Employee Review

The World of Compression

Compression: In simple terms compression is essentialy volume control. Compressors are most often used in recording, live sound and broadcasting. This sound processor consist of 4 seperate controls: attack, release, ratio and output control. Depending on what brand you look at may decide what extra feature you will get. All amounts of gain reduction is adjusted by RATIO. For example, 4:1 ratio means that if a signal overshoots the threshold by 4 dB will leave the compressor 1 dB above the threshold. So the gain level has been reduced by 3 dB. When the threshold is exceeded by 8 dB the output level is only 2 dB. This reflects a 6 dB reduction of gain, and so forth. But keep in mind that a comporessor is a great tool to have but try not to over use it. Now, the ATTACK function is the time (usually labled in miliseconds) when the compressor starts to increase gain reduction. Again the gain reduction is determined by the RATIO. The RELEASE function is the period of time (also labled in miliseconds) when the compressor starts to decrease gain reduction to threshold or a level below 0 dB. Now due to the gain reduction of the compressor the OUTPUT gain is set usually set by the user and is used to bring audio levels up to a acceptible usable level. In the future we will discuss some other applictions and features used in other compressors.