Don’t pinch the singer – squeeze.

In order to keep your attempts to bring out the body and fullness of the singer by equalization (i.e. boosting the fundamental frequencies – 100 to 800 Hz.) from driving the compressor wacko, patch your compressor before the equalizer. Overall level control and effect stability will also be better. Mostly, what you will want to be doing is supporting the singer’s quality of sustain. This means a fairly slow attack so that the transient consonants won’t drive the level down, along with a medium release time so that the compressor will hold the singer’s level at a fairly constant point. The really touchy controls here are the threshold and the ratio: too low a threshold and the compressor will be going (audibly) wild, too high and it won’t do anything. I experiment with the ratio and the threshold together to find a compression behavior that makes the voice firm and secure in level, while remaining expressive and dynamic as well as not audibly in compression. The big danger, I find, is that with a little too big a ratio (especially if the attack is too fast), the sustained notes get pinched and thin, held at slightly too low a level, draining away their emotional impact.

This speaks to a big difficulty in working with compressors: they aren’t linear devices. Sometimes very big changes in settings do very little to the sound while other times very small changes make for big differences in musical quality. Careful experimentation, using multiple controls simultaneously, and also working with the companion equalizer, are called for.

Getting a kick out of this

Compressing drums is a fascinating activity, for me anyway. Usually we are trying to do two things at once, improve timbre and manage levels. We’re trying to make the kick and snare thicker and fatter, the toms fuller and more resonant. At the same time, we’re trying to get all the little red lights to stay off and keep the power amp from making that bad smell again. The two sets of goals are often in conflict. Often, the way out of this, depending on compressor or track availability and generation problems, is to process twice: first for effect (if you can manage to keep from distorting things too badly) and then for levels. The really sensitive controls for percussive sounds are the threshold and the attack time. Usually you want a fast release time (if noise is a problem, you may need to gate later – see how it sounds in context first). The attack time should be slowed until you are getting a really nice strong transient at the beginning of the sound, while the threshold should be low enough so that as the sound decays the fast release time pulls the level up – that’s what gives it the fatness.

Again, be careful about spectrum. Do you have access to the side chain? A high-pass filter there will prevent the low frequencies from pushing down the levels and making the sound wimp out.

Seriously

So what does it all mean? The compressor is one of the most interesting, useful and unpredictable tools you have available. Because it works on dynamic levels over time, it has a huge effect on the tone quality and musical message inherent in the sound. Although it was originally designed as a problem-solver in the amplitude realm, it is now routinely used for much more creative tasks. You really want to spend some hours experimenting, and when you get to your serious tracks (lead vocal, kick and bass), you probably want to do a lot of study, experimentation and trial mixes to see what works. Try not to be too put off by some of the noise problems that will come up as you first get into this. Study in solo mode, but make your decisions while listening to the mix. Make lots of notes, be patient, and keep at it. Compressors are serious fun!

Happy thresholds!