Depending on the instrument, it has different speeds. Like a snare or kick drum. But then to these samples, we apply compression to the sample (kick, snare or other simple.) then maybe to the instrument bus, then to the mix and maybe to the mastering. Then I wonder? How much does it make sense to compress a virtual instrument or sample. You might tell me that it depends on the style of music. Because in a jazz song we are going to want a lot of dynamics, then there would be no point in compressing or very little. But I've also seen that in music with little dynamics, like electronics, they still apply compression even to a single sample with only one velocity. There's something I'm missing and I don't know what it is

 

Throw Xfer OTT on it and find out for yourself...

 

What u mean whit this vst ? This is a multiband compresor.

 

8:25

 

Compressors are mainly for sound, not for loudness. Therefore a compressor on the single instruments to shape their sound, in subgroups to glue them together and the mainout for final touch makes in deed sense.
This way you can easily end up with more than four compressors and/or limiters on drums or vocals.

 

you can smooth out the sound with a compressor, jazz, even classical music/choirs can benefit from a touch of a high quality one, or give punch to a snare. with a fast attack/release you can send a sound source back and even in the soundstage. but yes, certain vsti sounds dont need compression at all they can be fat already to begin with. and yes, you compress individual channels, busses, even auxes and the main and then during mastering. basically you shape the dynamic perception of the whole lot, building up like a piramid, and there are multiple stages of fuck-up moments

 

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Well, the shaping of the sound and dynamic control, this is why we use the compressors, but the mainly depends on the music u are mixing/composing. So, makes sense to use em on every sample/instruments u have, did you never try a 1176 fast attack and release setting with medium/high comp rate in a snare? Color the music!

 

Hi @ryck. As No Avenger has said, kind of, compressors are for shaping a sound. It's not to do with dynamics really.
We can totally change the colour of eg. a snare by shaping it with compression.
Think of ADSR, and relate it to just a one-shot snare hit sample.
Strange how in the UBK vid that @dtmd posted above, the dev uses the word 'colour' in a musical sense at 10:51, eh @5teezo? omg!
Like I said when you were trolling me regards this, you don't know English as well as you think you do. Just accept it.

 

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Well, you guys are right. You always learn something new. I knew about the color. In fact, not long ago I described how you guys emulated analog compressors and gave them a special color. That's why one vst was not the same as the other and I saw it with my own eyes when I saw the harmonics in the spectrum analyzer. But well, I only understood that a compressor compresses and gives more margin to the limitation, but in the end it turned out to be more creative

 

Compression was tricky for me so for the longest time I mixed without it. Since there are many different applications ie gluing, shaping, multiband, dynamic eq I would recommend just writing songs without compression and focus on getting a nice sounding mix that way. Then explore compression when your ears can recognize it's proper function. It wasn't until Satai described how to effectively use compression last year (thanks again @Satai ) that I finally understood and felt confident enough using it, and I studied the stuff in several colleges...

Otherwise you could end up wasting loads of time destroying your sounds and wondering why someone's dry composition sounds so much better for some reason..

 

Well, this has happened to me many times. Even in my own songs I was starting. I'd lose the essence. Then I started to realize I was just adding a vst because it was good vst. But without thinking I could drastically change my idea. I know that I haven't been the only one to ruin several mixes and songs by letting the vst look pretty. In fact, every time I go to try something, my eyes are right and I listen. Or I save the mix as A and B, then I listen without knowing what I'm using and then I realize. And surprisingly, many times the dry sound sounded better. Once I put on this forum. If we didn't have too much. Referring to the fact that maybe we were using for the sake of using. But well, this is a continuous learning and that's why I share my doubts. I think we can all get something good out of it. Learning, rethinking...etc.

 

Yeah, considering there are no dynamics in most electronic music genres, you can skip compression and use various waveshaping algorithms for colour.
Or, if you are after some kind of plastic, compressed sound (usually associated with electro/dnb/dubstep and similar), you can overcompress your sounds, then export and use volume automations on the audio to get dynamics.

 

1. Experience what compression can do for your sound
2. It's a great sound shaping tool
3. it's free
4. It's super easy to operate
5. It give useful results quick and hastle free
6. What No Avenger said

 

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Contrary to what's looking like some new and weird popular science believe in this thread,
Compressors are made to control a signals dynamic range.
Now how you use it, can be both a utilitarian and creative decision.

 

Yes. Were originally made (70+yrs ago?) to control a constant flow of programme material on radio, so they didn't blow things up.
But when you take that to the micro level of using it on a one hit snare sample that doesn't change throughout a song, I guess we are then looking at the dynamic range of each of the 4 parts of ADSR of that one hit snare, whereby we can totally change the colour of it on a micro-level.
Hence the new-age versions of compressors like Transient Designers etc. I think a lot of us use compression as a creative decision for colour, then as a utilitarian tool.
@ryck You've got the hardest job with your acoustic music, where compression can make or break a track! I totally understand where you were coming from with your question, because I've been there!

 

Nothing being said in this thread so far contradicts your definition of compression!
So stop refering to it as "weird popular science believe"!
If compression also includes creative descisions beyond the utalitarian aspect of it, then you can compress to your hearts content and treat it like EQ really. Especially in sound design. Becasue that's at least what 2/3 of todays music is: sound design driven, electronically produced music!

 

Yeah, when used with music, it's usual to think of compressors as an "analog-style-whatever" colouration-saturation in addition to the by-the-book definition of DRCompression.

@ryck , in this sense you should think about virtual instruments as if they were a very clean analog/hardware instrument recording.
Just like when you record your real guitar, voice, etc.. the effects you apply to them can be very different. Being compression one of the most used.
You just have to check if a virtual instrument have this effects by default. Effects in a synth, pre-processed samples in a sampled virtual instrument (classic case: EZDrummer libs samples vs SDrummer)

 

Tons of explanations, slow needle drop on the drum section is what I like (Slow release times) to get it really pumping.
Peak limiting and frequency-dependent ratio is hard to imitate without a comp too But I guess one could process that once and compy that troughout.

But instead of getting into vague 'color'. modern vst plugins do not only change in volume. but also in expression.
for example, if you strike a piano key less hard and turn the instrument volume up.
It would not have sounded the same if you struck that key harder without the volume bump.

I know your question was about a single sample with only one velocity, but I would not underestimate music with little dynamics.
This "effect' can also be introduced on single samples if you but fx in front of the comp variate the volume of the drum hits.
lots of things can be going on. However, this can be very hard to distinguish on smashed to bits tracks.

 

What does this mean, please?
You say "process that once" (I'm guessing with compression?) and then..."compy it throughout"??
Do you mean automate? You obviously don't mean 'composite', as with vocal takes etc...

 

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Btw, to all us synesthetes, and most sound engineers, this is 'seen' as the difference between a duller 'colour' and a brighter one. Not vague at all.