The basic effect of a compressor is to reduce the volume of a signal once it passes a certain level.Ī compressor includes several controls to help you control exactly how it behaves: Threshold To go back to the drum example, compression lowers the level of the loud stick hits, and raises the level of each drum’s sustaining tone along with the decay of the sound in the room. To hear the transients equally with the body of the sound, compression is often necessary. In most sounds, the transient is the loudest moment in the signal. It’s the term for the initial burst of energy when a sound starts. The fast onset of sound when the stick hits the drum skin is a clear example of a transient. To make them both heard on a recording, the mix engineer has to manage the dynamics.īut even within the same sound, quiet details can be easily overshadowed by the loudest moments.Ī good way to understand it is to think of the sound of a recorded drum set. Think of the difference between a soft sound like a whispered vocal and the aggressive crack of a snare. Why is audio compression used in mixing?Ĭompression is used in music to reduce the dynamic range of signals with loud and quiet elements so that both can be heard clearly. If you’re looking for information about this type of compression, head over to our guide audio file formats to get the basics. Hot tip: Dynamic range compression is completely different from the data compression methods used to make digital files smaller for storage or transmission. In fact, compression is an essential skill for all music producers that has a huge impact on everything from drums to modern studio vocals.
It’s considered an essential task in mixing music alongside equalization and applying audio effects like reverb and delay. I’ll unpack how it works and give you the best tips for learning to use it in your own process.ĭynamic range compression is a process in music production used to help even out the loud and quiet parts of a sound in a recorded track. In this article I’ll go through everything you need to understand the role that audio compression plays in mixing music.
With such an important process, it can be hard for beginners to get started. In fact, it’s is one of the fundamental tasks in mixing any type of music.ĭespite that, compression in music production is often misunderstood. Audio compression is one of the most important tools in your producer tool kit.
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