Compression?

[d-rokc]

it did make alot of sense.

only IMO, it doesnt even make loud peaks quieter, because of makeup gain. so the only thing it actually does is make the quiet valleys louder, right? another way to say it is it adds harmonics.

which leads me to my question to Torque - Is compressing a long low waveform to get the nice harmonics, and then applying a separate simple volume envelope for dynamics, actually a technique for *cough* eemmm, anything?

thx in advance

[codecks]

it did make alot of sense.

only IMO, it doesnt even make loud peaks quieter, because of makeup gain. so the only thing it actually does is make the quiet valleys louder, right? another way to say it is it adds harmonics.

which leads me to my question to Torque - Is compressing a long low waveform to get the nice harmonics, and then applying a separate simple volume envelope for dynamics, actually a technique for *cough* eemmm, anything?

thx in advance

In fact it is making loud peaks quiter by applying some gain reduction while the compressor is working. This is the purpose of a compressor. The make-up gain is simply used to raise the gain of the whole sound after compression has been applied.

As for the harmonics, they are not affected by compression in the way you mean. A compressor doesn't add or remove harmonics from a sound. It is not made for that.

[d-rokc]

so according to you codecks, makeup gain is used to raise the gain 'after' the compression takes place? why would it need to? at that time the peaks will be back to their highest level anyway.

no. makeup gain works during the time compression works, its part of it. so what happens is - loud peaks get quieter, soft dips get louder, AND the makeup gain brings the peak to the level it was when uncompressed. hence the increased percieved loudness.

the other thing thats happening in between is that, when a waveform gets 'pressed' or 'squashed' even with very little amounts, harmonics occur in the waveform. but thats synthesizing 101 so lets not go there. that is the saturation/distortion Torque is talking about.

As for the harmonics, they are not affected by compression in the way you mean. A compressor doesn't add or remove harmonics from a sound. It is not made for that.

i once happened to work in an environment for a while where there was a blackfaced UREI 1176. feeling blessed eversince, im smiling as i read now

ez

[bip]

The compression ratio works like a subtle distortion knob on a guitar amp. The higher you turn it the more sqashed and distorted the sound becomes.

The Threshhold controls at what level in the volume peak the compression works on.

The attack is how long after the compressor feels the peak should it start compressing.

The decay is how long the compressor should hold after the peak has passed.

The best compressors are the ones that don't make hardly any noise.
I hope this made some sense to somebody. It's almost impossible to describe what a compressor does with text.

thanks for sharing this!
i use compressors (only presets... slightly modified) since a long time without understanding

[codecks]

First of all, I'm not pretending to be an expert. But, from my own research and experimentations I can't totally agree with you. Of course if u can point me out to some reading material and/or examples about the subject I'd be glad to read them. I'm always happy to learn :-)

so according to you codecks, makeup gain is used to raise the gain 'after' the compression takes place? why would it need to? at that time the peaks will be back to their highest level anyway.

This is what I found on the net. Source: http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/word.p ... MakeupGain
I found the same kind of description on various other sites but this one was pretty clear:

"Makeup gain is really nothing more than a gain stage in a device where you can amplify the level. What makes it makeup gain is the context, as it is usually employed in devices where some other process occurs that reduces the level. The most obvious and common example is compressors. After your signal undergoes the gain reduction process of compression you need some way to bring the average overall level back up so that the signal sits in the mix appropriately. This can be done many different ways, however, it's very easy and straight forward when the compressor has a final gain stage with a level control so the signal can be adjusted before it leaves the unit. This gain stage and its associated control are usually referred to as makeup gain."

no. makeup gain works during the time compression works, its part of it. so what happens is - loud peaks get quieter, soft dips get louder, AND the makeup gain brings the peak to the level it was when uncompressed. hence the increased percieved loudness.

I never read somewhere a compressor was making soft dips louder. To me, this is a side effect. Indeed, if loud peaks get quieter, you can raise up the global volume using the make-up gain.

the other thing thats happening in between is that, when a waveform gets 'pressed' or 'squashed' even with very little amounts, harmonics occur in the waveform. but thats synthesizing 101 so lets not go there. that is the saturation/distortion Torque is talking about.

As for the harmonics, they are not affected by compression in the way you mean. A compressor doesn't add or remove harmonics from a sound. It is not made for that.

i once happened to work in an environment for a while where there was a blackfaced UREI 1176. feeling blessed eversince, im smiling as i read now

ez

I did some googling, and found out that many compressors do add some low frequency/noise harmonics to the processed sound. They often speak of it as a feature. So I take my words back on that one. Btw I'd like to hear some examples of sounds where a compressor added those harmonics. Anyone ?

Greetz,

Dimitri