Compression

Compression is an effect often used in the mixing process. It compresses the loud parts of a track and lets the more silent parts stay the same, and in that way the whole volume of the song becomes higher and more compressed. If you don't compress your song, there is a risk that it will be hard to listen to, but if you compress it too much, you will probably destroy all the dynamics in it.

You can both use compression on single instrument tracks, and on the whole mixed song.

Settings

 * Threshold: The amplitude where the compressor starts compressing. If you set it to -20 dB, everything louder than -20 dB will be compressed.
 * Ratio: The power of the compression. A 7:1 ratio will compress everything that's over the threshold level by a ratio of 7, it will become seven times less loud.
 * Attack: The time the compressor will wait from when it reaches the threshold level until it'll start compressing.
 * Release: How fast the compressor will go back to normal ratio (1:1) after the signal has fallen under the threshold level.

Similar pages

 * Mixing
 * Highpass-filter
 * EQ
 * Mastering