23 Compression tips

The basics
Compression basically explained: the reason people ask about compression more
than anything is because they find it the hardest concept to understand or hear.
A
basic explanation I heard when I first started was thinking of compression like
an
automatic volume control, when the audio is loud it gets turned down and when it
's
soft it gets turned up. This means sharp signals are now curved and fading signa
ls
are now picked up and last longer. It also means smoother sounds and fatter note
s.
Soft knee, hard knee
Unless you have a software compressor or a really high-end model, you won't be
able to choose the setting. You simply have to decide whether to get a soft knee
compressor or a hard knee one. Try to buy a soft knee compressor as it will be
useful on practically everything without crushing the sound. Mostly used on voca
ls
and mixes, it means a larger amount of compression can be applied, while hard
knee compressors, which can be heard working, will be typically used on bass. It
is
more of an audible effect than soft knee.
Yours is a Urei
Kate Bush was rumoured to have two compressors across her vocals: the infamous
studio compressor Urei 1176 one on its flat-out setting (all ratio buttons pushe
d in)
and another added just in case any peaks got through. It sounds crazy, but the
1176 is famous because of its super-soft character on vocals, and on this high a
setting she would have had every breath picked up by the mic and every peak
squashed. This gave her a unique sound.
Vocals
Vocals are one of the hardest and most dynamic sounds you may come across. My
advice would be to try and catch the peaks in the song. Use soft knee, set the r
atio
around 2:1 (but maybe as high as 6:1 for voiceovers and spoken word), attack to
0.09ms, release to 100ms then adjust the threshold to catch the loudest parts of
the
song, so you get about 8dB of reduction.
Get what you pay for
Software compressors are fantastic now and the built-in compressor in Emagic's L
ogic has done the job for me on
many vocals now. However, I still went out and paid for a classic compressor lik
e the hand-wired perfection of the
all-valve Chiswick Reach. This put across the outputs of Pro Tools is amazing. A
lot of money compared to
software, but the sound is worth every penny.
The beat goes on
Drums can be transformed by compression in a mix. On a snare try a soft knee, us
e a ratio of 4:1, a long attack
and a little longer release, then adjust the threshold to just grab the first co
uple of dB of reduction. Now try
adjusting the attack shorter, and the threshold higher to adjust the sound to fi
t the track, the R&B type of snap or
the pop type of slap.
Stereo low
Old-school engineers often use the trick of sub grouping the drums to a stereo p
air then applying a stereo
compressor to achieve a pumping sound.
...and for everything
Pretty much everything will sound better with a little compression, the whole so
nic from bass drums to flutes.
Take care on tape
Always remember that, if you're committing tot ape, then err on the side of caut
ion. Remember you can always
add more if you want to, but it's impossible to remove.
Try and try again
Don't be afraid to experiment and, as with all things audio, 'use your ears!' If
it sounds good to you, then it m buest
right, regardless of what the manual says.
The basic rule
Yes, yes, it's been said before, by many people, but you can never have too many
compressors!
Double your money
Instead of putting a whole sound through a compressor, a neat trick is to split
it to two channels, heavily compress
one of them and mix that with the uncompressed channel. This works particularly
well on drum sounds and can
be applied to, say, an individual snare drum or a stereo submix of the whole kit
(or some of its constituent parts).
The compressed version of the sound can be tweaked to make it pump by setting an
appropriately short release
time and can then be added to the uncompressed version to get a more exciting an
d dynamic rhythm bed.
Multiband
When working with a sound source which covers a full (or at least large) frequen
cy spectrum, such as a complete
mix, normal compressors tend to introduce a 'pumping' effect. This is because th
e lower frequencies which tend
to trigger the compressor will normally be doing something quite different to th
e higher frequencies, yet the
compressor will attenuate the entire output by the same amount. Multiband compre
ssion, as the name suggests,
uses a crossover to split the full-bandwidth input sound into smaller bandwidths
which are then compressed
separately. The results are then mixed back together, the result being a much lo
uder,tighter mix which doesn't
pump or sound squashed.
23 Compression tips

Sidechain
The sidechain, or key, is the signal within a compressor which is used to contro
l the
output level. It is when this signal exceeds the threshold that compression is a
pplied
to the main signal running through the unit. A lot of hardware compressors (and
some of the better plug-ins) have external sidechain - or key - inputs so you ca
n use
the characteristics of one sound source to compress another. In this way you can
,
for example, use a kick drum track to make a synth pad pump in time with the
music.
De-essing
Used mainly on vocals, this is a technique for reducing the level of sibilant so
unds
('s' or 'sh', etc) which are significaonutldye lr than the other sounds associat
ed with
speech. The problem areas of these sibilant sounds tend to be above 7-8kHz,so
reducing a microphone's volume when these frequencies are encountered is the
order of the day. Take an auxiliary send from the vocal channel, feed it through
an
equaliser and then into your compressor's sidechain input. Insert the compressor
into the vocal channel. Then use the equaliser on the sidechain to boost the sib
ilant
frequencies. You'll need to be able to monitor the sidechainn i some way, as, as
with all things, using the old shell-likes is the only way to go. Listen to the
main
vocal channel to determine the best settings for the threshold and ratio, but us
e a
fast attack and release time to make the effect as transparent as possible.
Guitars
Overdriven and distorted guitar sounds rarely need compression as the process of
overdriving them introduces a fair amount of compression anyway. Clean and
acoustic guitars are a different matter. For that classic, funky, clean sound, u
se a
fairly low threshold, a ratio of at least 3:1, fast attack and quite a slow rele
ase. Add
a touch of chorus or flanging to add the extra icing on the cake. Strummed parts
,
electric or acoustic, are better with a higher threshold, the aim being to reduc
e the
volume of the transient parts of the sound (the strums themselves) while keeping
a
steady overall level. As ever, use your ears!
Bass
One of the best uses for a compressor is on bass sounds - get a solid, steady
foundation to your track, and the rest will stand up beautifully. Probably. Opti
mum
settings vary here, as much depends on the type of bass sound - synth, electric,
acoustic, etc - but as a general rule, use fast attack and medium release times,
a
medium threshold and a ratio of between 3:1 and 5:1.
Have an idea
I realise all those dials and buttons are just calling you over to start fiddlin
g as soon
as you plug the compressor in, but have some sort of purpose first. Are you tryi
ng to
make the sound more punchy, more smooth or just keep it under control? Listen
and think before you leap.
On the attack
I try to have the attack up (ie, not at its quickest setting) a little on most t
hings if
possible; guitars, for example, really benefit from extra 'front'. Many recommen
ded
compressor settings for parts such as vocals suggest the quickest attack time, b
ut
try it up and see what you think. You can add a little attack on the most unlike
ly
things to help them stand out more.
Using bypass
Having a stereo compressor over the whole mix is generally a good thing, but
monitoring through it when mixing is hard work. While it can be useful to know w
hat
the final compression will do to the mix, you'll probably just be fighting it th
e whole
time. Leave it on bypass until the mix is almost finished.
For effects
There's lots of fun to be had compressing effect returns, if you have the free m
ixer
channels to set it up. If your delay doesn't quite fade away as you'd like, then
compressing the return may give you the control you're after.
Pre- or post-EQ
The difference between having the compressor before the EQ section or after it c
an
be drastic. When learning about compression, try both options and hear the way t
he
compressor affects your EQing, and vice versa.