Compression.. any good links to tutorials?

gort · Post by **gort** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:19 pm

Compression is one of those things I still havent come close to mastering. I rely too heavily on the presets. I was hoping some of you could share some links to some good articles on it for me to read...

thanks

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:36 pm

It's not a free tutorial, but the book called The Dance Music Manual has the best compression chapter I've read yet.

AOnline · Post by **AOnline** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:52 pm

I second that! That book is brilliant and is helping me with loads of explanations... good start for anyone!!

Stiff · Post by **Stiff** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:57 pm

Check out The Project Studio Handbook. Tons of good info.

laird · Post by **laird** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:11 pm

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_ar ... ssion.html
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan01/a ... vanced.asp
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Aug02/a ... tiband.asp

djyakov · Post by **djyakov** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:19 pm

Couple of thoughts:

Gentle compression is a wonderful technique, but use it carefully -- many dance tracks are compressed too much and don't have good dynamics.

When you use compression, check the "average volume" after processing. Tracks with good dynamics have an average volume of around -13 Decibels with a peak of -0.5. If the track is over-compressed, the average volume could be around -10 Decibels, which is too loud.

We teamed up with iZotope (the makers of Ozone) to create Platinum Notes software that applies expansion/compression to your MP3 and WAV files. You may find this interesting (check the Overview): http://www.PlatinumNotes.com

gort · Post by **gort** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:30 pm

thanks a bunch everyone... great info !

the ar · Post by **the ar** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:32 pm

Pretty obvious wiki link, but it definitely delivers the basics, and a bit more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_level_compression

gort · Post by **gort** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:49 pm

cool. like i siad in the 1st post, i have been relying on presets and my ear so far. but recently i had a project where i had a moog bassline with a drum track. i had some compression on the drum track AND some compression on the Main track. it sounded ok to me, but when i rendered later, i noticed that it was just sounding muddy and flat. my snare wasnt punching thru anymore and my bass sounded distant.

so, i know i need to make some adjustments manaully.. time to learn up once and for all...

thanks again

djyakov · Post by **djyakov** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:54 pm

gort wrote:cool. like i siad in the 1st post, i have been relying on presets and my ear so far. but recently i had a project where i had a moog bassline with a drum track. i had some compression on the drum track AND some compression on the Main track. it sounded ok to me, but when i rendered later, i noticed that it was just sounding muddy and flat. my snare wasnt punching thru anymore and my bass sounded distant.

so, i know i need to make some adjustments manaully.. time to learn up once and for all...

thanks again

gort, how about using side-chain compression? It's a useful technique that may help you "cut through" the sound.

gort · Post by **gort** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:08 pm

yeah, ive meesed with sidechaining a bit. great stuff! i actually designed the GUI for a freeware one.. haha but i SUCK at using it! just need to practice it a bit more.

laird · Post by **laird** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:45 pm

Side-chaining would solve that issue if you compressed tracks OTHER than your drums.

if you are killing the "punch" of your drums... mess with attack times (i.e. increase them) on the compressor on ytour drum track. This will, in effect, make you compress less. Less compression = more dynamics = more punch.

ANywho, the wiki and guides explain better WHY... but it seems likely this is what you should read up on and mess around with, imo.

PS: using your ears = good on ya!

TheAnimal · Post by **TheAnimal** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 10:15 pm

laird wrote:http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_ar ... ssion.html
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan01/a ... vanced.asp
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Aug02/a ... tiband.asp

Cool, they even covered multiband compression. Just heard about the technique today for the first time.