Compressors, Limiters and Expanders

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

While I have a rudimentary knowledge of Compressors, Limiters and Expanders, I am not too proud to admit that quite often I am fishing in the dark when using these plugins (and hardware)

I would like to know enough about them to make informed decisions on the use of and settings needed instead of resorting to guess work quite often which of course delivers inconsistent results across projects.

Why would this be useful? Why not just use my ears? Well I do but following Warren's example I am starting to use these items more lightly and my ears are not yet trained well enough to detect subtle changes so if I know what impact/effect altering each setting should have on a signal then I can then train my ears to listen for that change.

[Jared ShermanParticipant]

One thing that might help is to try using higher ratio and lower threshold to get it to where there is a very noticeable amount of compression happening, then adjust the attack and release to where those elements feel right, then dial back the ratio and threshold to taste. This would be roughly akin to EQ sweeping for frequencies.

[Magnus JohanssonParticipant]

A good article about compressor myths.
https://www.attackmagazine.com/features/columns/gregory-scott-demolishing-the-myths-of-compression/

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

What a great article Mange,

This will help a lot thanks 🙂

[Author]

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