Do you know something about compression? Please help.

C

clubzero

New member
Ok, despite all the posts I've read through here and many other computer related sites the consept of compression is still a little blur for me. People often "hype" it and tell me it's necessary. But the thing is.. since english isn't my native language, words like "threshold" or "limiting" don't say much for me because I don't know what they mean in my language. I don't know what doing when I'm "limiting bass with 2:1"... and so on..
Ok, I can fiddle with the knobs but still...

Could you with experince give a listen at my site at www.mp3.com/clubzero and give a little analyzis what my tracks "need" if they need.. So far I've only been using the loudness maximizer but I want learn the compression. I need help like what kind of settings should I use when compressing with threshold, ratio, etc.. that would help me to get a picture how to use the compressor in Sound Forge when it comes to my style of music.

And NO, this is NOT a post to attract listeners, I get plenty of plays (I'm not with PAS so I don't get any money anyway..) and email as it is... I just need HELP...

Club Zero
 
Since you're working with electronic music, compression shouldn't be necessary in most cases. I think it's very often overused in that genre. Your songs have an open and airy quality to their mixes, which I find very enjoyable. A lot of compression would just squeeze the life out of them and make them sound worse, IMO. I heard a case of this with some techno-ish song I saw a music video of today... it had so much compression on it that it was clearly audible through a 2" TV speaker! Sounded awful!

Anyway, if you really want to learn, I advise you to fight yourself through these articles (written by members on this BBS). It's good stuff, and not too hard to learn.

Compression

The compressor
 
Hey thanks. :) I checked the first link, it was just great and it helped a bit. The thing I want to the do most is to get "all" the frequencies to hit the top and then maximize the loudness as I can see it's done with "pro" tracks.

Thanks for the reply.

Club Zero
 
You could also try a translator thingy. There's an online one, its sloppy, but it may be a little helpful. Don't remember where it is though.
 
Dobro, thanks for the link.

JFogarty, thanks I'll try to look it up. I doubt it's translated to finnish though.. ordinary dictionaries are useless when it comes to music terms.

Club Zero
 
Sure but they don't tell what they mean when it comes to audio editing and compression. I know what "to limit" means but it's different with music.. the dictionary doesn't tell me enough... I'm sure u catch what I mean. The link which Dobro gave there has it like I mean... it's explained..

Club Zero
 
you are doing electronic music, but is it based mostly on midi tracks or samples recorded directly into a sequencer?

i'm asking because we midi folks have the advantage of being able to make adjustments to the velocity of each note played. in that way we can control the dynamics that will be recorded.

once you've made a reasonable stab at getting the dynamics right in midi, you then record to audio.

now, if you don't believe your ears (i don't trust mine yet), you can put a spectrum analyst into the insert of your main out (i'm assuming that you are using some sort of VST, or DirectX capable sequencer). Then you can see for yourself which frequencies are dominating the mix and make the necessary volume adjustments.

now that you've got a rough mix that works OK, you can start compressing the individual tracks as necessary.

you may still NEED to do some final compression on the mix as a whole in the mastering stage, but work on getting the instrumentation/percussion to sit properly first.
 
Hi. Yes I've made music for many years. I have Cubase VST 24 but I'm still a bit unsure to use it properly. But I've got good ears so usually I get the levels right by mixing and with a loudness maximizer. Thanks for the reply.

Club Zero
 
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