SQUEEEEEEEEZE! Understanding the Role of Compression
Compressors are often misunderstood. In some ways they are only really well understood by high-level users of pro music equipment. The difficulty in understanding compression is largely due to the fact that it's neither tone nor time-based. Distortion calls a lot of attention to itself; that's kind of the point. A radical delay setting really stands out. But compression is a little less obvious. So what is compression, exactly?
In order to understand compression, we first need to understand dynamics.
Dynamics, in the musical performance sense, deals with the quiets vs. the louds. A musical piece that is "highly dynamic" includes lots of increases and decreases in volume over time. Lots of quiets, lots of louds.
Traditionally, of course, dynamics are simply controlled by the person playing an instrument - by playing harder or softer. That begs the question - who needs compression? Can't a skilled musician just play with more control? The answer is "not always," and there are other reasons for "leveling out" the quiets vs. the louds.
Let's take a look at a common usage of studio compression - on vocals. We'll use a rock song with a lot of dynamics - loud choruses and calm verses, for example. Listen closely to the vocal dynamics. At one moment, the vocalist may be whispering, the next he may be shouting. There is a distinct difference in volume, to be sure. Now, using this recording as a frame of reference - imagine someone 5 feet from you whispering. Could you even hear them? Now imagine them screaming like the chorus of the song. The dynamic range (from quiet to loud) of a real person in a real room is much, much broader than that of a song on the radio.
Why? Well, because it would be obnoxious if you had to keep turning your stereo volume up or down every time the volume changed!
How about compression for guitarists? On the guitar, compression serves two purposes. It can amplify the attack of notes, rendering a more percussive sound, often heard on many Nashville "Chick'n' Pick'n" style performances. When routed through a compressor, a guitarist's long notes also sustain much longer than they would without - as the notes decay, compression increases the volume to compensate. Compression devices targeting guitarists are often labeled "compressor/sustainer" for this very reason.
The bass guitar is also broadly dynamic instrument. Big, meaty strings that are farther away from the fret board have more movement potential and momentum than guitar strings, and impacts of the string against the frets are very loud. Slap-style playing is a great example of a circumstance that greatly benefits from compression; such players generally make use of high-transient slaps & pops alongside subtle muted notes. In most studio settings, compressing bass tracks is a standard procedure.
The waveform on the top is uncompressed; the waveform on the bottom has had compression applied. Notice how the volume level has flattened out.
After reading all the above - resist the temptation to over-compress everything. Governing dynamics is appropriate to a point, but don't forget that interesting dynamics are also what makes a piece breathe and feel human. So, don't overdo it, but give compression a shot at your next home recording session.
BEHRINGER offers stompbox compressors for every stage of recording and performance. For the stompbox set, we offer the COMPRESSOR/SUSTAINER CS100, the classic-styled DC9 DYNAMICS COMPRESSOR, and the CL9 COMPRESSOR/LIMITER - a limiter being something of a compressor on steroids. Any of these guitar pedals are suitable for making compression part of your on-stage arsenal.
For the professional audio equipment demographic, we offer many compressor options as part of our recording studio gear lineup, including the 2-channel AUTOCOM PRO-XL MDX1600 and COMPOSER PRO-XL MDX2600, as well as the 4-channel MULTICOM PRO-XL MDX4600.
I hope this helps to de-mystify the sometimes clouded understanding people have of this technology. It may be helpul for you to think of compression as less of an effect, and more as a type of polish. With judicious use and experimentation, you may wonder how you ever got by without it.
In order to understand compression, we first need to understand dynamics.
Dynamics, in the musical performance sense, deals with the quiets vs. the louds. A musical piece that is "highly dynamic" includes lots of increases and decreases in volume over time. Lots of quiets, lots of louds.
Traditionally, of course, dynamics are simply controlled by the person playing an instrument - by playing harder or softer. That begs the question - who needs compression? Can't a skilled musician just play with more control? The answer is "not always," and there are other reasons for "leveling out" the quiets vs. the louds.
Let's take a look at a common usage of studio compression - on vocals. We'll use a rock song with a lot of dynamics - loud choruses and calm verses, for example. Listen closely to the vocal dynamics. At one moment, the vocalist may be whispering, the next he may be shouting. There is a distinct difference in volume, to be sure. Now, using this recording as a frame of reference - imagine someone 5 feet from you whispering. Could you even hear them? Now imagine them screaming like the chorus of the song. The dynamic range (from quiet to loud) of a real person in a real room is much, much broader than that of a song on the radio.
Why? Well, because it would be obnoxious if you had to keep turning your stereo volume up or down every time the volume changed!
How about compression for guitarists? On the guitar, compression serves two purposes. It can amplify the attack of notes, rendering a more percussive sound, often heard on many Nashville "Chick'n' Pick'n" style performances. When routed through a compressor, a guitarist's long notes also sustain much longer than they would without - as the notes decay, compression increases the volume to compensate. Compression devices targeting guitarists are often labeled "compressor/sustainer" for this very reason.
The bass guitar is also broadly dynamic instrument. Big, meaty strings that are farther away from the fret board have more movement potential and momentum than guitar strings, and impacts of the string against the frets are very loud. Slap-style playing is a great example of a circumstance that greatly benefits from compression; such players generally make use of high-transient slaps & pops alongside subtle muted notes. In most studio settings, compressing bass tracks is a standard procedure.
The waveform on the top is uncompressed; the waveform on the bottom has had compression applied. Notice how the volume level has flattened out.
After reading all the above - resist the temptation to over-compress everything. Governing dynamics is appropriate to a point, but don't forget that interesting dynamics are also what makes a piece breathe and feel human. So, don't overdo it, but give compression a shot at your next home recording session.
BEHRINGER offers stompbox compressors for every stage of recording and performance. For the stompbox set, we offer the COMPRESSOR/SUSTAINER CS100, the classic-styled DC9 DYNAMICS COMPRESSOR, and the CL9 COMPRESSOR/LIMITER - a limiter being something of a compressor on steroids. Any of these guitar pedals are suitable for making compression part of your on-stage arsenal.
For the professional audio equipment demographic, we offer many compressor options as part of our recording studio gear lineup, including the 2-channel AUTOCOM PRO-XL MDX1600 and COMPOSER PRO-XL MDX2600, as well as the 4-channel MULTICOM PRO-XL MDX4600.
I hope this helps to de-mystify the sometimes clouded understanding people have of this technology. It may be helpul for you to think of compression as less of an effect, and more as a type of polish. With judicious use and experimentation, you may wonder how you ever got by without it.
posted by Ryan Roullard at
8:00 AM
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