Home Studio Corner Understanding Compression TUTORiAL
SYNTHiC4TE | Nov 05 2014 | 413 MB
Let’s face it, compression can be a huge source of frustration. How many times have you spent hours trying to compress track, only to walk away, scratching your head, wondering why it doesn’t sound better?
I’ve been there, and you should know that you don’t have to stay there. After many hours and countless cups of coffee, I have learned how to use compressions effectively, and I want to help you learn this valuable mixing skill.
I’ll shoot straight with you. I’m making an offer to you today. Understanding Compression isn’t free, but I believe the training you’ll receive will be far more valuable than the price you’ll pay. In fact,
with a little practice, you can go from hating compression to loving it and wielding it to get great results.
Understanding Compression consists of 5 videos (over 2 hours of content). These are high-definition full-screen videos, where I walk you through everything as if you were sitting with me in my studio.
Video #1 – What is Compression?
This first video sets the stage for Understanding Compression. In this short presentation, I’ll help you understand what compression is an why we use it.
Video #2 – Compressor Tour
It’s easy to sit down in front of a compressor and quickly become overwhelmed by all the knobs and settings. In this video I’ll teach you what each component of the compressor does, and why it’s important.
For example, do you ever use the attack knob on a compressor? It can have a dramatic effect on how the compressor sounds. By adjusting this one knob, you can go from a tight, heavily compressed signal to a punchy, in-your-face signal.
This video alone is worth the price of admission, as I teach you in-depth about every component on the compressor.
Video #3 – Ear Training: What Does Compression Sound Like
The BEST thing you can do to help you master compression is to spend time learning what it actually sounds like. You’d be surprised how much you don’t know about compression.
In this video, I’ll teach you how to use your DAW software as a compression-learning tool. Compression causes all sorts of interesting things to happen to the audio. In this video you’ll learn what to listen for. With a little ear training, you’ll be able to quickly pick out compression whenever you listen to a mix.
Whether you’re listening to a CD, mp3, or the radio, you’ll soon find yourself saying things like “They used a little too much compression on the acoustic guitar,” and “The lead vocal could use a little more compression to get it to sit in the mix.”
Video #4 – How to Use Compression: A Step-by-Step Approach
Once you’ve mastered ear training, we take the next step. I’ll share with you the step-by-step approach that I use whenever I use compression on anything.
If you master the technique you learn in this video, you’ll be able to walk up to any session and start compressing with confidence, regardless of what instruments you’re mixing.
Video #5 – Real-World Examples
In the final video, we take everything we learned in the first four videos and apply it to several real-world examples. We’ll walk through several different songs, and I’ll show you how to quickly and easily compress various tracks.