Use this tool to really understand what it does.

 

Cute visualizer.

If you put the thresh to about 85%, ratio 2, minimum release on this... then you can focus in on the attack, and literally watch the sweet spot thing that is so important with compression, happen before your eyes.

As attack value goes down from max toward minimum, the audio blob wiggles and gets some slight shaping, and then at a certain sweet spot you can see how its wiggles are over, and the transient spike in the beginning of the signal starts getting affected heavily. That's the spot everyone listens for when dialing a compressor. This is exactly where you dial in and fine tune how you want your shit to sound.

Until reaching this spot, you're just "dialin' the radio" and nothing too important is really happening. But once you hear the compressor changing the attacks, that's where you should perk up and tune it super finely to your exact needs. Because it's around this sweetspot that you can make it sound tght and loud, or give it more life, or less, or an angry bite or soften an angry bite that's already there... A compressor can be set to many different values, but the really useful settings are all clustered around this tiny sweet spot.

After the attack is set how you want it, setting the release is easier - it's simply your "let off the excess pressure" type knob, to be adjusted to taste at leisure.

 

Last edited: Mar 3, 2019

I've made a nice one,how is modern mastering,or rather the Loudness war,compressor in limiter mode:

 

Please stop drawing dirty pictures, this is a family friendly site! Thank you.

 

Doesn't take into account that different compressors have distinct attack/release curves and behaviour.

 

Yes.

 

I still do not know why this seems to be so complicated for some people.

 

thank you, i connected a behringer composer PRO/XL to my tv for a while ago, so nice to see the visuals - its "hardworking" when its movies
i cant use my volume on the remote, but i dont have to anymore

 

I understand it, but i cant use it xD

thanks for the tool

 

samplepacks one shots are compressed...arent them...and ppl go compress it again..
some they its total senseless some say its neccesarey to fit in mix

 

its not but amount of options..different comps...
more bout the when and when not...

 

There are three decisive parameters threshold, attack and release and they're set in the "vintage" comps. I really don't know what is so complicated about this. Different comps only have different values of those parameters and if I need a more precise adjustment of them I take a pro-c or the FLUX thing. Maybe people should care about what values are in their "super emulated" comp to know whats going on. Then they will know how and when to use it because otherwise they just won't .

 

Well hold on a minute there, Cowboy. Every hardware compressor that I had my pink painted fingernails on had a personality unto its own. There are release characteristics that vary from even unit to unit of the same model. For instance, how long will Comp A hold and release compared to Comp B. Also, there are distinct curve of attack differences that need be fathomed in order to decide if a box or emulation is the best for any specific job. Nothing is really cut and dry. A person can intellectualize almost anything given enough capacity to learn a given skill, but it might take a while to internalise that skill and become one with it in order for it to be a part of you so you are in the moment and mindless. Anyone can get their hands dirty, but it takes a while or maybe never to become a master at a craft, and still longer that it becomes TRUE art.

 

Mostly correct. Sorry it's also experience.

 

LOL same here. Years ago I was pondering what to do with my Composer... and thought I could use it for watching films that I always find way too loud, and the dialogue is too quiet. Behringer to the rescue. Works great.

 

Changes in dynamics are harder to hear than changes in frequency. You have to train your ears to be able to hear what a compressor does. I know people who have excellent ears but still can't hear what a compressor does. I tell them to try playing some clean drum loop, set the threshold quite low [-20dBFS or lower], ratio at about 4:1, release at about 50-100ms, and then play with the attack because changes in transients are easiest to hear. Once you learn how to hear the changes in transients, the rest is easier to figure out.

 

me too....the when i use what comp and when not , have nothing to do if i kno how to use the knobs...do someone use softube's FET on drums ?

kims
wtf...amazing...how did you do that ? may sound dumb but i got no glue at moment ?

 

Last edited: Mar 3, 2019

most preset riders dont kno they need -18dbfs to get sweet spot...

 

del

 

It's cool. Even more for a web developer like me. Online compilers/programming tools are the last revolution.

It may seem too easy, but for beginners and almost-beginners (like myself) still useful.