An Introduction to How Compression Works

[xiris]

I found this posted in another forum I'm a member of, and its a good explanation of how compressors work, with good little animations included to help you understand.

Hopefully some newer producers can use this to help them understand what compression does and how to manipulate settings to get different results.

Link here

 

[Verva]

"RMS is a popular method of visual monitoring because it more closely simulates how we actually perceive volume (we don’t really hear transients). It comes as no surprise, then, that RMS detection is a useful way for compressor to analyze loudness. Practically, this means that a transient, highly dynamic signal (like a closed hi-hat) will not be read as loud as a more sustained sound (open hi-hat), even if they have equal peak amplitude"

Cant beat production info like this, sort of stuff that you actually remember when you finish reading

 

[xiris]

lol, its a bit technical i guess, but it does give a good overview of what compressors do.