compression ratio

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daveblue222

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how do i set these how. and how do i know i am compressing at say 3:1?

in a book i have (one example) it says set the compressors ratio knob to 3:1
how do i determine this. it doesnt go into detail why and how ratio settings work

i understand how compression works i.e if i have a high threshold and low ratio this will only compress the very loudest parts by a small amount. but i cant seem to figure out all this ratio buisness (never been good at math lol)

hope someone can shed some light on this topic for me.

muchly appreciated
 
In a typical scenario, say you have a signal hovering around -10dBFS. If you set your compressor to a ratio of 2:1 and your threshold at -10dBFS, for every two dB you go over -10dBFS, the output signal will go up only one dB. If the signal approaches full scale, it will only go up to -5dBFS (with 5dB of gain reduction).

Putting that in perspective, that's a lot of compression.
 
cheers. i understand the part where you explain exceding the threshold etc...... but what i dont get is how do i know when the ratio is set to 2:1 (or whatever)

am i correct in saying that if i exceed the threshold by 10db this would be 10:1 meaning that it would increase the output by 5db?

thanks
 
ratio is set separately from threshold usually (although some plugins just do it automatically in a program dependant manner, and have less parameters you can control like PSP Oldtimer)

In a more traditional setup there is a seperate, knob or slider or whatever for threshold and ratio

you could for example have the threshold set fo -5 dBFS and a ratio of 5:1 but if you're material never peaks above -5dBFS then no compression is applied no matter what the ratio is set at

what compressor are you using?
 
daveblue222 said:
cheers. i understand the part where you explain exceding the threshold etc...... but what i dont get is how do i know when the ratio is set to 2:1 (or whatever)
Click to expand...

Doesn't your ratio knob have markings...at least the basics (2:1, 4:1, 10:1)...?
Most do.

You can also watch your gain reduction meter it tells you how many dB the chosen ratio is compressing.
 
i am using t-racks opto compressor, on all compressers i have seen, the ratio is just a knob that is set from low-high. havent seen any with markings. i will check again.

thanks
 
daveblue222 said:
i am using t-racks opto compressor, on all compressers i have seen, the ratio is just a knob that is set from low-high. havent seen any with markings. i will check again.

thanks
Click to expand...

Like this?

04.jpg


Looks like the ratio etc are displayed above the respective control knobs
 
aha! thanks guys. i think it was just a case of me looking into things to much and the overlooking basic things lol. have also been using the more simplified vintage compresser within t-racks which had me a bit confused when it came to operating both.

thanks for clearing this up


:drunk:
 
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