Using compression to control dynamics
A compressor works like someone riding the volume fader. You tell them at what point of loudness to turn down the volume (the threshold), how much you want to turn it down by (ratio), how quickly to apply the reduction (attack), and how long to wait until bringing the volume back up (release). The use case for compression is two-fold:
- To reduce the peaks and even out the loudness of a track
- To bring the overall volume up if needed
If a track has no compressor applied, then you can only increase its volume as far as the peak loudness will allow before it clips/distorts. By squashing these peaks, you can safely bring up the overall loudness without distortion. This is why most compressors come with a makeup gain parameter. Compressors also affect the overall tone of a track, either due to their circuitry, the components they are modeling, or simply due to the change in the relationship between the higher and lower tones that were...
