![]() This form of compression uses one instrument’s level over a threshold to activate the gain reduction (compression) on another instrument. If you go back and look at all the iZotope plug-ins that include compressors, you’ll see a Mix slider in Neutron and Nectar, and a Parallel slider in Ozone-that’s what they’re for!įinally, there’s sidechain compression. This allows for a smoother result, with crisp and level sound in the high end without any loud peaks or squashed transients. Parallel Compression is a technique that involves mixing a lightly compressed signal with a heavily compressed (and sometimes high-pass filtered) version of the same signal. The first is parallel compression, which has become more common in recent years. There are two other techniques worth mentioning where compression is concerned. In the screenshot above, the release time of roughly 100 ms allows the compression to ease back to zero in a very musical way before the next hit. Sometimes release times are set to match the tempo of a track, causing a rhythmic “pumping” or “breathing” effect other times, release times are set very long (even over one second) to smooth out the dynamic control of busier parts. Similarly, stretching out or tightening up the release time of a compressor affects how notes trail away. Part of the fun of using plug-ins is to try them on sources they’re not designed for Nectar is an all-in-one solution for massaging and optimizing vocal tracks, but in this case we’ve isolated the Compressor module to illustrate this trick very clearly. This screenshot from iZotope Nectar illustrates this technique nicely. This will make the transient pop out even more, making drums punchier. A slow attack lets the initial transient slip through untouched while the compressor is still getting started compressing. More commonly, drum compression uses increased (slower) attack times. Transients carry some of the essential information the human ear needs to determine what the sound is, so playing with them can create a wide variety of musical effects.įor example, lower (faster) attack times can be used to attenuate the initial transient (like the crack of the snare or the beater snap of the kick drum), making the tail of the drum hit more prominent. A transient is the first part of any musical sound, where the instrument is hit, bowed, blown into, plucked, etc., to get it to resonate and make sound. You can also use compressors to shape transients in sounds like drums. With the threshold, ratio, and input level, we can determine the output level using the equation below. The green line shows a 3:1 ratio, where we have the line up and to the right of the 0 dB threshold - for example, an input level of 6 dB yields an output level of only 2 dB - the louder parts of the signal are now quieter. The blue line shows a 9:1 compression ratio, which is on the edge of the very aggressive level control known as limiting (for example, the purple line illustrates a 20:1 ratio). The yellow line shows a 2:1 ratio, so an input level of 9 dB above the threshold would only yield 4.5 dB of gain at the output. The orange line is a very gentle 1.5:1 ratio, where every 1.5 dB of input gain above the threshold results in only 1dB of gain at the output, so for example an input level of 9 dB above the threshold would yield an output level increase of 6 dB. The colored lines represent various compression ratios. As you can see, the level in equals the level out. The red line shows the response for 1:1 ratio, meaning no compression. In this example, the grey line represents the threshold. Take a look at the compressor below, just one of six useful modules for channel processing and mixing found in Neutron. The average compressor has six main parameters that are important to understand: threshold, ratio, knee, attack time, release time, and makeup gain. We actually won’t dive too deep into parameters here, as we’ve actually already covered compressor parameters in our Pro Audio Essentials course. In compression, the dynamic range becomes narrower - the highest peaks and the quietest parts have fewer dB of level difference between them. It’s our job to make that distortion feel transparent and to use our dynamics to create the best-sounding performance we can. The compressor typically achieves this by emphasizing certain harmonics based on how the compressor is hitting the incoming signal. A compressor is used to reduce a signal's dynamic range-that is, to reduce the difference in level between the loudest and quietest parts of an audio signal.Ĭompression is commonly used to attenuate loud transient peaks (e.g., when a singer suddenly belts out a high note) to help maintain a consistent level.Ĭompression essentially causes distortion in a signal, in that it changes the original sound of the signal through its processing.
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