Let’s Talk About Compression…

Compression is a serious part of modern music production, and one that’s often misunderstood or simply not used by those just starting out.

So what is a compressor, and what does it do?

In a nutshell compressors reduce the dynamic range of a sound, making it ‘tighter’. This can be the difference between a muddy mix and a tight, smooth jam! Imagine a sound that varies form very quiet, to very loud – a compressor wll allow you to narrow that gap, often resulting in a cleaner mix.

The controls you’ll find on virtually every compression unit out there define how the unit will react, attack and release times, and compression ratio and threshold being essential controls for taming the sound sin your mixes.

You’ll also find some handy ‘one knob’ compressor plugins, some of these simply squish your sound, the other parameters being set to automatic, these are worth checking out on the web’s favourite search site, try something like ‘ free VST compressor’, and you’ll find some gems! You can also try KVR Audio’s comprehensive plugin database – a wealth of information on both free and commercial plugins for both PC and Mac users.

So if you’re confused about what that button, knob or flashing LED indicator means, check out this handy compression tutorial from  Music Radar, it includes everything from basic use, to parallel compression techniques and  bus (aux) compression.

Read ‘The ultimate guide to compression: our best tips and step-by-step guides’ on Music Radar.

For even more information on compression read ‘Compression Made Easy’ on Sound On Sound.