So, the answer to the questions, ‘what does compression do in music’ can have multiple answers. Tightening drum loop transients to give you a punchier sound or increasing the sustain on a guitar, is bread-and-butter compression but more extreme applications include crushing the sound for lo-fi excellence.Ĭompressors can also be used more as effects by way of different techniques: side-chain, multi-band and parallel are just three techniques where compressors can be used as dramatic effects.
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Modern software compressors such as Sonible smart:comp use intelligent algorithms to instantly detect imbalances Early compressors imparted their own sound or colour, and there are many plugins that emulate that feel today. Then there’s the second use: compression employed more as an effect. Good compression is all about maintaining a good and characterful sound, but also managing that range so that everything in you mix can shine… when you want it to. But, nor do you want it to be all over the place a bass guitar part loud one note and quiet the next, a vocal shining through on one line, only to back off tentatively on the next. However, you don’t want to flatten an instrument or vocal out completely, each sound has a natural dynamic range which defines its character and emotion. This, is referred to as the dynamic range, and the first main use of compression is all about taming this out to a manageable mix level so that it plays its part but not at the expense of anything else.Īt a very basic level you are simply making the loud parts more quiet so that you get a more consistent level and you can then raise the gain of the overall audio, if you wish, so that the track is not just more even, but louder in the mix. Take any instrument or voice – or any sound you like, in fact – and it has a range of levels, from its most gentle, quiet tones to its loudest and most extreme. But all of these share the core compression philosophy, that of controlling the dynamic range of an audio signal. Compression can be used for a wide range of applications, from evening out the volume of audio signals, through adding warmth and character, to enhancing audio so that it bites or punches through a mix. Let’s answer that question once and for all.
Though it’s a frequently discussed topic, we’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve turned to us and asked, “just what does compression do in music?”. Here we detail the basics, some famous compression techniques and those greatest of hardware and software compressors… Compression is the most important but oft-undervalued mix process.