Carlo Libertini is a Melodyne audio editing specialist with Music Marketing Inc. of North America. He’s also an audio production engineer with twenty years’ experience, and performs trainings, demonstrations, and services for top studios and institutions across the country. In between production responsibilities he conducts online training seminars, collaborative production meetings, software demonstrations, and video tutorials.
Of course, Carlo is our resident Studio One expert, too! In this segment, he shows us how to use a compressor quickly and easily!
Compression is one of the most popular tools in music production today. It’s quite literally all over everything and is the sound we associate with big, in-your-face modern mixes. A compressor is like an “assistant” that will help you control the dynamic range of any given instrument automatically; this makes it sit better in the mix so it isn’t too loud or too quiet at any given time.
Ratio and threshold are two of the most important parameters on a compressor. Together they determine how much the signal is actually being compressed. A high ratio creates more gain reduction (compression), while a high threshold means less gain reduction. Fine tuning the relationship between ratio and threshold will determine how much you’re compressing the signal.
Some compressors, including the one that comes with Studio One, also have a knee control which tells the compressor how hard bite down on the signal. A hard knee might sound like “pumping,” while a softer knee has a more natural and transparent sound. There are also multiple gain stages within a compressor, including both input and output gain. In Studio One, there’s a very handy Auto button which sets a fixed amount of output gain based on how much gain reduction is applied.
Finally, attack and release times are your best friends. Attack tells the compressor how quickly to come down on a signal. Fast attack times tend to clamp down and tame quick transients. Release tells the compressor when to let go of the signal. A slow release time means the signal is being compressed longer. Depending on the instrument, many engineers will time the release to the song for a musical rhythmic effect. Studio One’s Compressor comes with an Auto/Adaptive attack and release to help get settings quickly and easily!
