Chart Of General Compressor Settings

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robertt8
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I don't really think they make sense??

Every track, every instrument, and every compressor will sound different, how can you possibly reuse the settings then? You can compare them to get an idea of what you can do, try it, and see what it gives, but hell, don't just copy settings! Use yer ears!
 
What doesn't make sense?

Ears are for chumps! I don't know about you, but I don't even have speakers, monitors or headphones. I just pull out these sweet charts and <b>Bing! Bang! Boom!</b> I've got some fantastic music! :D ...I think. It's kind of hard to tell with out speakers, monitors or headphones.:rolleyes:
 
Some of the attack times are rater quite fast for the applications listed. Drums @1-5ms(!?) leaves almost no transient left. .1ms on spoken word? Must be a missprint. Thresholds will depend greatly on the recorded level.
As an alt, try sertting up some varyous types of tracks with a moderate ratio, say about 30 ms attack/release and about 6 db gain reduction. Now as you lower the attack down toward 1ms, watch and listen to what happens. You will see the G/R meter go WAY up, and the sound go WAY down.
As you go quicker on the attack, the threshold will likely have to go up, as you shift from compressing to peak limiting. Two completly different sounds.
Good hunting!
:D
Wayne
 
Robertt8 said:
What doesn't make sense?

Ears are for chumps! I don't know about you, but I don't even have speakers, monitors or headphones. I just pull out these sweet charts and <b>Bing! Bang! Boom!</b> I've got some fantastic music! :D ...I think. It's kind of hard to tell with out speakers, monitors or headphones.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

:D :rolleyes:
 
"Overall Mix 2" 50 -2 to -5 0 2:1 to 5:1 Soft

Um.... Duh? Maybe I'm dumb, but I have never seen a negative release time...
 
Just get a Blue Max like me and you'll never have to even worry about settings. :D
 
Okay...so how do you know what to set the threshold at? doesn't that have something to do with how high over your peaking?

If you guys had a generic chart, how you you make it? (Actually, the only things that really apply to me is vocal, bass, and acoustic guitar), and I'm assuming it depends on how you're playing/singing as well, but what would you suggest as a starting place for these things?
 
This is depending on what what I am doing of course (and may show my ignorance, but it seems to work for me), but I generally find myself setting the threshold at somewhere aroun -9 db below the peak on the track and dialing in how much compression I need from there. Nothing ever stays that way, but that's about where I start. Unless it's bass, then I usually go about -12 below the peak on the track and squash it like a little bug...
 
There's no such thing as a "generic chart" for compressor settings.........

It ENTIRELY depends on the signal and the application at hand.

Learn how to use a compressor and you won't need to worry about useless "presets".
 
Fair enough...is there any place in particular you'd point me to really "learn" the compressor?
 
When i was starting out, an older engineer told me to always adjust the compressor to the point where i just barely could hear it working - then to turn slightly back. He said "the compressor's best, when it's there, and it does its job even if i really can't tell - and if i want more, let's put another compressor after the first one".

That was about 20 years ago. I still remember that, even if i most of the time do otherwise.

If you really want to squeeze the sound, split the signal into two channels and squeeze only one of them. It gives a nice solid ground, which you can open under the original, uncompressed material.

I love opto-compressors. There's less to adjust. :)
 
Use your ears and hear no difference?

Jeez this is confusing for us non-experts!

On the one hand they are saying presets shmeesets, don't use 'em they are pants just use your ears.

On the other hand they say turn the compressor settings down so you can't hear it doing anything!!

If you can't hear it doing anything how are you supposed to just 'use your ears'?

I admit i use 'idiot settings' as a guide, but not the ones shown in the link, they seem far too generalised. I use the guide for each instrument initialy and then tweak it if something doesn't sound right or i think the compressor isn't doing anything!

One point someone might clear up for me. On my compressor there is a bank of LEDs. If I lower the threshold (say to -20) more LEDs light up, raise the threshold (say to -5) and few if any light up. I assume this means that at -5 the compressor isn't doing anything and at -20 the compressor is doing too much - so I always aim for say just 2 LEDs coming on. Is this a fair approach?
 
You "train your ears" by using extreme settings so that you can get a feel for exactly what a compressor is doing to you signal.
 
Here's basically how a compressor works. Your threshold is at what level in reference to the input signal that the compressor is going to start compressing. Your attack is how fast the compressor will react to any signal going past the threshold level, your ratio is a rate of how much gain reduction will happen past the threshold, and your release is how long the compressor will retain this level of gain reduction.

So, let's say you have a signal of a vocalist that sets somewhere around -21db, but he has a scream for a second. If the input signal of his track is at -21db and you set your compressor to -20db at 4:1 compression, it will do absolutely nothing until he hits that scream. Once he hits that scream and the input signal goes over -20db(the threshold setting), the compressor will start turning the gain down on the track at a rate specified by the ratio knob. 1:1 = no compression, infinity:1 = Limiter.

So, as you can see, depending on the type of track you have, these things will change quite a bit. What they are speaking of is that you should not be able to detect that there is a compressor on the track. I have heard a lot of things where you could tell it was squashed. Imagine that each digit represents 1 millisecond, and each number is the signal strength after the compressor. At a setting of attack@5ms and a 4:1 (about) ratio (disregarding a threshold right now), this is what you would have:
9 9 9 9 9 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
You're not really going to hear that the volume on that track went down substantially in 5 milliseconds, but if you set the attack to 15, here's what you would have.
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Here, you will be able to "hear" the compressor. In the scenario before, the compressor was doing it's job, but your ear could not detect it. In this scenario, your ear detects a loudness on this track that is suddenly quiter.

I hope that makes it about as clear as mud...
 
Man! I REALLY didn't understand all those 99999's and 55555's...now THAT was confusing!

I kind of agree with glynb. This compression thing is not easy. Like he says, they say use your ears, but if you can't hear it, how are you supposed to do that?

If you've got a lower ratio...say 2:1, does that make the threshold lower (more negative) than say 4:1? the threshold and ratio are kind of tied in aren't they?

When are they going to come up with an idiot proof compression model? ...cuz I think I need that one.
 
Robertt8 said:
Man! I REALLY didn't understand all those 99999's and 55555's...now THAT was confusing!

I kind of agree with glynb. This compression thing is not easy. Like he says, they say use your ears, but if you can't hear it, how are you supposed to do that?

If you've got a lower ratio...say 2:1, does that make the threshold lower (more negative) than say 4:1? the threshold and ratio are kind of tied in aren't they?

When are they going to come up with an idiot proof compression model? ...cuz I think I need that one.
Click to expand...

Ok, i do my best to answer - i know this is confusing. There is no more confusing single item as a compressor - and none as useful :)

Ratio means the curvature. Below threshold the compressor does nothing, above threshold the compressor starts to soften the peaks. Imagine a ceiling getting lower. Ratio 2:1 means that the curve of original 2dB of sound is only 1dB after the threshold. Ratio 8:1 means that original 8dB is flattened into a single decibel. Infinite:1 is called "brickwall limiting".

Treshold is the point, after which the compressor starts to do its thing.

I remember i said, you shouldn't hear the compressor working; however, i said you should turn the compressor low only after adjusting the level. So by all means, keep the compressor running hot while you adjust your attack and release, and only then turn down your ratio and threshold. It's always better to hera what you do :)

Good luck,

Slabrock

Oh, and BTW, there's a great compressor called "OverEasy". It has just one button, and sounds (occasionally) great.
 
Robertt8 said:
Man! I REALLY didn't understand all those 99999's and 55555's...now THAT was confusing!
Click to expand...
:D Sorry about that, I was trying to think of a way to relate time and signal level. I'll try to explain it though... With an attack of 5 ms, your signal is going to be un-compressed for that 5 milliseconds, and then the compressor will begin gain reduction by whatever the ratio is set at, so you probably won't hear that too much. But, if you kick up the attack to 15, you have more of a chance of hearing the signal come in strong for a split second before the compressor compresses it because the compressor waits longer to engauge. I'm going to try to explain the logic or thought process of it... :) Wish me luck!

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.

Ok, that was weird, but may helps? There is no chart that will help you, just some tips and knowledge. I find that knowing WHY something does what it does is the best way to learn how to use it.

Tips: Remember, a compressor will never take a signal LOWER that the threshold (unless you have the release set REALLY long with the ratio cranked). Your signal will always hit full strength for for the length of time that the attack is set for. A compressor set to infinity will cap the signal at the level of the threshold. Geeze... :) I should sit down and write a book. lol I'm trying to think of more tips and I'm having a brain fart...

The ratio and the threshold are not tied in any way. The only corolation they have would be if you set the ratio to infinity, then your signal would never go above the level you set the threshold at.
 
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