You're Thinking WRONG About Compression
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- Опубликовано: 10 дек 2023
- Pro mixers are not using it how you think.
☛ Learn the go-to starting points for EQ and compression in heavy mixes with my FREE Mixing Cheatsheet: mixcheatsheet.com
Featured Music by Jevani Sanders
Watch This Next: Analog Gear vs. Plugins: See if Pro Mixers Can Hear a Difference • Analog Gear vs. Plugin...
Music I’ve Worked On: open.spotify.com/playlist/6I7...
Website: hardcoremusicstudio.com
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MY FAVORITE GEAR:
Computer / Interface:
Mac M1 Studio Max sweetwater.sjv.io/anOMOo
Avid Carbon sweetwater.sjv.io/ZQ6M6g
Apogee Duet 3 sweetwater.sjv.io/y2qXqb
Monitors / Headphones:
Avantone CLA-10a sweetwater.sjv.io/WqyMyZ
Audio Technica ATH-M50 sweetwater.sjv.io/PyOMON
Microphones:
Shure SM57 sweetwater.sjv.io/daOMy7
AKG D112 sweetwater.sjv.io/Kj0MBy
Sennheiser e604 sweetwater.sjv.io/DKyvWa
Shure SM7b sweetwater.sjv.io/5g5vk3
AKG C451b sweetwater.sjv.io/jre9Rv
Shure SM81 sweetwater.sjv.io/eK1LnD
Audio Technica AT4050 sweetwater.sjv.io/JzKMqr
Preamps/Outboard:
API 3124 sweetwater.sjv.io/eK1LRD
EL8 Distressor sweetwater.sjv.io/XYmMd4
Favorite Plugins:
BSA Clipper blacksaltaudio.com/clipper
Escalator blacksaltaudio.com/escalator
Low Control blacksaltaudio.com/low-control
Waves SSL Bundle waves.alzt.net/dMd4q
Waves CLA Compressors waves.alzt.net/0va0P
Waves Platinum waves.alzt.net/jxz2M
Slate Trigger 2 sweetwater.sjv.io/MmAM53
SoundToys Rack sweetwater.sjv.io/xkLgyd
Auto-tune Pro sweetwater.sjv.io/OreMYr
Vocalign Project sweetwater.sjv.io/xkLgyA
Cranesong Phoenix II sweetwater.sjv.io/PyOMrz
Instruments / Amps:
Ludwig Black Beauty Snare sweetwater.sjv.io/1r9vDR
Gibson Les Paul sweetwater.sjv.io/B0nvz1
Evertune Guitars sweetwater.sjv.io/WqyM6P
Fender Jazz Bass sweetwater.sjv.io/nLX5R6
Sansamp Bass Driver DI sweetwater.sjv.io/OreM9Q
EVH 5150 sweetwater.sjv.io/4PGvr9
Mesa 2x12 cab sweetwater.sjv.io/75avGA 
Видеоклипы
Grab my FREE Mixing Cheatsheet for go-to attack and release settings for each instrument in your mix! www.mixcheatsheet.com/
Thanks again for another awesome video 👍
I have a friend that will immediately complain about something sounding "overprocessed" as soon as he sees me apply a plugin compressor, but will tell me it sounds great if i don't show him what I'm doing. I listen with my eyes closed as often as I can.
Next time just do an A/B test with him, say one has a compressor, and then when he prefers the other, reveal that they both had compressors. 😂
That be the ay. Feeling over reasoning
@@Lolwutdesu9000 my old band mate was ALL about fancy analog gear. When we got our tracks back from the mastering engineer, I was highly disappointed. So I took the mixed tracks, mastered them myself, and did an A/B, asking which he preferred, saying that one was the unmastered version and the other was… I didn’t tell him which, just asked which he preferred. He liked my master better on every track. Passion and caring and effort can go a lot farther than some expensive engineer with fancy gear. (I repeated this test with musicians, relatives, neighbors, and all preferred my master)… sigh
I like how in your recent videos you're really hammering that nail of "learn to mix with your ears". It _helps_ to know what a compressor's attack and release physically do to a signal, but it doesn't really tell you what that sounds like. I must have read and watched dozens of tutorials on compression over the years, but somehow the really simple before and afters you do here (and also the fearless just whacking the knobs to their extremes) are actually super helpful.
Next time I go in to apply some compression, I'll have to get it clear in my head what I'm trying to achieve. More upfront? More in the back? Just smoother, or do I want the interaction of the transient and sustain to be closer or further apart? etc.
Dude this was brilliant. I’ve gotten from tutorials/trial and error WHAT happens with certain compression settings, but this filled in the gaps on the WHY. Much appreciated!
Kush Audio also has a good video on how to think about compression for drums
This is a really great video. Especially using the 1176 2a plugins. Fast to Slow being labelled 1 & 10 is super confusing and I think your video has finally etched the correct answer into my brain.
Dude this was the right video at the right time for me! I know things need to be compressed but this is a great explanation of how to better control and direct the sound! Thank you!
Ok , great details . I appreciate your method of explaining the nuances of the effect of the compression. It’s really hard sometimes to hear it’s effect on certain parts of an audio track.
The best tip for learning compression is to level-match, then play/practice with extreme settings.
Make sure you use the make-up/output control to level-match or turn on auto-gain if you've got it. The overall volume should be about the same whether or not the compressor is bypassed. Judge using both input/output meters and your ears. Level-matching lets you focus on the responsiveness/dynamics of the effect instead of the relatively boring louder-is-better that faders are for.
Once you've got the hang of that, try extremely fast and slow attack settings. Try extremely fast and slow release settings. Try an extemely crushed threshold. Try pushing the ratio as high as it will go. Try mixing and matching the different extremes and remember to make sure you're staying pretty level-matched.
After a bit of practice, it should make a lot more sense and you can use more subtle/tasteful/ less-extreme settings for your actual mixes.
Thanks Jordan another great lesson, so clearly explained and demonstrated! Ive learned so much from this channel...
This is some thing I feel I am halfway there with. I feel like I am now able to pick compresses for flavour and character, but still struggle a little with dialling in the exact attack and release and gain reduction. Often feel like I have a little too much comp or not quite enough!!!
Another absolute banger of a video as always 🙌
Id start by learning just what it is a bare bones compressor does to a sound. So, it grabs the front end of a sound - attack, it levels it & then it releases which is just the Comp. letting go of a long tone. Maybe set up tracks with different insts. & just mess with the transients. Then get a bass guitar track with some long notes & figure out how releases work. Once you figure that out everything else is just how much & to what degree. Biggest mistake I think people make with comps is they set them & then later they come back & adjust their volume on the track which completely messes up the Compression. I think thats why a lot of people think they dont 'get' compressors. They dont realize they're constantly messing with it themselves by adjusting the volume on the track. Once you set it you leave it & only adjust the output from the Comp. Compression starts with how much signal you feed it - thats your track volume.
Not sure why, but this particular video of yours seems to have generated my “ah ha!” moment. I’ve been trying to EQ a song with acoustic guitars, solo vocals, and drums, and found myself in an endless circle of tweaks - none of which were generating the intimacy or excitement I wanted. I already had some compression on all the instruments and vocals, but after watching this video, I spent 5 minutes changing attack times and boosting the make-up gains a little and, holy cow, what a difference! Thank you for sharing this content! The instruments are all more distinct and easy to follow as a listener, and the overall experience is that much more involving and enjoyable.
Great Video , very informative!! Good Job man!
This was super helpful. Thank you. You've managed to put this is a way that my brain finally gets.
Thanks! I needed this one!
OUTSTANDING DEMO Bruh.. This was exactly on point.. Thank you for that explanation..
Thanks for the vid. We can always use more clarity on the best use of compression.
Oh man I needed this one, thank you
Super helpful, thanks so much
Could you make a vid talking about your favorite mixing engineers these videos on the mixing
I don't know any but would love to see them work as i can learn from them
Thank you so much aswell im an 18 y/o metalhead from Ireland trying to selfproduce and start produce and mix for others as a job in the future
Absolutely fantastic compression tutorial and how to think about it!
Thanks for this; our music doesn't sound like yours, but I still learn a lot.
I think it was Justin Colletti who said that whenever you compress something, you're either going to accentuate the transient or de-accentuate it, and there's no one right answer of course, but you have to know you're going to do one or the other so you can make the decision that works best.
Good stuff. Thank you 🙏.
So happy I found your channel, great content. I am a Singer Songwriter, Musician, Producer, Mixer for my own music. I've been learning mixing for 10 yrs now and love your info. Thank you for sharing your experience.👍😎🎶 P.S. Love the cheat sheet.
The room looks great!
Best video on compression ever. Thank you!
Another great video from one of the best. I was surprised when you said that the other mixers turned out to be right. Not because I disagree, but rather, because their reasoning is somewhat flawed. It sounds like you are explaining that compression adds VIBE by compressing in different ways. You gave really great examples and proved your point clearly. But where I believe many youtube experts and perhaps some of the old guard pros get it wrong is when they say analogue gear (or certain plugins, etc.) simply add a certain VIBE or MAGIC. That, to me, is magical thinking. If an an audio pro can't identify what a process is doing, they are not that skilled and are probably easy to fool with simple volume/eq boosts/cuts. They say things like "everything just sounds BETTER when you put it through XYZ". You, on the other hand, clearly show what the process is doing and how it affects the mix. And of course, the Pensado people I'm sure are using the word, Vibe, as a type of shorthand as you do and not as some kind of vague panacea.
Hella enlightening yes this is the explanation I need for the stuck I was in 🙏🏼
Very best explanation of power and purpose of compressor that I’ve seen.
This is true on FOH as well. I had heard that compression can influence the tone of the sound. I was running an M7CL at the time and didn't notice much difference in the tone with the compression. I was once called in to help a friend of mine help him adjust his system with his Presonus. I had set EQ on a signal and was trying to set compression having neglected to turn the compressor for the channel on. When I realized it was turned off, I turned it on and experienced a dramatic change in tone. Some compressors affect tone more than others. I'm running an A&H dLive now and don't get as much tone change as the Presonus, but I've learned how it changes the tone of the signal and can use that to my advantage.
Nice lesson on how to bring life into a mix through compression. Being a good mixing engineer, is truly an art form. Some people are truly just amazing talents. I don't think everyone has that gift though, and I don't know of anyone who became a really good mixing engineer with out putting in years of dedicated effort learning the craft. I personally have struggled with keeping vocals from sounding too muddy, and not having them high enough in the mix. Also getting the bass right with attack and level in a mix took a lot of repetitions for me to learn. It's like the harder I tried to bring the bass to life in the mix, I was actually pushing it away and down in the mix. Too much compression can really suck the life out of a mix, and when you're new at it, it can be confusing. Kick drums is another one that is important to learn how to properly use compression with to get the right kind of sound and energy in a mix. Certainly your Mixing Cheat sheet is a great place for someone to start their journey down the road to learning the art of mixing audio. Good video!
Best video you've done man!
Thanks, great vids
Your raw vocal is better than my best processed vocal lol!
That's the trick! 😉 Hehe
and the guitar...
That means that you should work on tracking and learn the in's and out's of your space before tracking. Even when you're in a less ideal space, always try to get the best result. Use your ears to hear the room and don't be afraid to move the mic around or the change you mice depending on what you're tracking.
@@AriJordanya totally , I get that..and I do all of the above. I’ll also say that the vox in the demonstration is not raw lol!
I just recorded at universal music ( for real) , and the raw tracks from that session where closer to what I get at my home studio, than the example in the vid.
I’m assuming Jordan meant raw as in compression . All good tho, I love this channel, and trust what he says.
That's not a raw vocal track is why. There's at least some delay/reverb
great video!
Getting compression right takes hours with good near field monitors or headphones to train your ears to the tiny manipulation of frequencies. Being able to distinguish between light thresholds,ratios, attacks and releases will black tie a mix vs a frat party.
As I became more comfortable with compression I've always thought presets names should include a target GR range. Threshold or equivalent is the first thing I go for if I'm trying a preset. It will best demonstrates how the preset works.
Love this suggestion
Same here, if I make my own presets I always add the GR range to the title
Get the pulsar 1178 it has those
Arturia shows it in the VU meter (along with many other small quality of life improvements). To me this kind of attention to the interface is at least as important as perfect hardware modelling.
@@simonr7097not what anyone was talking about
More nuggets of truth!
Thank you
After years I actually heard what a compressor can do. Thank you Legend!
A great trick is to get the same setting and switch between compressors... which is why I LOVE Logic compressors because you switch from one to the other with the same exact settings! This is the same thing as a beginner swearing that EQ is only for cutting frequencies. There is a fear of following the "rules" and getting it right. When I told my friend who I was teaching that I boost clarity by boosting a frequency or two most of the time in my work as FOH (yes, you read that right), he looked at me as if I was a demonic alien... 600 shows I've done many with legendary artists in my town (Montreal city is a pretty big musical place) and I've hard int. touring people say they loved my sound and knew how good I was at mixing.
He's doing an open mic there, same equipment, and it sounds so bad, I stopped teaching him because I KNOW he got better ears than that. He just refuses to be unafraid. I am not doing surgery. Why correcting when there is nothing to correct? How do I know what to correct? Yes it does change all the time, and yes you realize pretty quick in live sound than raising your fader when someone says "more of " (whatever) is really dumb... and doesn't quite work either in the studio (see Michael Brauer on why). And yes I cut. But I NEVER cut or boost anything before I listen - unless I've worked with the same artist with the same mic in the same room for a few times and I have some idea of what to do.
But that's only with that person in *that specific room* with *that specific board* because every system is different.
This is great advice! (My other takeaway is that listening to soloed vocals with that much pitch-correction hurts my ears. lol)
Great video, very helpful. But still you didn't talk about the colors of compressors...
Thank you 🫶
Best explanation of compression I have seen by far.
thanks man
The new place is starting to look pretty smokin 😎
Great explanation and insight. I love the way you always have practical examples too. So important. Thanks.
I love you, bro!!!
how did they get that acoustic guitar sound? its amazing
I agree 1000% on that one.👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
The more I learn to hear it, the more I actually have to agree that compression is overused. That first vocal example for example sounds way nicer without the compression. it sounds more natural, the compressed one more "like a microphone".
Recordings have been about crafting the sound for quite sometime. The great producers and engineers know how this is done. I worked in a studio that only had two crappy DBX compressors and we could never get a competitive sound. Plug in’s are great.
Quick question, if one produces a track, should processing be left to the mixing stage or should you try and process a little bit for clarity?
Man you've done great...going in depth and helping me to really understand this ..but not the grammy winning pros ...THEY GIVE NOTHING!...Thanks H.M.S.
So something I’ve been wondering and if it’d be possible to make a video on this. But as a new band recording music and sending it to a mix/master. What can we do to make the mixers life easier, should we layer vs. not layer, etc.
As someone who is an engineer. I always appreciate 2 things. 1, when the artist/band has all of the files organized and named so I know what is what and can save them hours of time. 2, I’d rather have artists/bands send me more layers, stems, then less. I can always remove what I don’t need and is much easier than having to fill empty space or ask for more takes when I don’t get sent enough. There’s a lot more you can do but those are my 2 fav things artists do for me!
Yes
So odd that this video popped up for me today as I was listening to brand news, God and the devil are raging inside me album and I’ve always wondered how they got that drum sound. It sounded those massive and distant at the same time.
Studio tour soon?
compression. it has always been the same, but there can not be enough words about these pretty little machines :)
Where can I listen to that song? Those acoustics where
“Here’s a raw vocal”
*plays a vocal that’s covered in processing*
Wtf 😂
Feel and movement, but also EQ / tonal
Compressors are for shaping. Limiters are for loudness. One of the first things my sound engineering teacher told me when I started my education 20 years ago. But depending on the settings a compressor can of course become a limiter. Think of a compressor as an envelope control for instruments where you can’t control the envelope on the instrument itself.
I'm not sure I see compression as being able to add energy. It can decrease energy by virtue of lessening dynamic range. It can bring up breaths, etc, but remember, for every breath being raised by 5dB or whatever, some important word is being crushed by 5dB or something.
Hence parallel compression. It raises tamer parts but keeps dynamics of louder transients.
On the opposite end my whole life I've never thought about compression in terms of level, I've always thought about it how he's explaining in this video and trust me, at some point I needed to think in terms of level 😂
Is virtual compression as good ?
And the studio is on its way to be completed….
So compression just mimics wavefront dispersion?
Where is that “I Don't Understand Compression” video when I need it! Hahaha.
Brilliant. My brain is making connections.
Please what song plays in the background when you speak?
Thanks
Thanks, something has really clicked with this one.
Agree 110%!
not level matching?
I was literally thinking about compression when I came across this video 😂
the colour grading of this (otherwise great, as usual) video is very strange. I hope you're feeling well!
Why does the "Snare" sound like "Kick"?
I didn't understand why, on the CLA-76, the attack at number 1 is slow, whereas normally, the higher the ms number, the longer the compression takes to apply, resulting in a slow attack, but why is it the other way round here?
That’s how 1176s are on the hardware unit
Think of it like "how fast do you want the attack? Just "1" speed or "7" speed?", also it means "how far away do i want this instrument?" 1 is closer and 7 is farther away.... the same with the release "how fast do i want the release to happen?"
The 76 emulations are my fav compressor because thinking this way it makes it so easy to achieve the sound that i have on my head. I hope this helps
@@RanulfoKnoxI like that vision on things! I've got the Waves 76, might whack up a session later tonight just to practice "distance" with compression.
@joristimmermans5058 im glad you find it helpful! For example, when mixing metal or rock drums, which you need them to be energetic, i use slower attack times (closer to 1 on the 76) on the kick and snare, and mostly on toms, so theyre the more prominent, "in your face" element of the drums, but the OH and rooms, i use faster attack times because i want the cymbals to feel soft, warm and distant.
Im using the TRacks 76 comp from IK multimedia, but all the 76 emulations do the same. My fav comp! Also i enjoy using the disstresor emulations because theyre so versatile and you can do all the 76 do and more!
I don''t think you've ever used the real hardware because the attack and release on every authentic 1176 is the opposite of every other compressor in terms of attack and release speeds.
So cool 😎😎😎
Snake oil is all these analog simulation compressors and what not. Just get a good all purpose compressor and learn all of it's ins and outs, experiment with all parameters to know which sound requires which treatment.
But this well established mixing engineer said only this analog compressor can make my mix sound good! No. Even people with a lot of experience can have misconceptions, they'll get used to some equipment and develop attachment to it and then they'll gaslight themselfs over and over with every good mix they make that it's because of this specific piece of equipment, and the longer they are in the game the stronger this placebo effect will affect them. They'll imagine all sorts of warm analog sound and special coloring, and feel all important about it and tell a hundred of stories about their "secrets". The only secret there is is that it's "shit in shit out", wanna make a great mix, use great sounds, no amount of special analog equipment can fix the sound that is bad, and good sound needs minimal processing to make it fit in the mix, which can be accomplished by the most basic equipment. Stop chasing success stories and put in the hours to make your own.
At 3:40 you describe “fast attack” as turning the attack knob hard to the right. I thought it was opposite? Like 1 is fast and 7 is slow?
It’s backwards on the 1176 (and most plugins that try to emulate it). The numbers don’t signify ms of delay, more like “intensity” of attack. Higher number = more aggressive, ie faster attack
When new studio tour?
Waiting for my acoustic panels to arrive
That the emo/goth bird man on vox? Dude’s voice is insane.
Compressors are truly a plugin of all time
Instead of choosing a slower atack you are using a faster atack. Or am i wrong?
Look up Chris Lord Alge (or whatever his name is.)
A gorgeous video, but it still didn't answer about how different compressor devices are more suitable for different tasks 😅
The big take away I get from this video is we should use our ears to figure out what we need from various styles of compressors.
@@baub58 well, this is absolutely true
Those sorts of videos are arguably less helpful because they rarely teach how to use compressors, what the controls do and what can be done with them. Instead they mostly lead to bad pigeonholing of devices, which are more versatile in reality.
The problem with old guys like me is that unless it is a kick or bass, I cannot hear ANY difference.
It takes a long time to learn all the different compressors, their settings and their flavours…
Am I wrong or RUclips already compressed it?
RUclips compresses the bitrate of the audio to save on server space and make streaming video lighter on your internet. This kind of file compression is different than compression used in audio engineering and has no effect on the dynamics of the audio in the video
i thought turning the attack to 7 would be slower than having it set at 1. smh
Yayyy I'm early to this one!
Did this guy just say that he was selling mixing courses for years without having an understanding of the role of compressors? )
nope... figured this out long before i started doing courses
am i the only one who can only hear a difference is on the room drums
Love how people assume people are doing shit wrong
i feel like the difference between compressors is like accent
Yes, it always confused me more all this talk about milliseconds. Like they dont mean a thing to us, we dont have any reference in our day to day life for 20 ms.
Millis make more sense in the context of looking at the envelope of a waveform. Maybe it's immediately loud but quickly decays or maybe it sneaks up slowly and rings for a bit. Millis let you precisely define those terms: 'immediate', 'quickly', 'slowly' and 'for a bit', etc.
You'll generally use your ears but the programmers have a number they can give you so they do. It's mostly a bonus.
Not going to lie, I could hardly tell the difference between the plugin on and bypassed
At least it squashed some of the autotune.
nicuuuu