Controlling the dynamic range of audio data with compression is an important part of making music. It makes the sounds more polished and professional. Armus Digital helps artists make good songs by giving them tools for distributing and promoting their work. As promised, here is a guide on how to use compression well when making music.
1. Know what compression is
Why It Matters: If you know what compression does, you can use it better on your songs.
What are the main ideas? – “Threshold” is the amount where compression starts to work. Any signals above this level will be squished together.
- Ratio: This value tells the processor how much to compress the signal when it goes over the barrier. A 4:1 ratio, for instance, means that the output level will only go up by 1 dB for every 4 dB that the input level goes over the barrier.
- Attack: How fast the compressor reacts to signs that are stronger than the threshold. A fast attack quickly stops peaks, while a slow attack lets more of the first transients show through.
As soon as the signal drops below the level, the compressor stops lowering the gain. This is called “release.” If you release the signal quickly, it goes back to normal right away. If you release it slowly, it goes back to normal more slowly. - Knee: This controls how the compressor responds as the signal gets close to the barrier. A hard knee puts pressure on the joint right away and strongly, while a soft knee does it more slowly.
- Make-Up Gain: Raise the signal’s overall level after compression to make up for any loss of gain.
- Putting compression on separate tracks
Why It Matters: To get the sound you want, you need to use different compression settings for each track.
As you go through the steps below, make sure that the compressor only works on the biggest parts of the vocals.
- Ratio: To smooth out the movements without losing expression, use a good ratio between 2:1 and 4:1.
Use a quick attack to keep peaks in check.
— Release: Set to go with the vocal act, usually fast to medium. - Make-Up Gain: Change this to make sure the voice sounds good in the mix.
- For drums: – For kick and snare, use short attack and release times to deal with short peaks and add punch.
- For overhead and room mics, use slower attack and release times to keep the sound realistic and ambiance.
If you want more active control, use higher ratios (4:1 to 8:1). - Bass: • Threshold: Set to catch peaks and even out performance that isn’t quite right.
- Ratio: To keep the bass steady, use a ratio between 3:1 and 5:1.
Attack: This speed is just right to let the note’s first attack come through. - Release: Time the track to your liking.
- For guitars: – Threshold and Ratio: Set to catch peaks and keep performance smooth, like bass.
- Attack: Fast for rhythm guitars to keep peaks in check, slow for lead guitars to keep dynamics in check.
- Release: Medium to fast, based on how you play.
- Putting compression on the master track and busses
Why It Matters: Compressing the buses and the master track brings the mix together and makes it flow better.
As you go through these steps, keep in mind that the drum bus has a lower threshold and a moderate ratio (2:1 to 4:1) that you can use to control the general dynamics of the drums.
- Attack: Medium to let the first waves of changes go through.
Release: Quick to keep the groove going.
This is the master bus. This is the threshold and ratio. For soft compression, use a low threshold and low ratio (1.5:1 to 2:1).
- As an attack, slow down to medium to keep transients.
- Release: Medium to keep the energy of the mix high overall.
- Make-Up Gain: Change it to match how loud you think the raw mix is.
- More advanced methods
If you want to add personality and creativity to your mix, you can use advanced compression methods.
Techniques: – Parallel Compression: Mix a highly compressed version of the track with the uncompressed version to keep the track’s dynamics while giving it more body and punch.
Sidechain compression lets you use an outside sound, like the kick drum, to make another track, like the bass, compressed. This makes room and clarity.
- Multiband Compression: You can control dynamics without changing the whole signal by applying compression to certain frequency bands. This is useful for mastering and sounds with a lot of different parts.
Final Thoughts
To use compression well in music production, you need to know how to set it up correctly for each track, use it on buses and the master track to make the music flow together, and use advanced methods to add to your creativity. You can improve the clarity, punch, and general quality of your mix by getting good at these techniques. Armus Digital gives you a wide range of tools for promoting and distributing your music so that it can reach its full potential.
This is about Armus Digital:
Armus Digital is a platform for distributing music that helps artists get their songs heard all over the world. It lets you quickly distribute your music to more than 150 platforms, get paid every month, protect your content, earn performance royalties, and use label services. The platform lets artists upload their music, choose which stores to distribute it in, give collaborators, and make UPC and ISRC codes. Armus Digital makes sure that music can be heard all over the world and is properly made money by forming agreements with many digital service providers.