Compression Tip

Hi Guys,br
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Just wanted to share a cool little tip for setting your compressors up, it works on any track and helps to prevent over-compression (in some cases!).br
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One of the biggest problems I find with my students (I’m a teacher!) is that they don’t understand the controls of a compressor and as such fiddle around until it sounds loud. I have found that this technique helps the students listen to the impact of the compressor and helps preserve those lovely transients and grooves that exist in every track!br
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The first point to make is this, compression as a multiplicative effect. If you have a vocal compressed at 4:1 on the vocal track and then a buss compressor at 2:1 your resultant compression ratio is 8:1 NOT 6:1 as many people believe. The maths prove this (and I can support it with the maths if anybody is interested!) this is a common cause for individual tracks to sound squashed and over-compressed in a mix…br
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So how to st a compressor? Begin with these settings …br
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Threshold - turned right downbr
Ratio - at maximumbr
Attack - at minimumbr
Release - at minimumbr
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Sounds cool doesn’t it :pbr
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Now play with the Attack and listen for the transient, it should start to jump out as you turn the attack up, you can change the perceived “size” of the transient by increasing the attack.br
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Now increase the release until either (a - for individual percussive sounds) you hear the transient in semi-isolation from the tail or (b - for busses/any other sound) the sound “breathes” back in with the groove of the track.br
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Now decrease the ratio until you can hear the above sounds (from attack and release setting) in a subtle way.br
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Finally raise the threshold until you are seeing an amount of gain reduction that you are happy with (I usually aim for no more than -6dB - usually around -3dB…)br
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This is great for getting tracks to gel in the mix but also prevents you from getting too much of a squashed sound and provides a transparent compression.br
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Experiment with it, I think you may be surprised at how little compression you need to make a track bounce ;)br
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John

cool :cool:

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I’ll have a go at making a video, not done it before so should be an adventure!/PPJohn

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A quick written explanation behind the maths!br
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So, for a vocal example of 6:1, sat at the front of our mix. When gain reduction occurs, every 6 dB we put through the compressor ends up as 1 dB (12dB would be 2dB, 18db would be 3dB) I’m sure you can see the pattern. Now our vocal triggers our second compressor at 2:1. This means that our signal is halved on top of it being a 6th of its original power. 18db would effectively be reduced to 1.5dB IF both compressors were triggered!br
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Let’s look at the maths behind this using 18dB as a reference.br
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1st compressor @ 6:1 reduces 18dB to 3dBbr
2nd compressor @ 2:1 reduces 3db to 1.5 dBbr
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In order to find our original signal level (18dB) we should be able to times the ratios by the final signal heard (1.5dB)br
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Additive Ratio theorybr
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6 + 2 = 8br
8 x 1.5 = 12 (not our original signal level)br
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Multiple Theorybr
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6 x 2 = 12br
12 x 1.5 = 18 (our original signal level).br
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So IF compression occurs at the same time, even if it is the overall mix that triggers the compression, we multiply, not add our compression ratios!

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Rob, sorry for the late reply …br
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Ditch the audio calculator and use your ears …br
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Follow the steps above, for vocals use RMS mode not peak. Threshold all the way down, ratio all the way up attack and release to 0 …br
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Now pull up the attack until you can hear the transient clearly, it might sound like a small click to start with, if you are struggling to hear then pull up the gain control (makeup gain should be switched off for this) as you pull up the attack you should hear the click get bigger, thats the compressor letting the transient through (attack sets how long, after a sound goes above the threshold, it takes for compression to start). Get the transient sound as thick as you want it, it will add attack and bite to the vocal!br
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Now play with release, listen for a pumping groove on the decay of the sound, if you want to use the audio calculator for real specifics the do, but you should focus on the groove of the individual part in order to create a sense of movement … (release controls how long, after a sound drops below the threshold, it takes for compression to stop).br
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You should now have the top and tail of the sound sorted, you now need to raise the ratio until you can just hear the impact of the processing you have done. You may find a ratio as low as 2:1 will work! br
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Now raise the threshold until you are getting a small amount of gain reduction … this will keep the vocal from sounding squashed, however, if a squashed sound is what you are after then push up the ratio to make the compression more obvious!br
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Hope this helps, it just takes a bit of practice and heavy use of your ears to get used to the sounds. :slight_smile:

Thank you John! :cool:

great thread, bookmarked for sure :slight_smile: