No compressor might not be terribly difficult if all you were using was software synths and "purchased" samples that have already been processed. But you would probably just use saturation and limiting for perceived loudness, and/or a clipper and transient shaper.

The annoying thing about all these Youtubers is not even the content they post as "audio information" often being inaccurate or outright wrong. Especially with compression. Every damn YT video about compression starts out with the presenter saying " I know you think this is just another dumb video about compression." Yep, because that is what it is. And then "Most people do not understand compression, and all these other people on YT don't know how to explain this shit right either. So here I am to take care of it for everyone, once and for all." This all sounds familiar, but thank god you have finally blessed us with the truth about compression!

 

Right!!! they're always saying that kind of stuff..
these videos "5 things you're doing wrong" "the real SECRET about compression" "drake's favorite compressor, and why" i never watch those anymore always click bait

yes ok, that makes sense..

 

Last edited: Feb 10, 2024

@clone

 

just watch the first few minutes

 

Just what i though when i watched the video

It's really easy to make a counterpoint for each topic she adressed on the video.

Color issue: Not all people reach a compressor for color, really. But when someone goes for a compressor for that extra distortion, i assume this person knows how this unit will react with the compression + saturation + balistics and some times frequency response (El rey bump, for example). All of those things can't never be measured by a sine wave on Span, just on actual music. Sometimes it's not need a lot of extra harmonics for the gel and the color of the compression, and the STA Level (the compressor on the demo) is a unity with a very strong character. Test it in parallel and you will be shocked

Compressor ruins your drums:
Just the meme @Stevie Dude posted. For those stuck with that slow attack/fast release preach will never know the groove power of a Vertigo VSC and an API 2500 with med/slow release. Sorry, but my drums bounce
For microdynamics (for example, kick insert channel) transient shapers can be cool if the source is already compressed. But it will not take care of a fluffy kick drum or to give energy to a weak snare to stand on a busy mix.

Compression muddies your mix:
That one made me laugh, the weakest argument for me. C'mon, lady, you don't hipass that shit ass cymbal??? Why?
But even on the cases that you are shy (or noob) with filtering, we got built in filters on compressors, and guess... they don't trigger where you don't want

How OTT ruins your mix:
Nothing to say, she nailed that one.

How compressors ruins your master:
This is very difficult to adress if you don't have the dynamic range of the track you're mastering. Sometimes it needs, sometimes it will be an overkill. But she mentions pumping on the kick drum, that can be avoided with faster attacks and built in hpf on the compressor. I don't see any point of using a slow attack fast release setting on a mastering context, unless i'm mastering EDM or something like that.

 

I think some of the more common "amateur" or beginner mistakes is to overuse compression; and also going overboard with reverb. The longer and more you work with these effects mixing, you develop a trained ear for them. The people watching these basic tutorial videos have not. So even if they get the parameter settings right, they still tend to overdo the use of the effect. That's how people using presets are still able to have it turn out wrong. If you set the effect while bringing it in to where you can notice and hear it, then slowly dial it back just until you can no longer hear it present in the mix; it's rarely going to "ruin your track" with it.

The only secret is the one they don't want to tell you. None of their videos are going to make up for lack of experience. You actually have to do the work.

The first 45 seconds.

 

interest take on how he uses parallel compression, very natural sounding drums. also got curious to see the rest of his chain

 

well said!! cold hard truth.
its funny because some people actually think theyre getting somewhere wasting hours with that stuff..

 

audiosex is a much more better place to learn

 

thats a great tip too! i sometimes tend to overdo compression myself

 

Did you know faders ruin music? If the chorus is about to hit, and you pull the master fader to -18 you'll lose impact and ruin the mix. Stop using faders!

 

You want a disagree rating?

But yes, I can see the problem, it has white hair and brown eyes.

Ok, the first test was quite entertaining but I was about to stop at 1:16 '... when you don't know how to use them.' Well, er, that's correct, genius. You can also mess up your mix with the pan knob - if you don't know how to use it. Holy cow, another one for my YT channel blocker.

 

Defo the one without vocals (jezz was that horrible - and an instant stop).

Caught, I've recently watched one for fun. Summary of the vid, short attack times reduce transients and peaks, long attack times not. Man, I was amazed.

The attack time example isn't good. He pulled down the drums to a level where you can't hear the decay phase anymore and then pulled down the attack phase by shortening the attack time so that the drums were almost inaudible. That's not what I'd call appropriate gainstaging. Additionally there're some (especially) snare sounds which highly benefit from veeery short attack times.

Did she? AFAIK, you can adjust the parametes of OTT. The high emphasis may be the def setting, but it's not a must.

 

thank you!! i was thinking the same thing!

this video is too flawed

nice

 

Applying compression can potentially increase the level of noise in the audio signal if the compressor is boosting quieter passages or if noise is introduced by the compression process itself. Compression can result in unwanted distortion or artifacts in the audio signal. This can manifest as harshness, clipping, or a loss of fidelity, thereby introducing a lack of transparency.
Compressed audio often leads to a loss of dynamics, resulting in a flat and lifeless sound that diminishes the natural contrast between loud and quiet passages. When the compressor reacts too slowly to changes in the signal, it can create an audible pumping or breathing effect, where the volume seems to rhythmically rise and fall.
By boosting quieter sounds, compression can unintentionally mask other subtle sonic details in the mix, where certain elements of the audio are obscured or overshadowed by others. Additionally, fast transients can be softened or even lost with compression.
Compressed music can lead to listener fatigue, where the constant loudness becomes tiring over time. Compression can also introduce phase shifts into the audio signal, affecting the stereo image and spatial characteristics of the sound, thereby resulting in a less coherent or natural listening experience.
In fact, when these effects are excessive, we can easily hear them. However, they are constantly present to some degree due to compression of any kind.

 

I saw a YT video of some making a track tutorial, guy gets out OTT, and actually said something to the effect of "whatever this thing does....it's a magic free plugin". Oh. I don't know about the Ableton version of it, but they use the plugin from xfer as an adjustable 3-band upwards compressor. Those are the kinds of plugins I always suspect of damaging your audio, losing fidelity, introducing noise, or any other bad things. And they use this thing with Pro-MB installed on the computer already, because they saw some other YT tutorial do the same thing.

 

Knick-knacks, as long as it helps to achieve -4LUFSi.

I tried it once, some years ago, immediately ruined the sound and never touched it again.

 

Thank God, somebody noticed the elephant in the room.

 

My Songs Ruin Compressors