Some people say to have slow attack to keep the transient

but doesn't that defeat the purpose of the compressor? to make everything louder in the end...

if we keep the transients doesn't that create issues for the maximizer?


transients are usually higher in height than the rest of the waveform as far i understand...except if i'm confusing things

 

To avoid needless back & forth which could lead to the topic going off the rails by comments, this third party link should answer many of your questions. Found by using the search "compression at the mastering stage". You will find more listings on the topic using this search.

https://masteringtuition.com/tutorial/setting-up-your-compressor-for-mastering/

Good luck!

 

You have the right idea. Indeed, if the attack is set too slow, it will prevent the compressor from doing its peak-smashing functions.

So most of the transients will go through unchanged, and they will be taken care of by the limiter. But, the problem is that the limiter doesn't sound the same as a mixing compressor. The peaks are no problem for the limiter and they will be taken care of, but it won't sound the way the comp would've done it... That's why people talk about "peaks creating problems for the limiter" - what they mean is that they don't like how that's sounding when the limiter is forced to do a lot of the work.

This might help you understand why people are advising you to keep the attack slow: they're trying to use the compressor to shape and tighten the audio "blobs" without messing with the transients. That's certainly one thing a comp can do. Another thing it can do is smashing those peaks while leaving the overall audio blobs mostly alone. The way it will sound depends on the compressor and it won't sound the same as the limiter doing it.

Have fun with it!

 

Sorry, no. A compresser's main job is not to increase loudness-It's to reduce the amount of difference between the peaks and troughs in signal strengths to help make them easier to manage, though it can applied in many different ways.-

 

No. Loudness is what happens between peaks (simply put).
Compression also adds a bit of harmonics and character, like the infamous SSL bus compressor, making it seem louder (percieved loudness) than it is. Sometimes the bus compressor needle (reduction) is hardly moving. Yet the result is musically/harmonically pleasing.

 

Use two compressors, with the first one catching the peaks.

 

Correct. If you set the attack time to 0, this will change e. g. drums sounds completely.

No. A compressor has several purposes and as long as you do not want to raise the peak in the output, most compressors do not make a sound louder because they're downward compressors.

That's what a maximizer is for (basically it's a limiter with an auto makeup stage).

Correct.

 

No Avenger once told me that a quick listen to a track of mine revealed it to be between 2 or3 LUFS too loud. I went back and checked and he was spot on. Always listen to a man with ears like his.

 

The original usage for compression was simply to protect the amplifiers of broadcast stations from blowing up; reigning in the signal if it got too loud. Nowadays we use compressors beyond the practical use, in artistic ways.
Compression, limiting, expansion, gating, and transient designers are all the same really; in that we use them to change the shape/envelope of a sound.

 

a compressor is best thought of as used to shape a sound, not just to make things louder or quieter. when you use a slow attack it gives the sound a more punchy transient, which has its own uses.
this does leave more for the limiter to do, but thats okay if its what you are trying to do.
if you are trying to catch the peaks then you would not use a slow attack.

it is common to have multiple compressors in the same signal chain, one example of which is a slow attack compressor followed by a limiter type compressor.