I would've personally went with a 4:0:1 ratio with this particular recording. I would've also made the release closer to around 40ms. After years and years and years of mixing vocals for podcasts, singers, rappers including myself, shorter release is much better off. I also would typically start with about a 5ms attack time rather than 10. Even 10 is a bit too long. It allows those louder transients to remain quite a bit louder because it's not attenuating them nearly as fast as it would if you were at a 5ms attack time. I will often times even go with an ever LOWER attack time around 2ms if it's on faster vocals. Such as when someone is rapping for example.
excellent video. dumbed down and simple enough for a newbie like me to get it but still got into a little bit of the weeds. i appreciate you really explaining why doing certain things makes a difference.
Awesome to see you posted another video! Lots of really good information, and even though I don't do podcasts, your videos really help my audio sound so much better than before on my YT channel!
Multi Band compressors are even better because you can specifically choose to compress or (attenuate) certain frequencies on the spectrum. You can also easily get rid of the harsh sibilance from saying words that start with the letter "S" by lowering the threshold on your compressor near the 4-5.8K Hz. Compressors work great, but find a tutorial on utilizing Multi Band Compressors once you understand how compressors work and go from there!
Thank you very much for such a visual explanation. I wish you would make more videos like this. Especially, I would love to see your explanation of equalization.
excellent! at last I understand compression in depth. Being a newbie sorry if the question is very naive - I was taught to normalize after compression. You use make up gain. Is it the same thing? Thank you in advance.
Hi Anne! Happy the video helped you understand compression. So make up gain and normalization are not exactly the same thing. But I can see where they can seem interchangeable as they do similar things. You can still normalize your audio after compression. The make up gain on a compressor is just meant to bring that individual tracks volume back up after you compress it. The inherent nature of a compressor is going to make your signal quieter so to make up for that loss of volume, use the make up gain. Once your compressed audio is back to its original volume you can then go ahead and normalize along with anything else. Hope that helps!
This is a good tutorial, thanks! None of my plugins (FL studio) that has a visual representation have makeup gain. Any tips or anything? The only way for me, it seems, is to use one without a graphic representation, which still is possible, obviously, but it makes it somewhat more difficult
@@justinkralpodcast Oh my god, thanks! The ones that are included that has a compressor are: Fruity Limiter (with visual, no makeup gain), Fruity compressor (no visual, with makeup gain), Fruity Multiband Compressor (no visual, with makeup gain). I don't seem to find any other that come with stock FL
@@SomeNiceMovies I just checked (googled) and it seems like they all have a gain knob, which I believe should act like a make up gain even though it isn't explicitly called that. It all depends on where in the signal chain the gain lies. For instance, when reading a description of the limiter, the signal flow is as such... compression ---> gain ---> limiter/gate ---> saturation. Based on that, it seems as if the gain knob will be able to make up the gain that you lost while compressing or limiting (limiting is just an extreme version of compression). If you are looking for a visual representation of make up gain, you should be able to mute the plugin after applying the compression and seeing if the level of the audio track changes. This wont be the best representation, but should work in theory. It may not be super accurate though. Sorry I couldn't help more. I don't use FL Studio. I found this site helpful when learning about these plugins though. www.image-line.com/fl-studio-learning/fl-studio-online-manual/html/plugins/Fruity%20Limiter.htm Let me know if you have any other questions or would like to see any topics covered on the channel!
@@justinkralpodcast Yeah, they got gain, but I thought it was more automatic somehow. Like. I have seperate audio tracks on us both in the podcast. And I wanna boost the lower volume parts. So I boost the entire track and compress it down to -20 - -23? Maybe that's what makeup gain is. Kinda new to this, as you can tell!
@@SomeNiceMovies If you are looking to increase the volume of the quietest passages, I wouldn't necessarily start with increasing the volume of the audio track. That doesn't mean you can't move the volume faders though. Use then to get a general balance between all of your audio tracks. Once you do that, then you can compress any tracks that need it. Start with compressing the peaks. This will get them closer to the volume of the quieter passages. Then, use the make up gain to "make up" for the gain or volume you lost while compressing. This process will get your peaks and quiet passages closer together, which is the general point of compression, and you will also be raising the volume of those quieter sections of audio. This should leave you with the loudest parts at a similar volume before you compressed, but with the quieter passages a bit louder. Simply put, with compression, you are raising the volume of the quieter passages, but in a backwards kind of way because you start the process with reducing the peaks and then you bring the whole thing up with make up gain. Does this make sense? I know compression can be tricky. Happy to help though. Let me know.
Hey! Compression can impart some sound qualities (good and bad) on your audio. First off you must make sure that your audio is as good as it can be as a raw recording. If you have any glaring issues, compression can certainly amplify these. Most times when a compressor changes the sound of something, that indicates a large amount of compression. I would take a look at your setting and start to back things off. Easiest thing to back off is the Threshold. Let me know how that works!
High quality video, good job! The only thing there is left for the channel to grow is marketing. Unfortunately, it's hard to jumpstart from zero to hero on youtube nowadays (I know this by experience).
I would've personally went with a 4:0:1 ratio with this particular recording. I would've also made the release closer to around 40ms.
After years and years and years of mixing vocals for podcasts, singers, rappers including myself, shorter release is much better off.
I also would typically start with about a 5ms attack time rather than 10. Even 10 is a bit too long. It allows those louder transients
to remain quite a bit louder because it's not attenuating them nearly as fast as it would if you were at a 5ms attack time. I will often
times even go with an ever LOWER attack time around 2ms if it's on faster vocals. Such as when someone is rapping for example.
This was helpful. Thanks.
Great video, thanks for sharing 🎉
Thanks for watching!
excellent video. dumbed down and simple enough for a newbie like me to get it but still got into a little bit of the weeds. i appreciate you really explaining why doing certain things makes a difference.
Glad you enjoyed it and glad it helped!
Awesome to see you posted another video! Lots of really good information, and even though I don't do podcasts, your videos really help my audio sound so much better than before on my YT channel!
Glad the videos are helping! Expect some regular content in 2021 and beyond!
Multi Band compressors are even better because you can specifically choose to compress or (attenuate) certain frequencies on the spectrum.
You can also easily get rid of the harsh sibilance from saying words that start with the letter "S" by lowering the threshold on your compressor
near the 4-5.8K Hz. Compressors work great, but find a tutorial on utilizing Multi Band Compressors once you understand how compressors
work and go from there!
Thank you very much for such a visual explanation. I wish you would make more videos like this. Especially, I would love to see your explanation of equalization.
Justin, great material.
Thanks Rich. Let me know if there is anything that has you stumped.
Great Material!
Thanks! 👊
excellent! at last I understand compression in depth. Being a newbie sorry if the question is very naive - I was taught to normalize after compression. You use make up gain. Is it the same thing? Thank you in advance.
Hi Anne! Happy the video helped you understand compression. So make up gain and normalization are not exactly the same thing. But I can see where they can seem interchangeable as they do similar things. You can still normalize your audio after compression. The make up gain on a compressor is just meant to bring that individual tracks volume back up after you compress it. The inherent nature of a compressor is going to make your signal quieter so to make up for that loss of volume, use the make up gain. Once your compressed audio is back to its original volume you can then go ahead and normalize along with anything else. Hope that helps!
It certainly does. Thanks for your clear - and fast! - answer 👍👍
@@anne-benedictehannotte2845 you’re welcome!
This is a good tutorial, thanks! None of my plugins (FL studio) that has a visual representation have makeup gain. Any tips or anything?
The only way for me, it seems, is to use one without a graphic representation, which still is possible, obviously, but it makes it somewhat more difficult
What are the names of some of the plugins? I'll take a look a them and see if I can make a suggestion.
@@justinkralpodcast
Oh my god, thanks!
The ones that are included that has a compressor are: Fruity Limiter (with visual, no makeup gain), Fruity compressor (no visual, with makeup gain), Fruity Multiband Compressor (no visual, with makeup gain). I don't seem to find any other that come with stock FL
@@SomeNiceMovies I just checked (googled) and it seems like they all have a gain knob, which I believe should act like a make up gain even though it isn't explicitly called that. It all depends on where in the signal chain the gain lies. For instance, when reading a description of the limiter, the signal flow is as such... compression ---> gain ---> limiter/gate ---> saturation. Based on that, it seems as if the gain knob will be able to make up the gain that you lost while compressing or limiting (limiting is just an extreme version of compression). If you are looking for a visual representation of make up gain, you should be able to mute the plugin after applying the compression and seeing if the level of the audio track changes. This wont be the best representation, but should work in theory. It may not be super accurate though. Sorry I couldn't help more. I don't use FL Studio. I found this site helpful when learning about these plugins though. www.image-line.com/fl-studio-learning/fl-studio-online-manual/html/plugins/Fruity%20Limiter.htm
Let me know if you have any other questions or would like to see any topics covered on the channel!
@@justinkralpodcast Yeah, they got gain, but I thought it was more automatic somehow. Like. I have seperate audio tracks on us both in the podcast. And I wanna boost the lower volume parts. So I boost the entire track and compress it down to -20 - -23? Maybe that's what makeup gain is. Kinda new to this, as you can tell!
@@SomeNiceMovies If you are looking to increase the volume of the quietest passages, I wouldn't necessarily start with increasing the volume of the audio track. That doesn't mean you can't move the volume faders though. Use then to get a general balance between all of your audio tracks. Once you do that, then you can compress any tracks that need it. Start with compressing the peaks. This will get them closer to the volume of the quieter passages. Then, use the make up gain to "make up" for the gain or volume you lost while compressing. This process will get your peaks and quiet passages closer together, which is the general point of compression, and you will also be raising the volume of those quieter sections of audio. This should leave you with the loudest parts at a similar volume before you compressed, but with the quieter passages a bit louder. Simply put, with compression, you are raising the volume of the quieter passages, but in a backwards kind of way because you start the process with reducing the peaks and then you bring the whole thing up with make up gain. Does this make sense? I know compression can be tricky. Happy to help though. Let me know.
It seems when I use compression the audio sounds kind of tinny?
Hey! Compression can impart some sound qualities (good and bad) on your audio.
First off you must make sure that your audio is as good as it can be as a raw recording. If you have any glaring issues, compression can certainly amplify these.
Most times when a compressor changes the sound of something, that indicates a large amount of compression. I would take a look at your setting and start to back things off. Easiest thing to back off is the Threshold.
Let me know how that works!
Why do i get an Alex Knickerbocker vibe??
High quality video, good job! The only thing there is left for the channel to grow is marketing. Unfortunately, it's hard to jumpstart from zero to hero on youtube nowadays (I know this by experience).
Thanks for the kind words! Hopefully some more videos will be up soon and we can watch the channel grow.