all things gear. There are a few pitfalls with compression however. Especially if you can’t really hear whether compression is occurring, the gain reduction meter will tell you exactly how hard the compressor is working (or not). Because compression essentially lowers the volume of your audio in a dynamic, intelligent way, you may need to apply some makeup gain to bring the signal level back up after compression occurs. As a general rule a good track will have balanced dynamics and this is important to remember when applying compression. Understanding the controls on your compressor will help you achieve your goals faster, and that’s what this article is all about. This allows the compressor to evaluate the incoming signal’s dynamics and automatically set the attack and release times accordingly. Compression, in its conventional usage, causes the louder parts of your audio signal to be reduced in volume. As you’re turning that threshold down to allow the compressor to start grabbing your audio, really listen for what it’s doing to your track. Increase the ratio to around 6:1, 8:1, or even 10:1. The threshold relates to loudness, or more specifically how loud your signal has to go before the compressor kicks in, and it is typically expressed in decibels (dB). 7 Pro Vocal Mixing Techniques From 7 Pro Engineers. Once you can hear how the compression sounds, listen as you turn the ratio up and down. A great tip if you are a beginner is to try compression on everything. I know it can be confusing which is why I wrote Audio Compression For Dummies. More dynamics create more effective mixes. The first thing you need to do is set at what point the compressor will start working. If you need inspiration, check out some of our favorite tips from legendary producers! You need to reduce the dynamic range of most audio signals for them to sound natural on a recording. Use the output level or gain control on your compressor in conjunction with its bypass button to quickly compare and match the level of your compressed audio to the incoming signal. Dynamic effects—Compression and Distortion; Filters; By the end of this article, you’ll know what audio effects are, how they work and how to use them. Copyright © 2018-2020. This website uses cookies to improve your experience.
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