would like some help to START to understand commpressors

[stretch9980]

i have been a song writter and been in bands for years and am now getting into the recording side of music. i have my own somewhat setup at my home and understand the DAW that i use and the interface and mics and such, but the one thing that im having a hard time with is compression. my question is simple. how did you first start learning about how to use a compressor and what were the first things you learnd. what did it take and what did you finally learn and understand that you said to yourself AH HA! THIS is how a compressor works! i know i will not pick up compression right away but looking to start. any advice would be awesome. i know there are other posts on compression in this forum but i am still having a hard time understanding

 

[mixsit]

... how did you first start learning about how to use a compressor and what were the first things you learnd. what did it take and what did you finally learn and understand that you said to yourself AH HA! THIS is how a compressor works!

.. i know there are other posts on compression in this forum but i am still having a hard time understanding

It didn't happen like that. I suspect you'll need to have a good basic understanding of the control functions which I believe is very helpfull, but then quite a while of applying, often not getting what was expected from the logic approach', but generally getting better as you go.

Which of the functions are you not clear on?

 

[oretez]

This is a huge question or a small question capable of generating responses with a lot of words

a regular contributor on this forum has this to say about compression on his web site

if this helps and you still have questions it might still help to focus on smaller questions (or questions that would generate smaller number of words)

& then there is knowing what compression (& expansion & limiting & gating) does, what the variables mean and how, theoretically they effect a pressure wave, and then knowing when and how to employ the process in a mix

AND, since this is in the rack section, the primary reason for employing hardware compressors is for the specific artifacts, specific bits of gear contribute to the 'sound' of the pressure wave. how a distressor is different from an 1176 from an LA2A, etc. What we mean when we talk about tape compression, tube compression, as specific artifacts associated with specific gear topologies. And while gear, rather obviously, is linked to theory of dynamics processing . . . the where, when & how of specific hardware boxes not only does not require compression theory 101, it in fact does not necessarily benefit from it. (though theoretically by the time you get to dynamics theory 529 practical application of a joe meek side chained stereo optical compressor should be expected to improve)

so any way take a look at SouthSide Glen's tutorial and come for clarification etc.

 

[t_muraoka]

what did it take and what did you finally learn and understand that you said to yourself AH HA! THIS is how a compressor works! i know i will not pick up compression right away but looking to start.

If you're one of those people who learns visually, these videos might help:
(*) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ059J2ahdM
(*) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6_AQ0knTwY
Lots of graphs and pictures

But as mixsit said, you're still going to need to spend a lot of time just playing around and experimenting. You need to understand what the compressor is doing under the hood, but that doesn't then immediately translate into knowing what things are going to sound like when you push a track through one.

 

[Washburn100]

Th best I got to the ah-ha moment was when I read in the most simple and basic form that a compressor makes quiet parts louder and loud parts quieter so they all become the same loudness.

Now before everyone jumps on me, I know that's like summarizing the bible in one sentence, but it's what got me understanding.

Next thing I did was load a compressor on different tracks and just went nuts with the controls until I understood what each was doing. (By the way, I do this with most plug-ins and it works well, not so much on my father's Dodge, but hey, I was 12 at the time!)