Compression Flashcards
We usually don’t want to apply compression to drums why?
Because it squashes down the initial thud that moves your speakers so much in order to create the type of vibe you need.
No attack on a timbre means what?
We are reducing the high content of the sound because we’re clamping down on the transient.
The transient creates what in a tone?
The natural characteristics of a tone.
We use the attack knob to let more or less of what come through?
The transient
Attack slows down what?
The rate of gain reduction.
Release stage starts when?
Immediately when gain reduction is being applied.
Use a hard knee on what?
Percussive sounds
Volume is not ________, and is relative to _______.
- Quantifiable
2. You
Amplitude And Volume are related but refer to ______ things.
Different
We notice changes more if the stimuli is less intense. What is the just noticeable difference between two stimuli?
1dB
Perception of pitch changes depending on ________? If pitch below _____ we hear it linearly. Above _______ we perceive it logarithmically.
- Frequency
- 500Hz
- 500Hz
A sound is generally twice as loud when increased by _______dB?
10
Only compress while recording to _______
Control Peaks.
A higher dynamic range means _______.
A higher ratio.
We can use compression to make a timbre sound louder or move it around in the mix by what?
Adapting the dynamic envelope without using an eq or transient designer.
You can make a timbre louder by boosting what?
The frequencies around the fundamental of the sound.
Harmonic content around the fundamental determines _______. So we need to what?
- Perceived volume.
2. Use our ears to set makeup gain as levels won’t always be correct.
With sustained sounds, our ears _________, and the sounds can be perceived as louder.
level out the overall levels.
RMS = ?
Root Mean Square or Average ratio.
RMS is how the compressor responds to gain changes, and means the compressor what?
Reacts slowly to level changes.
Peak compression means what?
Means compressor jumps in immediately when a peak is detected.
We use RMS on _______, and peak on ______.
- Non transient material
2. Transient based material like percussion.
You can make parts of a sound equal in volume by compressing the transient down to the ______. Or have it compress the _________ and bring up volume.
- Sustain level
2. sustain
First question to ask is what?
Why do I want to use it?
What are reasons to use compression?
To contain peaks, dynamics troubles like loud parts coming out too much and quiet too little.
Removing peaks start with what?
Small ratio, hard knee, no attack, and no release.
FET is good on what?
Drums and bass
MU knee is very what?
soft
MU seems to what?
pull instruments forward and give them more presence.
VCA is immediate and good for what?
recording.
MU compressors are mostly ______.
transparent
To compress for character use a _______ knee.
soft
To compress for character don’t use an _______
extreme ratio or threshold
To compress for character let the input ride the _______
knee.
VCA is least preferable for what?
adding character
To compress for character we don’t want it to breach the _______. We want it to ride the ________ so it just adds color and not actual compression.
- threshold
2. knee
To compress for character use a _______ knee.
soft
To compress for character use set ratio to around ______ to _______ depending on the timbre.
- 8:1
2. 10:1
To compress for character set the attack based on the transient. Longer attack for _______. Shorter for ______.
- sharper transients
2. gentler transients.
To compress for character release shouldn’t be too ________ or we’ll hear the compressor pumping and breathing.
short.
To compress for character use what type of compression?
RMS so we don’t hear it as much.
To compress for character we play back sound and __________?
Slowly reduce threshold.
To compress for character we listen to the _________. We want to keep them and not lose any dynamics.
Lower dynamics.
Removing Peaks: reduce threshold so it is only ___________?
triggered on peaks of audio.
Removing Peaks: Start with what?
A small ratio, hard knee, and no release.
Removing Peaks: Play back audio and reduce the threshold until we see it what?
Registering on the gain reduction meter.
Removing Peaks: For Controlling major peaks we don’t want what?
Too much gain reduction because we only want it triggering on the peaks not the body of the timbre.
Removing Peaks: Reduce gain reduction to around what on peaks to start?
.5
Removing Peaks: When setting ratio you need to consider what?
How dynamic it is, what genre you are working on, and the instrument itself.
Removing Peaks: For recording we might use a _________ for large dynamic range to get the quiet playing without getting a lot of background noise. We want to make sure the accents are curshed fairly large.
7:1 or 8I:1 ratio
Removing Peaks: If playing softly and less dynamic range you’d use a what to get softer compression?
smaller ratio of about 4:1 to 5:1.
The lower the dynamics the more likely to what?
Capture noise floor.
General rule of thumb is the more dynamics the what?
The higher the ratio.
Removing Peaks: When setting threshold we don’t want it ______. We want it so that the reduction _________ and we are just capturing the peaks.
- Permanently doing gain reduction.
2. occasionally disappears.
Removing Peaks: If you compress the transient peak of an instrument too much you bring up the what?
Decay portion as well.
Removing Peaks: If you decrease the ratio too much then the transient and decay will have less dynamic range and result in what?
A flatter instrument.
Removing Peaks: When setting attack we need to be cautious to not set it too what?
fast.
Removing Peaks: The heavier the compression the _________ the attack will need to be
longer.
Removing Peaks: If we set the attack too short the gain reduction will what?
kick in too fast during the transient resulting in a dulled instrument with decreased high frequencies.
Removing Peaks: Too short an attack can result in what?
popping or clicking sound.
Removing Peaks: Too long an attack can what?
Miss the transient completely and change the envelope.
Removing Peaks: For percussive instruments we need the attack _____ to miss the transient frequencies, but _______ to operate on the peaks.
- Slow
2. Fast
Removing Peaks: You can lower the what to hear the results of adjusting the attack?
Threshold
Removing Peaks: Longer attacks tend to what?
Soften the timbre.
Removing Peaks: If the release is too short than the compressor what?
recovers too quickly resulting in evident compression and pops and clicks.
Removing Peaks: If the release is too long than the compressor what?
Won’t recover quick enough to react to the next peak redesigning the envelope.
Removing Peaks: Generally speaking release times are set _______ than attack times.
longer.
Removing Peaks: To hear release better, ______ the threshold.
lower
Removing Peaks: Knee determines what?
How quickly the compression kicks in.
Removing Peaks: For compressing transients we need a _______ which can make compression evident unless we set the attack right.
hard knee.
Removing Peaks: Soft knee makes the knee curve and causes compression to ___________ before the threshold.
kick in.
Removing Peaks: Soft knee on sounds with ______________ like vocals , and __________ on percussive.
- less transient attack.
2. hard knee
Removing Peaks: Hard transients = ?
hard knee.
Removing Peaks: Peak responds more _______ and ______ than with peak.
- Slowly
2. Relaxed
RMS can make compression more _________, but can miss _________.
- Transparent
2. Peaks.
Compressing a non transient sound liek a vocal or violin you would use what?
RMS.
With Makeup gain we adjust until we have the same loudness level with or without the _________.
- Compressor.
Bounce the audio to what?
See the effects.
Increasing Volume Channel: We want to squash dynamics _________.
More heavily.
Increasing Volume Channel: Set knee to _______ with a ____ to _____ span.
- soft
- 30dB
- 40dB
Increasing Volume Channel: Set ratio around _____. We are not losing all dynamics because we also have to set the ________.
- 10:1
2. Threshold
Increasing Volume Channel: Dynamic range will be controlled by ______ and we will ride the _______.
- threshold
2. knee.
Increasing Volume Channel: Use longer attack for ________ transients, and _______ for less transient material.
- Longer
2. Shorter
Increasing Volume Channel: Set release to _______.
- auto
Increasing Volume Channel: If we set the release too short we’ll hear the compressor what?
pump and breathe.
Increasing Volume Channel: We don’t want to have too long a release or we will what?
reshape the dynamic envelope.
Increasing Volume Channel: While adjusting threshold always _________ to see if improving the sound.
compare / bypass.
Increasing Volume Channel: while adjusting threshold remember Webers law which says?
We perceive changes based on how we are stimulated.
Increasing Volume Channel: While adjusting threshold listen to what?
The instruments surrounding the instrument we are compressing.
Increasing Volume Channel: We know we are at the right place when adjusting threshold when the what?
instruments around the compression sound balanced.
Steps for increasing volume of channel
- Consider audio, mix, dynamics, and compressor.
- Open threshold so no compression.
- Turn ratio to 10:1
- Set both attack and release to short as possible using auto release.
- Start to reduce the threshold until you hear compression.
- remove ratio. You should hear compression easing off.
- Increase attack to remove artifacts.
- Increase release to prevent evident pumping.
Reducing peaks: the gain reduction meter should come in on peaks and what?
go almost all the way out after if falls under the threshold.
The heavier the compression the longer the ______ should be.
attack
Long attack softens the _________.
Transient and sound.
Release time is usually _________ than the attack.
longer.
Heavier compression = _______ sound.
duller.
Starting settings for pumping:
- Very hard knee.
- Peak Compressor
- 3 - 5:1 ratio
Starting settings for pumping master:
- Attack and release off.
- Peak Compression.
- Knee all the way down.
- Ratio around 4:1
- Adjust attack, release, and threshold till you hear the compression pumping.
Starting settings for De-Essing:
- Sidechain
- Peak compression
- Reduce threshold
- hard knee
- Ratio around 3:1
- Set attack and release
Settings for Parallel Compression:
- Put on send
- Ratio around 10:1
- Peak compression.
- Hard knee
- Lower attack to make timbre abrupt.
- Release short as possible.
- Use aux channel to control the amount of parallel compression.
Multi Stage / Serial Compression is what?
- Compression on channel
- Several compressors on the same channel.
- Ex: First to control peaks, second for character, third for depth and punch.
