Chart Of General Compressor Settings

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thanks fierojoe!

Man Fierojoe,

I guess we just speak the same language - the lights went on for me when I saw that sequence of numbers. The number value representing the level and the number of numbers representing the amount of time really works for me - maybe it's an engineering thing ;o)

thanks! Tim
 
i just came across this thread, and it enlightened me as well.. lol :D

thanks fierojoe, and everybody - till now i hated to just play around with the knobs, not having a clue what im doing.. ALTHOUGH i did generally understand what each knob was there for, i still didn't know when to turn them in which direction ;)
 
fierojoe said:
:D
Ok, pretend I'm a compressor. I have a signal come in that is rising, and my threshold is set to -20. Once the signal hits -20, I'm going to wait for 5ms(my attack) before I do anything about it leaving it free to go as high as it wants because I want to make sure the signal is going to stay above that long enough for me to do anything. So, after 5 ms, I'm going to turn the gain down (how much is specified by the ratio knob), and I'm going to hold that much gain reduction for however long the release knob tells me.
Click to expand...

Would it be more accurate to say when your attack is set at 5ms, the compressor kicks in as soon as the signal goes over -20dB but it takes 5 milliseconds to reach the compression level specified by your ratio knob? In the numbers illustration, I guess the levels would look like 9998765444444444
A slower attack would be 999887766554444
A faster attack would be 9997544444444444

Hope that's not confused anyone again ;)
 
Timmy2000 said:
Would it be more accurate to say when your attack is set at 5ms, the compressor kicks in as soon as the signal goes over -20dB but it takes 5 milliseconds to reach the compression level specified by your ratio knob? In the numbers illustration, I guess the levels would look like 9998765444444444
A slower attack would be 999887766554444
A faster attack would be 9997544444444444

Hope that's not confused anyone again ;)
Click to expand...

Good point. And the 'knee' determines the curve that is used to go from nothing to full compression.

A hard knee would be 99876543333333333
A soft knee would be 998887776655433333
 
Was following until TexRoadKill..

He says...

>Good point. And the 'knee' determines the curve that is used to go from nothing to >full compression.

> A hard knee would be 99876543333333333
> A soft knee would be 998887776655433333

But this tells me that if the attack time is not changed, but the knee is changed from hard to soft then the compressor takes more time to compress to level 3.

Maybe it is more accurate to say the following (note t0 is time zero and t1 is the attack time setting):
-------------------------- t0-------------t1
A hard knee would be: 999999876543333
A soft knee would be : 988776655443333

Here it takes the same amount of time to get to level 3 regardless of "knee", but the soft knee transition is smoother. Or maybe the hard knee/soft knee setting affects the attack time... I'm a bit confused - please help!
 
Actaully, for someone who has never used a compressor before, this might not be bad. It looks like a compression chart someone made for their own rig/band.

I'd take it as a general setup, but (as has been said) you'll have to adjust for your own ear and levels.

From what I see though, none of the settings will pop, breath, or pump. Gotta save those techniques for the bedroom :D
 
hey dipshit, my la-2a has two knobs. Compressor templates are bullshit. More control is nice but not necessary. You need to understand why these controls exist in order to set them effectively. Do research on the sound envelope which describes how sound reaches it's peak volume, retains its "steady state" and decays. This knowledge really helps with setting your compressors.
 
>Good point. And the 'knee' determines the curve that is used to go from nothing to >full compression.

--Yes, but based on increasing level only. At hard knee, you transition directly from no compression to the full ratio.-

"But this tells me that if the attack time is not changed, but the knee is changed from hard to soft then the compressor takes more =time= to compress to level 3."

--No. More level.--

"Maybe it is more accurate to say the following (note t0 is time zero and t1 is the attack time setting):"
-------------------------- t0-------------t1
"A hard knee would be: 999999876543333"
"A soft knee would be : 988776655443333"

"Here it takes the same amount of time to get to level 3 regardless of "knee", but the soft knee transition is smoother. Or maybe the hard knee/soft knee setting affects the attack time... I'm a bit confused - please help!"

--More likely, nothing happens untill you get to 't1'. The attack time is the delay befor compression begins. The knee is the difference in level befor the full ratio value thakes over. Time isn't a factor here.
How about
t0........t1
9999993333 hard knee
Sorry. The number string doesn't work for me. :p How do you show G/R due to time vs G/R due to level? :)
Wayne
 
screw that soft knee crap. Either compress or don't. Why in the hell is DBX still around? They've been making shit products for decades now. Nubs is sorry, you are a very smart boy.
 
You mean 'screww' funny knee like LA2A?
:p

Actually more often than not I guess I'd agree. For example, I'd more often use regular over Supernice on a RNC.
Wayne
 
Confused as hell!

Three months on I still refer to my idiots list of compression settings I referred to earlier up the thread! They seem to work OK for me and save a lot of time 'thinking' about what each button should be set to, after all I'm an aspiring artist not an aspiring recording engineer!

I would love to know what I'm doing with a compressor and I do understand the principles of what each setting does (attack, threshold, etc) but the nuances are so varied for each scenario I could waste a whole evening trying to decide on the compressuion settings to use for one instrument, and i don't have the luxury of so much time.

The main knob I turn is the Threshold, in order to get more compression effect going on or less. For example with the bass guitar i use the low strings push out motre gain than the high strings, by adjusting the Threshold it seems to tame this somewhat giving me a more even level.
 
glynb said:
I would love to know what I'm doing with a compressor and I do understand the principles of what each setting does (attack, threshold, etc) but the nuances are so varied for each scenario I could waste a whole evening trying to decide on the compressuion settings to use for one instrument
Click to expand...
But that's the point!

Without knowing how to use a compressor, and just picking-off presets from a list, it sound like you're using compression just for the sake of using compression!

How do you know if you even need to use it at all if you don't understand what sound the compressor's settings will give you in the first place????

:eek:

IMO - you're better off not using it at all in that case....
 
I notice a difference, using my ears...

Like I said, I can notice the difference on such things as vocals and bass guitar and making the sampled snare drum more snappy, and so on.

I probably didn't explain that I notice an improvement when using the 'idiot' settings to quickly set the compressor, without necesarily understanding WHY it works, if that makes any sense!

No doubt someone with understanding could get even better results.
 
The best way to think of it is,of course,visually.

The NuendoCompressor(same as the ME compressor),for example,has a VISUAL window where you can actually see your compression curve,neatly referenced against an X-Y Input-Output graph.

Not really the norm in compressor interface design,but i guess thats one of the reasons why i like it(although i have to admit that i'm in the minority there! :( )

Waves compressors are also good because the threshold sliders are usually parallel to,and situated next to,the input meter.
Makes life a tad easier.....especially if your learning the ropes on compression.

Good luck......happy squashing
 
Re: I notice a difference, using my ears...

glynb said:

I probably didn't explain that I notice an improvement when using the 'idiot' settings to quickly set the compressor, without necesarily understanding WHY it works, if that makes any sense!
Click to expand...

I can appreciate what you're saying here. Often when I'm using compressors I'll just play around with the settings until I get a sound I like. I'm guessing they're probably not the "right" settings but if I like it, I like it. Working this way ie trial and improvement, you might not need to know exactly how the compressor works. I guess there will be times though when you can't seem to find a setting that works for you and it's then that understanding your kit will come in handy. Cos the difference between a poor sound and a great sound could just be down to changing one setting, but I suppose it's knowing which one to change that's the key.

I think the 'knee' thing was explained but to give an example, if your threshold is set at -20dB and ratio 3:1 with a hard knee, any signal that goes over -20dB is compressed at 3:1 ratio.

With the same threshold and ratio settings but a soft knee, the situation would be any signal between say -25dB and -23dB would get compressed at 1.5:1, a signal between -23dB and -21dB would get compressed at 2:1, a signal between -21dB and -19dB would get compressed at 2.5:1 and any signal over -19dB would get compressed at the full 3:1 ratio.

Hope this helps anyway

Tim
 
If you guys are using your ears, I don't think that's a bad thing...

What I was commenting on was if someone is simply applying a preset for say Bass Gtr and not even analyzing if the track needs compression, or understanding if the preset makes any sense for that particular context.
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
If you guys are using your ears, I don't think that's a bad thing...
Click to expand...

I think you need to say this 6 or 7 million times more and alot louder. If people expect to be an artist they gotta put away the color by numbers and dot to dot books. Presets are often misleading and can be preventing you from being a better recordist... mixer etc... Blind people can mix...deaf people probably should find a different vocation or hobby.

SoMm
 
Re: Re: I notice a difference, using my ears...

Timmy2000 said:

I think the 'knee' thing was explained but to give an example, if your threshold is set at -20dB and ratio 3:1 with a hard knee, any signal that goes over -20dB is compressed at 3:1 ratio.

With the same threshold and ratio settings but a soft knee, the situation would be any signal between say -25dB and -23dB would get compressed at 1.5:1, a signal between -23dB and -21dB would get compressed at 2:1, a signal between -21dB and -19dB would get compressed at 2.5:1 and any signal over -19dB would get compressed at the full 3:1 ratio.

Click to expand...

Very nice explanation! I think I got it now.
 
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