Fun With Compressors, Part 5 - 20 ways to use a compressor Options

[Saoirse O'Shea]

Last thread on compressors - at last for a while as I think people are a bit bored with them...

Most people believe that a compressor is used in mixing and mastering only to compress or reduce the level of an audio signal, i.e. make a loud sound quieter. There are however lots of other things you can use them for and so they are useful even on signals that are already heavily compressed including distorted lead guitars.

So apart from using a compressor to compress a signal you can use a compressor as:

A limiter - to set a maximum level that signals should not exceed.
As an upward expander - and so make loud signals even louder.
As a downward expander - and so make quiet sounds quieter.
As an upward compressor - and so make quiet sounds louder.
As a simple gate - and to therefor attenuate al signals that fall below a given level.
As a simple ducker - to attenuate singals that go above a given level.
As a de-esser.

So in addition to setting a point above which levels are compressed a compressor can also be used to help balance levels and so make quiet and loud parts more uniform or consistent in level and it can also be used to increase loudness.

On top of affecting levels though a compressor can also be used to change the quality of a signal and so affect things like punch and attack. It can add sustain to a sound. It can accent particular segments of a track or signal. It can be used to deliberately produce plosive and clicks that can then be mixed back under the original signal in parallel to add definition. It can be used as an effect to deliberately alter the timbre of a sound. It can add low frequency distortion and so colour a sound. It can be used to used to deliberately pump a track and so add rhythmic impetus or as an effect. It can add warmth to a track. It can affect the placement of an instrument in a mix and so move it forward or backward. It can make drum samples and other sampled sounds sound more natural. It can add both micro and macro dynamics to a mix.

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