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+---- Thread: WHAT A COMPRESSOR-BASED EFFECT ACTUALLY DOES TO THE SOUND (/Thread-WHAT-A-COMPRESSOR-BASED-EFFECT-ACTUALLY-DOES-TO-THE-SOUND)
WHAT A COMPRESSOR-BASED EFFECT ACTUALLY DOES TO THE SOUND - Chello - 01-19-2024
WHAT A COMPRESSOR-BASED EFFECT ACTUALLY DOES TO THE SOUND
Many sound engineers have talked about this, but they haven't really said the most important thing.
We've been told that a compressor reduces the dynamic range by compressing the distance between the lowest and highest levels, resulting in a higher sound pressure.
Put another way, peaks are removed, which theoretically means that a song can be turned up a lot louder without distortion.
However, little is said about which distortion is involved.
In my world of sound, this is a broad term, which includes conditions such as perspective; changes in the position of an instrument are also a form of distortion, and occur even with moderate use of compressor-based effects.
Imagine a symphony orchestra, where the violins are too weak and are treated with a compressor-based effect:
They will be heard at the same level as the rest of the orchestra, until a certain sound pressure occurs - then they will appear even worse than they did at first without the effect.
Even at a moderate level, their position in the soundscape is also shifted.
In addition, details are masked as a result of the compression - again; distortion.
Most people will probably never be able to perceive that these conditions occur, but those with a certain relationship with HiFi and State of the Art sound will hear it.
RE: WHAT A COMPRESSOR-BASED EFFECT ACTUALLY DOES TO THE SOUND - Chello - 01-20-2024
NOTE:
It is stated that the compression of a track reduces this track's dynamic range.
This is far from the truth, as compression of one track affects ALL other tracks in that their level is considerably reduced and must be adjusted up.
This applies even if the track in question is as loud as before - the others are also reduced, as long as the compression for this one track is active.