"Most people who learned mixing via youtube tutorials don't understand compression" is more accurate. Trained mixing engineers learn compression and all it's applications in their training. As you state it yourself: compression is an absolute essential.
I pretty much learned compression by just using it enough and listening in to the difference very carefully. Critical thinking and creative mind lets you guess what to listen for when you're fine tuning parameters and good ears with enough experience/time lets you hear the small differences and understand when you need them.
You have done it virtually the opposite of many others, who use a slow attack & fast release! I have tried BOTH ways on drums & bass tracks & found slower attack works BETTER to LET the transient note attack thru!
It’s frustrating to know this is a great tutorial video, but I don’t have the knowledge to appreciate it. “Harmonic distortion,” “bring out the resonances in my tone,” “hear the harmonics creeping into the signal’s tone”-I recognize these concepts, but I have no idea what he’s talking about or how to appreciate or identify them in the mix. I guess I don’t have enough background to learn anything from this video. I’d need an introductory video with animations, explaining it like I’m a 5-year-old: this is “harmonic distortion,” this is what it sounds like, and this is why it happens, and this is how it sounds, etc. 😥 But thank you anyway!
Googling overtones will help make those things make sense. Almost certainly some animations out there. Search for saturation to learn more about harmonic distortion. Keep coming back until it makes sense, and don't forget to grab a compressor and try for yourself!
Is it generally good practice to set up your EQ first, then add Compression? That's a "chicken or the egg" question, I know. But I was under the impression that boosting frequencies beforehand would potentially increase the distortion in the compressor. But maybe I'm looking at the bigger picture incorrectly. Is there something that you would specifically look for in a track before you know that it's ready to throw into the compressor? Is it all a matter of taste or is there a science to it that you tend to follow as well?
Before, after, or both. These are all acceptable. If it sounds good, it is good. I wish I had a more direct answer for you, but it really is situational. Experiment with putting EQ before or after compression, understanding the nuances of each.
Do you want to change tone after compression or change tone so the compressor reacts differently? If in doubt just do it one way and swap their order to see how it sounds.
For me i usually follow my "Audio-Pipeline" (Mixing Console). If the Compression comes first, then thats what i would set up first. But as Long as It sounds good, there is No wrong
Nice explanation with visual representation using the rendering method but i don’t like the end result and the whole use of compression is totally different from what I would have done. I don’t like how compression saturates at those fast times and I don’t like how the kick sustained. I like to use slower times to give power to the notes closer to the transient while lowering the volume at further ones so it has oumf and then get out of the way. I may deal with the transient embracing the saturation (that also a fast compression might give) by using a clipper or a clipped channel strip or even a limiter , and use a compressor for shaping the rest of the sound. Eq wise on a daw where I have options, I like to clean the mud etc before the compression so my compressor react with more ease and control and then use an other eq after to boost and shape the whole sound
Never new there where mixing engineers without knowledge of electronics. Anyone that knows about electronics would have no problem understanding how compression works. It does exactly what you tell it to do by the settings you put in. I already use the compression to let the sound of a guitar last longer. Nice to see another use of the compressor, however I like the kick to kick, so probably won't use this.
Hi, love your videos, I have a question, if you could please help. I use a laptop to play music through a mixer for live events. I'm not sure which is the best way to go with connecting the laptop to the mixer. Should it be with USB-A to USB-B, 3.5 headphones jack to 2 6.3 jacks or connecting audio interface in-between the laptop and mixer. Thanks a lot in advance.
Cool! My first option would be maybe two hard lippers to "tame" those transients, avoiding to over use the first one. Then, a good limiter (probably) ...
Can you teach those engineers how to do it so they can stop ruining music by brickwalling it? It seems that all they do is "turn on compressor to make music go loud" without actually listening to the end result.
I'm not particularly impressed with this video. While it's an interesting demonstration of using compression to achieve an effect, which is good, the description/running commentary is poor. From the way Gabe talks about how a compressor works, he seems to think they are a limiter. While you can make a compressor behave as a limiter (by setting a very high ratio) the two shouldn't be conflated. Compressors don't necessarily flatten the tops of the wave. Further, I'm worried by the constant reference to harmonic distortion, that Gabe misunderstands that concept too.
Compressors distort the shape of a wave and that creates harmonic distortion. Check out this video: ruclips.net/video/aPsQvgZbtmU/видео.htmlsi=AslCPrdoSHKqOYDD
It does when times are short and influence the wave shape at lower frequencies, even if it is a digital one with no emulation of a circuit. Imagine a sine wave that needs some time to fully develop and change its volume in that time, it gets from sine to more triangle or square etc
I’m still a little bothered by the way you opened your video about instrument cables. A/B an expensive and inexpensive cable at the same length rather than different would have been better. Longer cables have a way larger capacitance regardless of price and can roll off the high end. Wasn’t a useful demo
Just based on listening with proper headphones I can tell that compression gets used too much. You lose the richness of the sound. For example, they use compression when 1 person talks too loud, it seems like a much better idea to me to just lower the volume for that person and have that person talk less loud instead of compressing the sound for all the microphones.
@@Andreas-ov2fv True, when you amplify the signal you also amplify the noise. Of course you can use a passfilter before amplifying but any noise which is in the same frequency-spectrum as the signal gets amplified too.
As a drummer, I prefer my kick to sound like it does when I'm sitting at the kit. If I wanted all the notes to be the same volume, I would have played it that way in the first place! EQ: yes. Compression: No thanks. Maybe you just need better musicians...
"Most Mixing Engineers Don’t Understand Compression" ? Most?? Jeez. There's gotta be better ways to get clicks than saying shit that's both inflammatory and false. Automatic thumbs down from me. Boooo
It is a Kick, the EQ introduced a lot of muddy sounds. put a 60hz highpass filter and you lose some of that low noise. kick need to stay punchy. and fat at the same time
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
"Most people who learned mixing via youtube tutorials don't understand compression" is more accurate. Trained mixing engineers learn compression and all it's applications in their training. As you state it yourself: compression is an absolute essential.
I pretty much learned compression by just using it enough and listening in to the difference very carefully. Critical thinking and creative mind lets you guess what to listen for when you're fine tuning parameters and good ears with enough experience/time lets you hear the small differences and understand when you need them.
Bruce Swedein (one of the best engineers in my opinion) said that compression is for children and is totally unnecessary in most applications.
You have done it virtually the opposite of many others, who use a slow attack & fast release!
I have tried BOTH ways on drums & bass tracks & found slower attack works BETTER to LET the transient note attack thru!
11:06 this guy doesn't understand what knee does, and he thinks that a compressor is a clipper.
This was pretty great
Very very good explanations
Thank you
You're welcome! Thanks for watching.
Thanks for sharing ❤💥
I like the way you talk.
It’s frustrating to know this is a great tutorial video, but I don’t have the knowledge to appreciate it. “Harmonic distortion,” “bring out the resonances in my tone,” “hear the harmonics creeping into the signal’s tone”-I recognize these concepts, but I have no idea what he’s talking about or how to appreciate or identify them in the mix. I guess I don’t have enough background to learn anything from this video. I’d need an introductory video with animations, explaining it like I’m a 5-year-old: this is “harmonic distortion,” this is what it sounds like, and this is why it happens, and this is how it sounds, etc. 😥 But thank you anyway!
Googling overtones will help make those things make sense. Almost certainly some animations out there.
Search for saturation to learn more about harmonic distortion.
Keep coming back until it makes sense, and don't forget to grab a compressor and try for yourself!
Check out this video: ruclips.net/video/aPsQvgZbtmU/видео.htmlsi=Vm1UHkGnMeLMIndM
Is it generally good practice to set up your EQ first, then add Compression? That's a "chicken or the egg" question, I know. But I was under the impression that boosting frequencies beforehand would potentially increase the distortion in the compressor. But maybe I'm looking at the bigger picture incorrectly. Is there something that you would specifically look for in a track before you know that it's ready to throw into the compressor? Is it all a matter of taste or is there a science to it that you tend to follow as well?
Before, after, or both. These are all acceptable. If it sounds good, it is good. I wish I had a more direct answer for you, but it really is situational. Experiment with putting EQ before or after compression, understanding the nuances of each.
Do you want to change tone after compression or change tone so the compressor reacts differently? If in doubt just do it one way and swap their order to see how it sounds.
For me i usually follow my "Audio-Pipeline" (Mixing Console). If the Compression comes first, then thats what i would set up first. But as Long as It sounds good, there is No wrong
I think the most common practice is to do "corrective" EQ before compression, and "artistic" EQ after
Nice explanation with visual representation using the rendering method but i don’t like the end result and the whole use of compression is totally different from what I would have done. I don’t like how compression saturates at those fast times and I don’t like how the kick sustained.
I like to use slower times to give power to the notes closer to the transient while lowering the volume at further ones so it has oumf and then get out of the way. I may deal with the transient embracing the saturation (that also a fast compression might give) by using a clipper or a clipped channel strip or even a limiter , and use a compressor for shaping the rest of the sound. Eq wise on a daw where I have options, I like to clean the mud etc before the compression so my compressor react with more ease and control and then use an other eq after to boost and shape the whole sound
Never new there where mixing engineers without knowledge of electronics. Anyone that knows about electronics would have no problem understanding how compression works. It does exactly what you tell it to do by the settings you put in. I already use the compression to let the sound of a guitar last longer. Nice to see another use of the compressor, however I like the kick to kick, so probably won't use this.
Always fun listening to kick and bass eq on a phone 😂
Hi, love your videos, I have a question, if you could please help. I use a laptop to play music through a mixer for live events. I'm not sure which is the best way to go with connecting the laptop to the mixer. Should it be with USB-A to USB-B, 3.5 headphones jack to 2 6.3 jacks or connecting audio interface in-between the laptop and mixer. Thanks a lot in advance.
Cool!
My first option would be maybe two hard lippers to "tame" those transients, avoiding to over use the first one. Then, a good limiter (probably) ...
Can you teach those engineers how to do it so they can stop ruining music by brickwalling it? It seems that all they do is "turn on compressor to make music go loud" without actually listening to the end result.
That’s what we’re trying to do!
Please which software are you using for the recording
This is Pro Tools
This was recorded using OBS.
10 picoseconds? I can't even comprehend that duration
I think he meant to say microseconds. Still pretty quick though!
Merci Monsieur. Thank you Sir i should say...
@12:20 resisted the urge to say ‘find the sweet spot’
Is there anyone else who wanted to zoom in?
Haha. ACTUALLY, as a member, you get to Zoom in and ask the instructor questions.
Woww whats the app you are using? ❤
Pro Tools, as it's written in the upper left.
the DAW is pro tools, the compressor looks like to be a plugin but I don't know which one.
I believe it’s the stock ProTools comp/limiter
@@LeSaff He mentions at 3:47 that it's the stock compressor.
This was recorded using OBS.
Guess you mean microsecond instead of a picosecond
Great video man! I'm still learning all this since I started using Logic this year for my drum recordings! So this will help me a lot🤘🤘🤘
Great to hear!
I'm not particularly impressed with this video. While it's an interesting demonstration of using compression to achieve an effect, which is good, the description/running commentary is poor. From the way Gabe talks about how a compressor works, he seems to think they are a limiter. While you can make a compressor behave as a limiter (by setting a very high ratio) the two shouldn't be conflated. Compressors don't necessarily flatten the tops of the wave. Further, I'm worried by the constant reference to harmonic distortion, that Gabe misunderstands that concept too.
Compressors distort the shape of a wave and that creates harmonic distortion. Check out this video: ruclips.net/video/aPsQvgZbtmU/видео.htmlsi=AslCPrdoSHKqOYDD
This video was on the fly, eh? Seems lack of script and dead time lead to a flat presentation. The video needed compressed into a short.😮
What does harmonic distortion have to do with compression?? The whole idea of compression is that it doesn’t distort the signal. 👎🏼
It does when times are short and influence the wave shape at lower frequencies, even if it is a digital one with no emulation of a circuit. Imagine a sine wave that needs some time to fully develop and change its volume in that time, it gets from sine to more triangle or square etc
The engineer title is used very loosely these days
I’m still a little bothered by the way you opened your video about instrument cables. A/B an expensive and inexpensive cable at the same length rather than different would have been better. Longer cables have a way larger capacitance regardless of price and can roll off the high end. Wasn’t a useful demo
i’ve never seen someone comment on one video complaining about a previous video 🤣
Just based on listening with proper headphones I can tell that compression gets used too much. You lose the richness of the sound. For example, they use compression when 1 person talks too loud, it seems like a much better idea to me to just lower the volume for that person and have that person talk less loud instead of compressing the sound for all the microphones.
You could record more quietly and boost the microphones while editing, but if you do you're also boosting whatever noise floor you brought with you.
@@Andreas-ov2fv True, when you amplify the signal you also amplify the noise. Of course you can use a passfilter before amplifying but any noise which is in the same frequency-spectrum as the signal gets amplified too.
As a drummer, I prefer my kick to sound like it does when I'm sitting at the kit. If I wanted all the notes to be the same volume, I would have played it that way in the first place! EQ: yes. Compression: No thanks. Maybe you just need better musicians...
"Most Mixing Engineers Don’t Understand Compression" ?
Most?? Jeez. There's gotta be better ways to get clicks than saying shit that's both inflammatory and false. Automatic thumbs down from me. Boooo
It is a Kick, the EQ introduced a lot of muddy sounds. put a 60hz highpass filter and you lose some of that low noise. kick need to stay punchy. and fat at the same time
Yikes. I think you need some guidance yourself. Uuufff
Can you elaborate?