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GTPS Compression Ultimate Guide Ebook 2
GTPS Compression Ultimate Guide Ebook 2
While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this
publication, the Author does not assumes any responsibility for errors,
omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. Of
course, please let me know if you find any errors and I’ll correct them!
Neither the Author nor its dealers or distributors, will be held liable
for any damages caused either directly or indirectly by the instructions
contained in this book, or by the software or hardware products described
herein.
Get That Pro Sound - The Ultimate Guide to Compression
Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................... 4
Why Do We Need A Guide To Compression?
2. What Is Compression, & Why Is It Useful?...................................... 5
Dynamic Range
3. The Essentials: Set Up A Compressor In 30 Seconds.................... 7
4 Steps
4. Anatomy of a Compressor Plugin.................................................... 8
Key Reverb Parameters.................................................................... 8
Other Common Parameters............................................................. 9
Compression Terminology.............................................................. 10
5. Compression Strategies: Assigning Compression In A Mix........ 12
Stage 1: Mix Balancing.................................................................... 12
Stage 2: Character Compression / Submix Compression........... 18
Stage 3: Stereo / Mix Buss Compression...................................... 21
6. Advanced Compression Techniques.............................................. 23
Parallel Compression...................................................................... 23
Sidechain Compression.................................................................. 25
7. Bonus Compression Pro Tips......................................................... 27
8. Conclusion......................................................................................... 32
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Introduction
Why Do We Need A Guide To Compression?
Part of the problem with learning about compression and using compressors effectively is that
it can be quite a challenge to even understand what compressors really do, or what it is we’re
actually trying to achieve with them. Compression has to be one of the most confusing and elu-
sive effects out there. People do ask about compression more than anything, because they find
it the hardest concept to understand or hear.
I was quite intimidated by the whole concept of compression for a long time, mainly because I
couldn’t really hear exactly what difference it was making. But no more: Now the compressor is
my best friend, and it can be yours too!
Understanding what compressor parameters do in the abstract is not actually too difficult,
given a proper explanation, but even then figuring out how best to deploy them in the context
of a mix is tricky. How do you know whether or when to compress? How much compression is
enough, or too much? What are the right attack and release times?
Compressors are your main tool for manipulating the dynamics of both individual hits and
sounds, and the mix as a whole. Of course there are many factors that contribute to the dy-
namics of a sound, or a whole track: what sort of instrument created the sound, how it was
played, and most importantly, the skill and sensitivity of the person giving the performance;
but compression is our tool used to tame or accentuate the existing dynamics, or in some cases
to introduce additional dynamics. One of the reasons people have a hard time understanding
compression at first is that the differences in dynamics they introduce can be extremely subtle
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– compression is as much about the cumulative effect of many individually compressed sounds
being brought together, and the relationships between sounds with different dynamics, as it is
an obvious process pasted over the whole track. This is why it’s important, once you grasp the
basics, to consider an overall strategy for how you’re going to implement compression in a mix
(much more on this later).
Part of the reason it’s difficult at first is that you’re listening for changes in the transients/dy-
namics rather than the frequency content. We can all tell the difference a high frequency sound
and a low one, but to the untrained ear it can be a bit more tricky figuring out what’s happen-
ing to the dynamics of sounds through a compressor, and more pertinently what settings are
going to sound the best in the context of a complete mix.
But once you get how the internal dynamics and dynamic range of individual sounds and com-
plete mixes can be controlled and shaped, not only will you feel like a sonic wizard, you’ll be
well on your way to becoming a Pro Sound master.
Remember: experiment, listen, and you’ll get it at some point. It’s easy when you know what to
listen for.
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the choruses ridiculously overbearing, or vice versa: turn everything down, and lose completely
all the details and nuances of the performance. Essentially, no static level gives a good balance
because the difference between the highest and lowest signal levels – the dynamic range – is
too large.
Compressors remedy this problem by reducing a sound’s dynamic range. It will reduce the
level differences between the loudest and quietest parts, making it easier to find a static fader
setting that works. The compressor does this by turning down – ‘compressing’ – the louder
parts so that they match the quieter parts more closely — and all it needs from you is an indica-
tion of which signals you think are too loud.
That’s the original, technical use of compression. However, things got a lot more interesting
when people realised that the ‘side-effects’ of heavier compression – smoother sounds, more
sustain, fatter notes and punchier drums – could actually be very pleasant. Compressors could
be used to manipulate the dynamics of sounds creatively: not just keeping levels within certain
technical limits, but changing the character of the sound, accentuating or diminishing certain
aspects of a single part or instrument.
So if compressors reduce dynamic range, are they making loud sounds quieter or quiet sounds
louder? The answer is they can do either.
The mechanism of compression means that loud sounds are reduced – ‘compressed’ – in level,
but compressors generally also have an output level control to compensate for the loss in gain
and bring the overall level back up.
Stay with me, because here’s a key aspect of compression: If you apply enough make-up gain to
bring the peak levels back to where they were before compression, the quieter signals will be
louder than before; so you can think of compression as both a way to make loud sounds quieter
and to make quiet sounds louder.
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As quieter parts of sounds can, in effect, be increased in level relative to the loudest peaks,
compression ultimately has the effect of boosting the average signal level. This, in turn,
means that the average energy level is higher: which generally results in a more powerful or
punchy sound, even though the peak level is unchanged.
1. First, insert a compressor plugin on an audio track. Set the Ratio to a typical starting value of
2:1 or 3:1, and immediately bring the Threshold down quite low to around -20dB to -24dB – this
will then enable you to hear very clearly what all the other controls and adjustments you’re go-
ing to make are actually doing to your sound. Once you have those optimally set, you can bring
the threshold back up to a more useable level, adjusting to taste.
2. Play back your material on the track where your compressor is inserted. Try sweeping the
Attack control from fastest to slowest, and listen to the difference in sound. Then do the same
with the Release control. Leave the Attack and Release at settings that feel appropriate to the
material you’re playing back.
3. Go back and tweak the Ratio a little bit to understand what it does. Essentially, the Ratio
compresses peaks above the threshold more. With this method, you’ll often be able to find a
combination of settings that just seems to work intuitively with your sounds, particularly drums:
this is what’s known as tuning the compressor to the sound you want to achieve.
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4. The amount of compression or Gain Reduction is usually indicated on a meter, and you can
use this as a guide to, for example, ‘apply between 3dB and 5dB of gain reduction’ on the loud-
est peaks/notes.
Threshold
This as the decibel level at which the compressor will start working. You can think of it as a line
that is lowered onto your signal: the lower the threshold level, the more the incoming signal
will be compressed. This is because more of the noise peak is now above the threshold level, so
there is more to squash.
Also keep in mind that if your incoming signal never reaches the threshold level, (or the thresh-
old is set too high), none of the signal will actually be compressed.
Ratio
This refers to how much the signal above the threshold is reduced, relative to it’s original level.
For example, if you set the ratio to 3:1, for every 3dB your incoming signal goes above the
threshold, the compressor will allow only 1dB to pass.
The level still goes over the threshold, but assuming that you set the threshold low enough and
used an appropriate ratio, the peak won’t have reached the maximum level and distort.
Attack
This refers to how fast, in milliseconds, the compressor acts on the peaks once they pass the
threshold. The attack setting becomes critical when dealing with instruments that have a pro-
nounced attack of their own, such as bass guitar or most drums, because if you’re trying to
control the peak levels, you want to make sure that the compressor is responding fast enough
to the incoming signal, with a very fast attack setting. At othe rtimes you may want to let the
attack portion of a note through and only process the later body of the sound: in this instance,
setting a slower attack time will be the way to go.
Release
This refers to how fast the compressor ‘lets go’ of the incoming signal once it has gone back be-
low the threshold level, where the signal doesn’t need to be compressed anymore. The release
time is generally longer than the attack time. You can set up a fast/short release time and cut off
the signal processing quickly, or set it slower, which would result in greater sustain on each note
or hit. Many guitar players use compression like this, for extra sustain.
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Knee
A feature common to many compressors is the option to compress with ‘hard knee’ or ‘soft
knee’. With a hard knee setting, the signal is compressed the moment it goes above the thresh-
old to the full extent of the ratio that is set. With a soft knee setting, the compression is applied
more gradually – literally more softly – making the effect of the compression less abrupt and
audible; which also means more overall compression can be applied. Soft knee compression is
typically suitable for vocals and whole mixes; hard knee compression is usually right for bass
and drums.
You can think of choosing the knee setting of a compressor as similar to setting the attack knob
– it adjusts how ‘tough’ the compressor appears to be on your signal.
Sidechain / Key
Some compressors are able to ‘listen’ to another signal and apply compression, based on that
‘sidechained’ source signal, to the process sound. The extra signal is also sometimes referred
to as the ‘Key’ or ‘Key Input’. There are subtle, technical uses for sidechain compression, but
it’s also very common as a creative effect in dance and electronic music. Here it can usually be
heard where the kick drum appears to punch holes in the bass, synth and pad parts every time
it hits, creating an extremely dynamic sucking or whooshing sound (see Breathing and Pumping
below). Sidechain compression as a specific technique is covered in a later chapter.
Stereo Link
On dual-channel compressors, the Stereo Link switch usually sums the two inputs together,
controlling them as if they were a single source. This is useful when you’re compressing stereo
signals, where you want to be sure that both channels are being compressed by exactly the
same amount, which would not otherwise necessarily be the case if you have different sounds
panned to different sides of the stereo field. For example, if you have a loud sound panned hard
to the left, the left channel level will be pulled back by the compressor, which in turn will make
the mix appear to swing towards the unprocessed (because there’s no sound) right channel.
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Compression Terminology
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One-Knob Compressors
There are also a few ‘one-knob’ compressor designs with only a single Compression control.
These generally have some kind of automatic Make-up Gain function working behind the
scenes, keeping the subjective level of the audio consistent no matter how much compres-
sion you’ve dialled in. Clearly these compressors are fast and simple to control, making them
useful for dramatic, character effects. Just be aware that it’s especially easy to overdo the
amount of compression applied with this type!
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Compression Strategies
So now we know what compressors are designed to do in principle, and how the different
controls work together to enable us to achieve that. But how do we implement compression
smartly in the real-world context of a mix, and as a creative tool? As we’ve already discussed,
effective compression is far more about creating a cumulative effect built up through a mix
than it is pasting on heavy compression at the end, all in one go. It’s time to formulate a strat-
egy, so that we can build the most effective and flexible overall effect.
Vocals
Vocals are the obvious place to start with applying compression. Although they naturally
have a very wide dynamic range, they’re the main carrier of the vital melody and lyrics in
most songs, and so you actually want to maintain a relatively small dynamic range. Even in
natural-sounding acoustic mixes, some control of vocal levels will usually be required. This
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could technically also be achieved though fader automation, but it’s typically much more ef-
fective to use compression.
1. We’ll start by catching and controlling the loudest peaks in the performance. The ratio
to start at will vary from singer to singer: some voices are very strong and loud, others will
be quieter, with a smaller dynamic range. Try starting with a 2:1 ratio on sung material (but
try as high as 6:1 for voiceovers or spoken word), use a soft-knee setting, a fast attack (e.g.
0.09ms) and medium to slow release (100ms).
2. With the vocal playing back, lower the threshold until the compressor is working on the
signal peaks – you’ll know you’re in the right ballpark when the meter is displaying between
3dB and 8dB of gain reduction on the loudest notes only.
3. Bring the Output or Make-up Gain control up to compensate for the level drop.
Bass
Compression is key for bass parts of all types – synth, electric bass guitar, acoustic – as here
it will help you get a really consistent, solid foundation on which to build the rest of your
track. Bass guitars in particular can have quite a wide natural dynamic range, but even where
the dynamics are already quite restricted compression is advised because of the importance
of controlling the levels of low mix frequencies.
Start with a 4:1 ratio, fast attack and fast-to-medium release. It can work to bring the thresh-
old down lower than you would simply to catch stray peaks: bass benefits from, and can
handle, relatively strong initial compression. Generally use a hard-knee compressor/setting if
you have the choice, as having strong control of the attack of a bass sound is key to shaping
it’s overall sound.
Drums
Drums are usually compressed due to their hard attack/transients, and can be transformed
by compression in a mix – one thing to remember is that pretty much anything you do will
be an effect. As such, it’s even more tricky to advise starting settings! But here are some tips
and things to consider:
It can be a good idea to set any drum compressor to a medium-slow attack, which will allow
more of the initial transient through, giving the hits more snap, stick or beater so they retain
teir ability to punch through a mix. You can also try aiming to set the release to a speed
where it can return to zero between beats, so the compressor is working with the groove,
not against it. When compressing a live drum performance, the best threshold and ratio set-
tings will depend on the consistency of the drummer: with a less consistent drum track, try
using a lower ratio to maintain as even a sound as possible.
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transient peaks on each hit. With a soft knee setting, start with a 4:1 ratio, fast attack and
a slightly slower release. Then, playing back, lower the threshold to grab just the loud-
est peaks, for 1-2dB of gain reduction. To adjust the snare sound to best fit your track, try
sweeping the attack faster or slower to find a sweet spot, and bringing the threshold higher
to taste e.g. an R&B ‘snap’ or more of a pop ‘slap’.
Cymbals
Start with a 2:1-3:1 ratio, fast attack – and a slow release to preserve the natural decay.
Overhead Mics
For some life-giving sizzle, try limiting (compression with an infinite/highest possible ratio)
the drum room/ambience/overhead mics fairly hard, with fast time settings, a high ratio and
low threshold. If you’re working with programmed or electronic drums rather than a live kit,
programming a constant pattern of splashy cymbal hits and compressing with the settings
above can work really well to loosen up and excite the groove.
Guitars
Distorted rock guitars often don’t need any compression at all, as anything heavily distorted
will already have been leveled out dynamically by nature of the distortion process. For
cleaner or acoustic guitar, start with a 2:1 ratio, and perhaps 4:1 for non-overdriven electric
guitar, with a low threshold. To get a good sustain, start with a 4:1 ratio, fast attack and slow
release. Then play the note you want to sustain, and raise the ratio until the sustain is as
long as you want it.
Synths
Synth parts can also often be left alone, usually because their dynamics are generally already
shaped at the programming stage to fit the role of sharp lead or more static pad, for exam-
ple.
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it’s a sure sign that some compression (or multing, see the box below) is in order.
2. Insert Your Compressor and Select A Preset. Now insert your chosen compressor into the
channel in question. An option here if you want to work quickly (which is likely when work-
ing with a alrge number of tracks in a mix) is to start with a likely-looking preset setting in your
compressor. There’s no need to give it too much thought: it’s just to get you in the right ballpark
with minimal tweaking, and you can then make any necessary adjustments next.
3. Set Threshold And Make-Up Gain. To start with, bring the threshold down low, so that the
gain reduction meter shows at least 6dB of compression on the loudest peaks. Then adjust the
make-up gain (or equivalent output level control) to bring the overall level roughly back up to
the pre-compression level.
4. Check New Level – Problem Solved? At this point, you may have solved the balance problem
without any further adjustments necessary. Play back your mix again and see if you can now
balance the compressed track better.
Yes: If you have indeed fixed the balance issue, just try gradually bringing the threshold back up
and seeing how little compression you can get away with. Pushing your channel compressors
too hard is a common mistake that can slowly suck the life out of a mix if it’s duplicated across
all your tracks, so it‘s a good idea to keep the touches of compression as light as possible at this
stage. Remember, use a little compression at various stages, so that the effect is cumulative
rather than shovelled on in one go.
No: If the balance problem is still there, try bringing the threshold down further, to see if that
makes it easier to find a decent fader level. Feel free to completely max out the control if you
like, even it if makes the result sound rather unnatural for the moment: the important thing is
to keep concentrating on the balance, and whether the compression can deliver the static fader-
level you’re after. Be bold and loose with the controls here, making fast, robust changes to the
controls as you sweep around and keep your ear out for the sweet spot where it just seems to
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Scenario 1: Taming excessive transients/peaks by isolating them from the remaining notes
with the threshold setting, and then a high ratio to clamp them down to a level more consist-
ent with those remaining note bodies.
What compressors do is reduce the amount by which a signal level exceeds the compressor’s
threshold level, so in this case you want your compressor to put up a proper fight and all but
stop the input signal from exceeding the threshold. That way you can set the threshold just
above the level of the majority of the bass part, and it will then kick in at full force only when
the over-zealous slap notes hit.
Setting a compression threshold above the majority of the note peaks allows you to compress
just the rogue slap note, but if you used a normal moderate compression you wouldn’t be able
to contain it as well as you might like. Increase the ratio higher, though, and the gain-reduction
will stamp down much more firmly on the offending level spike, preventing it from leaping out
unduly within the mix.
Scenario 2: Preserving the internal dynamics of a part with a lower ratio, that will squeeze
the entire dynamic range just enough to position the part easily within a mix balance.
In contrast to the above example, lower ratios tend to be better for instruments which have
good musical dynamics, but simply have too wide a dynamic range. Compressing with a low
ratio can be used to gently squeeze the dynamic range such that it will maintain its position in
the mix balance. However, if the ratio is set too high, the compression will iron out the part’s
internal performance dynamics and render it unmusical.
Imagine an electric guitar part where there are no dramatic level spikes, but where the overall
dynamic range is still making it difficult to balance in the mix with a static fader level. You want
your compressor to act more gently on signals overshooting the threshold level, so that you can
set the threshold just above the level of the softest notes and then subtly squeeze the whole
dynamic range down to a more manageable size.
It’s a compressor’s Ratio control that allows it to tackle these two contrasting problems, effec-
tively setting how firmly the compressor reins in signals that overshoot the threshold level. At
low Ratio settings (something like 1.5:1) the overshoots are nudged gently back towards the
Threshold, whereas at higher settings (12:1, for instance), overshoots are clamped down on
without mercy. At the highest Ratio settings (some compressors offer infinity:1), louder sounds
are effectively stopped in their tracks, unable to cross the Threshold at all. So for our first sce-
nario, a high ratio is just what is needed. For routine dynamic-range reduction tasks like that in
the second scenario though, lower ratios (up to about 3:1) will fix balance problems in a more
natural-sounding way.
In scenario 1, you’d set the Ratio up fairly high to start with, and then find a Threshold setting
that caused the gain reduction to kick in only on the excessive peaks. Once you’d done this,
you’d listen to ascertain whether you’d solved the balance problem, and then adjust the Ratio
control accordingly. Still too much slap? Increase the ratio to clamp down on the peaks more
firmly.
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In scenario 2, you might start off with a fairly low ratio of around 2:1 and then set the Threshold
so that gain reduction happens for all but the quietest notes. With the Threshold in roughly the
right place, you could then turn back to the Ratio control and tweak it one way or the other to
achieve your static fader level. If some quieter notes are still too indistinct, increase the ratio to
reduce the dynamic range further. Why not just max out the Ratio control? The danger is that if
you turn it up too high, you’ll iron out the important performance dynamics that make the part
sound musical, leaving it a bit flat and lifeless – so try to turn up the Ratio control only as much
as is required to get the balancing job done.
At this point you might be thinking: what if I needed not only to apply high-ratio control on the
loud peaks, but also more general low-ratio dynamic-range reduction on the same sound? The
answer is by chaining more than one compressor in series. This is quite common in practice,
and lets you dedicate each specific compressor to a different task. If you’re wondering what
order to put the different processors in, though, the answer isn’t quite as clear. The best solu-
tion is to try both ways and choose the one that best resolves the balance.
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B. Fast attack, slow release – Overall level change; little character change
If you partner your fast attack with a slower release, the gain-reduction will reset very little
during the drum hit itself, instead resetting itself mostly between the hits, so the balance be-
tween the transient and sustain phases of the drum will remain pretty much unchanged. The
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compressor in this case is simply making the level of each drum hit appear more consistent.
So working mostly with the attack and release controls we’ve achieved three different bal-
ance results — less transient level; more consistent hit level; and more transient level — all
with the same compressor, and potentially all from the same snare sample/recording! Of
course, it’s a good idea to pick sounds that are at least close to what you want to begin with
– but this shows you that with compression you can sculpt your sounds in a completely dif-
ferent way to EQ, for example.
Compressing Submixes
Once you’ve routed all the individual tracks to it’s corresponding submix, you can compress the
instruments in each submix together.
Remember, using compression in a mix is all about the cumulative effect – if you’re after an
exciting, hard-compressed sound, things will always sound better if you apply moderate com-
pression at several points between the individual tracks and the master output, than if you just
plaster a final stereo mix to the wall with heavy compression right at the end. Submix compres-
sion is also useful because it’s another point in the mix where you can maintain your relative
levels and frequency balances – one of the reasons that people resort to multi-band compres-
sion (see below) on the master buss is that they’re trying to do too much at the final stage, and
when they apply as much compression as they want all in one go, they get the side-effect of the
compression unbalancing their carefully constructed mix. Instead of reaching for a multi-band
compressor to compress each of the frequency bands individually to maintain the balance, it’s
much better in the long run to simply compress in sections over the course of the entire mix.
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results and sense of control you gain over your mix is absolutely worth it.
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adjustments you make along the way will not be undone when you get to the master output,
because you’ve taken the additional compression into account all along. The downside is that
it can be hard work monitoring constantly through a mix buss compressor, and there will be
times where you’re fighting against it in your efforts to balance and apply other processing to
parts – so make sure that you regularly bypass the mix buss compressor as you mix and monitor,
double-checking that it’s helping and not getting in the way.
If you find that no matter what you’re doing you’re not getting the results you want with a sub-
mixes/stereo compressor on the mix buss strategy, you could try a multi-band compressor.
Multi-Band Compression
As already mentioned, when working with material that covers a full (or at least large) fre-
quency spectrum, such as a complete mix, normal compressors tend to introduce a ‘pumping’
effect with anything more than very subtle settings. This is because the lower frequencies which
tend to trigger the compressor will normally be doing something quite different to the higher
frequencies, yet the compressor will attenuate the entire output by the same amount based on
the loudest parts, regardless of frequency. Multiband compression, as the name suggests, uses
‘crossovers’ to split the full-bandwidth input sound into sections of smaller bandwidths, which
are then compressed separately. This way you can compress the lower frequencies harder than
the highs, for example, the result being a louder, tighter mix which doesn’t pump or sound
squashed.
The reasons why multi-band compression is not always recommended are that there’s even
greater capacity for error than with regular compression – knowing where to place the crosso-
vers, how much to compress each band in relation to the others, not undoing the good tonal
balance you’ve achieved up to that point etc. all take some skill and experience. There’s also the
idea that splitting up the full mix into separately processed parts again at this late stage, when
you’re generally trying to get everything gelling together, is not going to bode well in principle.
I would never say ‘don’t ever use multi-band compression’, just be aware that if you construct
your mix well in the first place you won’t need it other than in exceptional circumstances.
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Once you know the principles of parallel compression, there are a couple of different ways to go
about setting it up. Neither is better: they are just different ways of reaching the same result.
Parallel Setup 1:
Simply duplicate (aka ‘mult’) the audio track that you want to parallel compress, and insert the
compressor on the duplicate only.
Parallel Setup 2:
Set up the compressor on a group/buss, and send a bit of each of the instruments to be paral-
lel compressed to that buss. This allows you to pass many tracks through the same compressor,
handy for fattening related tracks together, and of course saving on processor power.
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Parallel Setup 3:
You can use the mix or wet/dry knob if your compressor plugin has one, to strike the right bal-
ance between compressed/uncompressed signals.
Start with a 2:1 Ratio, Hard Knee setting, fastest (0ms) Attack and Release around 350ms. Turn
off the Auto Gain mode if your compressor model has the option, and while listening back to
your mix set the Threshold low enough that you’re getting about 20dB of gain reduction (as
we said, you can go more extreme than with normal compression). Finally, adjust the Make-
Up Gain of the compressor to get the most suitable level of compressed signal for your needs.
At this stage it’s also a good idea to toggle the mute button on and off, to compare the subtle
sonic properties of the processing with the untreated original signal. If the processing isn’t quite
working for you, try tweaking the compressor’s release time, as this can have quite a pro-
nounced effect on the sound of the processing.
Other Considerations
Different attack and release times create different effects, as do different ratios. Using a fast at-
tack and slow release removes all the transients from the signal. However, with a shorter re-
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lease time, you can create that distinctive rhythmic ‘pumping’ effect.
Also remember that different compressors have different characters, and these become par-
ticularly apparent when a compressor is pushed to the kinds of more extreme settings used for
parallel compression. Try all kinds of compressors, saturation plugins and distortion units – for
example, bitcrushers and really distressed effects can add something amazing when mixed at
low levels under the original dry part.
A yet more convenient way of implementing EQ on a compressed signal is to engage the Side-
chain EQ on the compressor itself. Which leads us nicely to:
Sidechain Compression
What Is A Sidechain?
The sidechain, or key, is the signal within a compressor which monitors the input and controls
the output level. On some compressors this will appear as an extra input labeled ‘Sidechain’, but
in others there will also be a whole host of side-chain processing options, most commonly some
kind of EQ or filter. If the compressor has an external sidechain - or key – input, you can use the
characteristics of one sound source to compress another. This is how you can use a kick drum
track to make a synth pad pump in time with the music.
When you understand the creative and technical possibilities of using the sidechain in dynamics
processing it opens up all kinds of creative possibilities, as well as new solutions to typical mix
problems.
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Get That Pro Sound - The Ultimate Guide to Compression
much more than just another type of EQ: instead of simply cutting or boosting different fre-
quencies, you can allow different frequency bands to control the amount of compression ap-
plied. When you are having trouble getting that elusive punchy, powerful sound, and EQ and
compressor plugins in series don’t seem to be delivering the results, EQing the sidechain may be
the answer.
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5. Using Compressors In The Real World: When To Use Eyes And Ears
When talking about compressor settings, it’s necessary to describe things in milliseconds and
other particular numeric values. However, don’t get too hung up about using ‘exactly the right
settings’: suggested settings are only ever hypothetical averages, and as such only a rough guide
to how a specific compressor might respond in practice. A better approach is to simply listen,
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Get That Pro Sound - The Ultimate Guide to Compression
and focus on finding the best balance with the fewest unmusical side-effects, adjusting the
Attack and Release controls by ear. Having said that, one situation when you will want to trust
your eyes is when reading a compressors gain reduction meter: this will show you how much
actual compression is being applied, and how fast the compressor is responding with it’s cur-
rent settings to the input material. This is very useful for offering visual clues as to whether the
compressor is doing what you want.
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Get That Pro Sound - The Ultimate Guide to Compression
reading obtained shows wasted gain reduction and over compression, leading to the distortion
of transients that follow silences.
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Get That Pro Sound - The Ultimate Guide to Compression
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Get That Pro Sound - The Ultimate Guide to Compression
might very well want to combine the compressor/limiter series with the benefits of Paral-
lel Compression described earlier. In such a series-parallel configuration, the compressor first
smooth’s out and brings up the levels; the limiter soft clips the peaks; and the result of that
whole process is added back to the uncompressed signal. It might sound like overkill for some,
but the result is highly controllable enhancement over a wide range of levels. If you want to go
further still you might add an EQ after the compressor, so that you can choose the specific fre-
quency range to be affected: with this setup you can add just the right hint of distortion without
going over the top, particularly in the mid-range.
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Get That Pro Sound - The Ultimate Guide to Compression
Conclusion
There’s a lot of information packed into this guide and it’s unlikely you’ll digest it all simply by
reading cover-to-cover: by all means do that first to get an overall view of what’s covered, but
after that you’ll probably get the most benefit by using it as a quick-reference resource as you
develop your abilities.
I really hope this ebook will be helpful in your next sonic adventures - let me know how you get
on with it at george@getthatprosound.com, and don’t forget to check out the GetThatProSound
blog regularly for new posts, more tips and more ebooks...
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