How compression works
If you are a bit confused about the true purpose of a compressor,
this should open your eyes a bit.
There is more to compression than simple volume control.
Compression also plays a dynamic and rhythmatic role.
Lets say the E’s below represents a sound over a period of time
with no compression.
EEEEEEEE
Depending on your compression settings, this sound can be affected differently.
Let’s say we want to catch the snap of the kick drum but don’t want
too much boominess, you may want to use a fast attack and a longer
decay. The results might look something like this.
Eeeeeeee
Notice the size of the letter representing volume changes.
Now if you wanted to just do a quick compression to control part
of the sound & then let the volume bounce back up, you would have a
shorter decay which would look a bit like this:
EeeeeEEE
A good way of using these compression settings would be on guitar
to keep it under control in a mix, while also creating a subtle rhythm
with how that compression pushes the volume down & then releases it.
You might be asking “why is the sound getting quieter when the
compressor is on?” That’s because it IS pushing the sound volume
down but when you adjust the output volume gain, the sound has
more punch.
Think of it like this:
If i have a sheet of paper and tried to throw it at you, it wouldnt have
much effect, but if i crumple that paper more tightly (compress) and
throw it at you it will have more impact.
If you want to learn more on the subject, Mastering Engineer
Bob Katz wrote a great book called “Mastering audio” that goes
into compression really well. I would highly recommend it. Even
though some of the information might seem fairly technical, it’s
definitely a good read.
Hope this helps a little. Cheers,
Happy music making!
Jason
With that said, if you are benefiting from these posts, you will absolutely love my 2 bestselling books:
The Mental Game of Music Production
The Process for Electronic Music Producers
You can also Check out the: Ableton Courses & Instruments
If you are looking for personal guidance with your music production or Ableton, you can set up a free chat with me to go over exactly what your best next steps are to create the best music of your life. If it seems like a good fit, we can move forward from there. https://musicsoftwaretraining.com/private-coaching
Happy music making!
Jason
Hey Jason,
That really clears up a lot of things about compression. I sort of had an idea of what compressors did I mean you could hear it, but the EeeeEEE really nailed it. Great Work!!!!
-Angelo V.
Thanks a lot for the expaination. I’ve been trying to learn ableton for quite some time on my own and it was been a very, very slow process, but this definitely helped me get a better understanding on what to do to improve a more distributive balance to the track. I appreciate it!
Yo Jas!
Finally someone is talking my language and not making things overly complicated. Nice simple explanations.
Very much appreciated!
Hello Jason,
I found that quite explicit and practical.
Thanks
Thanks Jason for the info. Don’t hesitate to explain anything else that us noobs would find helpful.