best software compresser?

steffensen · Post by **steffensen** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:01 pm

i couldnt agree more!
i myself only use a small bit of compression on top of certain things, but not enough to make an impact on the sound, just to prevent spikes etc. if needed.

(if im not after the effect of compression that is.)

kage · Post by **kage** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:56 pm

I like Metric Halo's channel strip, and the wavearts compressor

unminimaltruisme · Post by **unminimaltruisme** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:22 am

Everyone here talking about compression but ...

What's actually compression and how does it act on the sound waveform ?

Thanks for your answer

Torque · Post by **Torque** » Mon May 01, 2006 12:18 pm

Vince that's a good question but i havn't met anybody who can say without hand gestures or drawings how exactly compression works. I mean fck, the best compressors are the ones who sound like they're doing something the least. The best way i can describe it is that it makes soft sounds more out front and out front sounds relax into the mix better.

I'm not a fan of using them very often.

steffensen · Post by **steffensen** » Mon May 01, 2006 12:58 pm

what Torque said,
and they are mostly used to "tame" the sound, keep spikes/transients down, and overused they can "flatten" the sound too.

let say u have a thing goin on with lots of dynamics, transients goin thru the roof etc.
by inserting a compressor on it, it will keep the sound from breaking thru, i.e tame it.

thats the general use of a compressor anyway.

thom · Post by **thom** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:04 pm

Torque mentionned the Izotope Ozone. I recently tryed it and wow....one nice clean (sooo clean!) sounding compressor there! At first I thought I was hallucinating...but it really does sound absolutely amazing. At least, my ears tell me it's "far" superior to the Waves C4 (wich I used to swear by).

For more aggressive compressors...use your ears. I like using the vintage warmer followed by the Sonalksis to shape a kick sound...

Oh...and Cubase's built in compressor (Dynamics) does a fine, fine job for a lot of things, I find.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Mon May 01, 2006 4:14 pm

VinceRobaw wrote:Everyone here talking about compression but ...

What's actually compression and how does it act on the sound waveform ?

Thanks for your answer

hey vince a great way to 'see' what compression is, is to take a short loop, apply different amounts of compression, different ratios, different attack, release times etc. and check out what it does to your waveform in soundforge or whatever.
you can see quite clearly which parts of the waveform are being manipulated and whats happening to it.
it's no substitute for using your ears, but it'll give you as better idea whats going on.

unminimaltruisme · Post by **unminimaltruisme** » Mon May 01, 2006 4:44 pm

Good idea ! I'll experiment this ... I hope that after that I'll have a better approach of the matter.

thanks