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Mixing 2 - Presence - Compression: A Compressor Compresses Dynamic Range: Loud Parts Get Softer, Soft Parts Get Louder

The document discusses compression and its use in mixing music. Compression compresses the dynamic range of a sound by turning down loud parts and turning up quiet parts, making the overall volume more consistent. This allows the mixer to have louder quiet parts without loud parts being too loud. The main controls of a compressor are threshold, ratio, attack, and release. Compression can help balance transients and body volume but must be used carefully to avoid hurting the sound quality or causing pumping/ducking artifacts. Small amounts of compression applied in multiple stages generally works better than large compression at the end.

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Lucas Ferrari Rabelo
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47 views

Mixing 2 - Presence - Compression: A Compressor Compresses Dynamic Range: Loud Parts Get Softer, Soft Parts Get Louder

The document discusses compression and its use in mixing music. Compression compresses the dynamic range of a sound by turning down loud parts and turning up quiet parts, making the overall volume more consistent. This allows the mixer to have louder quiet parts without loud parts being too loud. The main controls of a compressor are threshold, ratio, attack, and release. Compression can help balance transients and body volume but must be used carefully to avoid hurting the sound quality or causing pumping/ducking artifacts. Small amounts of compression applied in multiple stages generally works better than large compression at the end.

Uploaded by

Lucas Ferrari Rabelo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Mixing 2 - Presence - Compression

Mixing is the work of giving our music four things: clarity, presence, space and
color.

For presence, compression is our primary tool.

A compressor compresses dynamic range: loud parts get softer,


soft parts get louder.
▪ Many sounds have a wide dynamic range; sometimes they’re soft, sometimes
they’re loud. This can pose a problem when we decide where to set their volume.
If it’s loud enough to hear the soft parts, then the loud parts are too loud. If the
loudest part are the right volume, the soft parts get lost.
▪
▪ A compressor compresses the dynamic range by turning down the volume when
the sound is too loud, defined by a threshold you set. By taming the peaks of
volume, we can turn up the quiet parts without the loud parts getting too loud.
This helps us make sounds which sound full and rich but don’t overpower.

Tour of a compressor
Most compressors have a few of the same controls:
▪ Threshold - a volume level. When the volume of the sound goes over this level,
the compressor is engaged.
▪ Ratio. When the compressor is engaged, it turns down the excess volume by this
amount. A 2:1 ratio means that it will cut the excess volume in half. 10:1 means it
will cut the excess volume to 10%.
▪ Attack. The length of time it takes for the compressor to be engaged after the
threshold is broken. A short attack means the compressor will quickly soften the
peak, a long attack will let initial peak through and start quieting the sound more
gradually.
▪ Release. The length of time before the compressor disengages, after the threshold
is no longer crossed.
▪ Knee. Lets you adjust how gradual the
▪ Make-up / output gain. Adjusts gain (volume) at the end.
▪ Gain Reduction meter. (GR). This shows you how much volume is being taken
off the top. If it is bouncing, the compressor is engaging.

The Ableton compressor has three visualization modes. They each help you
conceptualize it differently. Use them.

Transients vs. Body

Transients are the initial attack of the sound - the body is the rest.

One way to think about compression is that it lets us rebalance the relative volumes
of the transients and the body, the peaks and the valleys of a waveform.

The compressor tames the peaks, so we can turn up the body.


What’s a peak? Anything over the threshold.
How much does it tame it? The ratio.

Rules of Thumb

Do no harm.
A compressor can hurt a sound: make it less punchy, more lifeless, more
monotonous to listen to.

Be honest!
If you are using a compressor to make your sound a lot louder, you
cannot honestly assess whether it is improving the sound. This is
because louder sounds are more immediately appealing to the ear. It
can trick you into making the sound worse.
To compare apples to apples, only boost the output by the amount of
gain it is reducing. To measure this, look at the volume slider on the
mixer. To the top left, there’s a number - it’s the recent peak level.
Turn off the compressor, check that number. Turn on the compressor,
check that number. The difference is what you should set the
Out/Makeup level to.
You can also do this visually in Activity View, the third view
on the Ableton compressor.
Fast attack = less punch.
A fast attack will catch more initial transients. A slower attack lets the
transients through.

Look out for distortion on low frequency sounds


If your attack time is less than the time it takes for a single wave cycle, it can
distort your sound.

Look out for ducking / pumping


“Ducking” is the audible sound of the compressor engaging. “Pumping” is
the audible sound of the compressor releasing. With natural sounds, it’s
undesirable, but it can be used as an effect (as in side chain pumping).

Compress in small amounts in several stages.


You’ll get better results if you compress the instrument a bit, then the group
a bit, then the master a bit, than if you try to compress a lot at the end.

Parallel compression
Want a beefy super-compressed sound but don’t want to destroy the natural
punch? Get the best of both worlds with parallel compression. Dial in an over
compressed sound, and then dial back Dry/Wet so you’re mixing the original
signal (with the punchier natural transients) with the compressed sound. Classic
use is drums, also is great on voices.

Glue Compression
Ableton recommends the effect Glue Compressor on drums.

Multiband Compression
This is the compressor you should use on your Master track. It compresses low
medium and high frequency ranges separately, so your kick drum doesn’t make
your high pads duck etc.

Sidechain Compression

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