sound compressioN

Triangle Recording Studios engineer, The Coach, shares the highs & lows of sound compression.

So, you’re recording that joint that you know is going to change the world. But something is just not right. You always hear cats say “throw some compression on that.” So you give it a try. After a few minutes, you realize you probably made things worse...

Is compression the “fix all” for problems during recording? Probably not, but if you’re serious about recording or producing, you should understand compression and how it’s used.
Compression helps control the dynamic range of a signal. The dynamic range is the difference between the lowest volume part and the highest volume part of the same sound. That “sound” can be any element of a song like the main vocals or snare, or it could be the entire song. When we’re discussing specific elements, compression decreases the volume level of the loudest parts, which gives the effect of raising the low volume parts within the same signal. This process can improve how that “sound” fits with other elements in the song. By controlling the loudest parts, compression also prevents a signal from “clipping.” Clipping occurs when a signal is too loud for the gear to handle. Clipping is indicated when your LED meters are “in the red.” In the analog world, “in the red” can be a good thing, giving the sound some warmth, but in the digital world, clipping should be avoided.
Compression serves three main purposes:

Control
Used while recording, track compression will control any unexpected loud parts, or “spikes,” that may occur during the performance. For example, let’s say you’re recording a verse. You set levels using your mic preamp and recorder, and everything sounds gravy. But, while you’re recording, you notice the vocalist sings or rhymes louder on certain parts (maybe for emphasis), and it’s causing your meters to jump into the red. Compression will catch the loud parts before they cause distortion and decrease the volume to a more suitable level.

Even Steven
Compression is used after recording a track to steady, or even out, an erratic performance. For instance, you’ve probably been in a session where the vocalist is vibin’ to the beat in the headphones, at the same time, they’re swaying left to right, doing the “Harlem shake” while recording. You would rather do it over, but they love the “take.” In this case, compression is used to improve the performance by decreasing the dynamic range of the sound. The high parts are decreased in volume, which gives the effect of raising the low parts in the recording. Overall, this makes the performance sound more even to the listener.

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