Compression

[Robertt8]

Okay. I think that I've figured that I need to compress my stuff (not getting the loudness I want). Now that I've got it, I'm not sure exactly what to do with it. I've screwed with it but didn't really get what I thought. After I compress it do I turn up the gain to make it louder? also, do I compress each track separately or just the whole damn mix? Any help would be great!

Thanks!

[Gidge]

Whoa there...I dont know a whole lot about compressors, but I dont believe they are to make your tracks louder....they are used to tame the dynamic range of a track, such as one that goes soft in spots, maybe loud in others.....you may need to look back at the individual tracks and your mix to see why you arent getting the loudness you need....Now your may be louder after compression, but you might get nasty side effects also....

[crosstudio]

compress to limit the dynamic range, then raise the gain to make the quiter notes louder.

let's say you are getting an average of 3db of compression. that means that the loudest parts (the notes that were above the threshold) are 3db lower than they were originally, and the softer notes (the notes under the threshold) are the same. now you can raise the gain 3db to compensate. presto, the loud notes are the same, and the softer notes are louder. giving you a more even presence in the mix. something a crappy bass player like me needs to compensate for my weak plucking on my pinky and ring fingers.

you can compress the whole mix, but the problem with that is you are compressing the upper frequencies right along with the lower frequencies. lets say you mixed such that the bass and kick are too loud in the mix. now, you want to compress. problem is, when the bass gets ducked, it ducks everything right along with it. that's why you need a multi-comp that let's you set ranges and degrees of separation and compresses the ranges separately.