Question about Compression

[Tony]

Hi guys,

Currently learning about the Compression !

So, i've a question for you, when do you use compression ? Do you use on all your channels ?

Or only for Kick / Bass for example ?

Thanks

[Merah]

I like to use compression a lot, sometimes quite drastically. I think as a beginner i underestimated the importance of compression quite a lot.

The main thing i use it for is to control transients in the mix, i always end up with a comp (usually glue or kotelnikov) on the master bus to gell the mix together and enhance groove.

[innovine]

How much salt should I put on my dinner? Should I put salt on every meal? Which salt is best?

[TheBinaryMind]

How much salt should I put on my dinner? Should I put salt on every meal? Which salt is best?

You never read a cookbook for a recipe?

Anyway, I sometimes put a compressor on a bass line channel, triggered by the kick via side-chain, so they don't get in each other's way in the lower frequencies. I also put a compressor to a kick channel with a high attack if the kick lacks a bit of punch. And there's the obvious application when some parts of a track need more presence in the mix, compression can do the trick.

I never add compression to the master bus btw. If the track goes to a mastering engineer, he will take care of compression.

[Lost to the Void]

Yeah that's a bit of a difficult question to answer.
How often do you use any effect?

I use compression when it is needed for technical reasons or for creative reasons when I want it. I am somewhat of a compression fanatic and I collect compressors like trading cards.

I don't compress everything, that will flatten a mix and leave to problems at mastering, and generally I always compress bass to control the energy levels and I usually compress or saturate, or dynamically effect drums or anything where the transients are a little too spikey.


There are so many creative applications as well as technical applications of compression, it's too much to deal with in a non specific thread.

Yes, I compress bro!

[Lost to the Void]

You never read a cookbook for a recipe?

I also put a compressor to a kick channel with a high attack if the kick lacks a bit of punch.

To increase the punch of a kick you actually need to do completely the opposite, you want to have a slower attack so the transient and initial wack is at full volume before the full gain reduction comes on for the body. This will increase punch.

With a fast attack you are simply reducing the overall dynamic range of the kick, which doesn't increase punch but will increase apparent loudness or size (providing you are using make up gain afterwards), making the kick seem larger.

[TheBinaryMind]

You never read a cookbook for a recipe?

I also put a compressor to a kick channel with a high attack if the kick lacks a bit of punch.

To increase the punch of a kick you actually need to do completely the opposite, you want to have a slower attack so the transient and initial wack is at full volume before the full gain reduction comes on for the body. This will increase punch.

With a fast attack you are simply reducing the overall dynamic range of the kick, which doesn't increase punch but will increase apparent loudness or size (providing you are using make up gain afterwards), making the kick seem larger.

Yeah that's what I meant actually, I meant high as in high number of milliseconds, leading to a slow attack. Thanks for your comment

[Lost to the Void]

Use the correct terminology then you slag
High\low - threshold, fast\slow - attack
Extremely\not at all - pedantic

[off_axis]

How much salt should I put on my dinner? Should I put salt on every meal? Which salt is best?

^

Seriously, there is like one thread every two days on the subject on every production forums, countless tutorials, and lot of good books about production that cover everything you need to know about compression (hint : not much). There is so much things way more interesting than compression to talk about.

[terryfalafel]

How much salt should I put on my dinner? Should I put salt on every meal? Which salt is best?

^

Seriously, there is like one thread every two days on the subject on every production forums, countless tutorials, and lot of good books about production that cover everything you need to know about compression (hint : not much). There is so much things way more interesting than compression to talk about.

Shut it buttnugget

[Planar]

There is no answer to these questions, it's all about context. The only sensible way to use compression is to first understand what is does. Then when you understand it, then always ask yourself before adding it, "why am I doing this?". If you can't answer that question, then you're more likely to do more harm than good with it. Obviously to learn that you'll need practice and experimentation, but I wouldn't risk that on a track you really like.

I think compression is great for glueing sounds together (mainly the drum bus), as a parallel effect and controlling wild dynamics across a wide frequency (multiband compression). I don't really use it to shape single sounds.

[thebearmanbear]

I find in techno that compression isn't really ever used for such utilitarian,pedestrian purposes.it's almost always used as some kind of groove enhancer/accent placer etc.i think techno is one of those genres where the less you know, the better it will turn out.you can get by quite a bit with just listening to how it effects the dynamics of the sound,parts or arrangement you apply it to.at the end of the day,it's all well and good being Gandalf with setting the parameters on EQ and compression,but it means shit if it doesn't translate to something musically complimentary.something which is missing in a lot of today's music.a lot of technical wankery purely for the sake of it

This might only be my own recent philosophy though.considering i've recently started a path to unlearning things after years of being a "Gandalf"

[Mattias]

i think techno is one of those genres where the less you know, the better it will turn out.

I must totally disagree with you.

[Lost to the Void]

Me too, pretty much any production/mixed based music is generally better when you know how to mix/produce.

That`s not to say you can`t go off the map or experiement.

[samnatur]

I usually just group together my kick and bassline and compress both of them through the same compressor.

[Mattias]

That's very old school, it's nice when it works. Personally when I attempt the same thing I send kick & bass to a bus and slap the comp on there so i can EQ the kick and bass individually.

[borg]

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep09/a ... deeasy.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may08/a ... ession.htm

not techno oriented, but the principles stay the same. learn about the different kinds of compressors (opto, fet, vca,...), experiment with different types on different material, be aware of the difference between compression in sound design and in mixing your tracks, (and as a note to myself) go over the process again to gain experience.

and do search the immense wealth of information already present in the forum...

[surface]

That's very old school, it's nice when it works. Personally when I attempt the same thing I send kick & bass to a bus and slap the comp on there so i can EQ the kick and bass individually.

another little nugget of golden goldiness...

I'm a compression novice in that I'm always just toying around with things.
Compression on kicks, sidechaining bass, etc. are kind of standard fair when exploring it's uses (and the endless tutorials on it get really fucking repetitive too, i found).

One thing I really enjoy is using it on my own field recordings, especially if they get some lofi treatment and have a wide dynamic range.
It can bring out nice textures and tones in ways.

Was just thinking earlier about using sidechaining on some similar type sounds,say 2 different pads in a similar freq range, using the first pad with an lfo on the amplitude (and maybe a second lfo on the lfo1 frequency and automating it) as the trigger for the sidechain on the other, more sustained pad... Or maybe using the same field recording where one is reversed? Might be interesting...

[samnatur]

Yes, compression on small sounds can really make them pop. A thing I've been doing with field recordings is to SEVERELY compress the low-end of the sound, especially if there isn't really a low-end to begin with. It can result in very cool rumble sounds.

[Exercise Bike]

It pains me to listen to the compression on my old tunes Nowadays I like to just tickle my sounds with compression, I also do a fair bit of sidechaining, but I think because I know how easy it is to go overboard (and how I used to) I tend to hold back rather than going it just for the sake of it. Different story for field recordings as they often need the compression to highlight the more interesting elements and can vary so greatly in amplitude