Learn How To Hear And Use Compression
FREE VIDEO AND ACTION PLAN FOR Subscribers and community members only. Follow the steps below the video to complete the exercise and get the most out of it.
The video above is taken from one of the action plans inside our coaching program, The Self-Recording Syndicate.
It teaches you...
- ...how to hear compression (the benefits, as well as the unwanted side effects)
- …how and when to use it
- …how to understand exactly what the different controls and parameters do and how they interact
PLEASE NOTE: When you're doing the "crack the code" exercise, try to ignore the unwanted side effects of the heavy compression and instead focus on one dial at a time, so you'll learn what to listen for and how you can shape the sound of any audio source with compression.
Do this on many different sources with as many different compressors as you can until you get a great understanding of the tools that are available to you.
Follow these action steps:
- Watch the video.
- Figure out which compressor plugins or hardware units you have available. If you don't have anything, buy one or download a test version.
- Pick a set of multitracks (different types of instruments/vocals) for the upcoming exercise.
- Do the "crack the code" exercise with different compressors on different tracks and make notes, so you can remember their behavior at different settings.
- Pick some favorites (new go-to's) and add them to your template(s)
- Apply compression in a mix, using what you've learned in this video
- Pick a track (vocals or bass work great for that exercise) and try to make it as consistent as possible with just volume automation. Try to make it sit well in the mix without any compression. Then duplicate the track, remove the automation and compress until it's consistent. Compare the results.
- Compress a track heavily to add color and make it consistent, then use volume automation to add dynamics back in. Also, pay attention to the unwanted side effects and find a solution for them. Sometimes you need to squash things to get the desired sound and then you have to find a way to still get the dynamics you want and keep the artifacts under control. Go crazy here, the goal here is to smash something as hard as you can to test the limits and make it sound exciting. ?
- Repeat until you've explored all the extremes, found your go-to's and personal favorites, and are fully confident using compression.
This video and action plan are not publicly available anywhere, so I'm only sending this to our email subscribers and community members like you.