The Fruity Compressor
Compression is one of the most important effects in modern music. Have ever wondered how to make your tunes louder? How to give your kick drums that WACK? Make your basslines BLOW people away! If you understand the basics then compression will, in time, become your best friend. You may think that it doesn’t really sound much different with or without it but don’t let that fool you. The Fruity Compressor (and the Fruity Multiband Compressor) is a vital tool for all computer musicians, you just have to understand how to use it.
Basically compression means to make something smaller. So lets start from the beggining and explain what each of the controls on the Fruity Compressor actually do.
Threshold: This controls the dB level that the compressor starts working for. Example: If we had say a kick drum peaking at -2dB and we wanted the compressor to compress the kick than we would have to set this to less than -2dB.
Ratio: This controls the amount of gain reduction applied to the sound once the threshold is reached. The ratio is the difference between the input level and output level. So a ratio of 2.0:1 means that when the input level increases by 2dB the output level will only be 1dB.
Gain: This controls the output level of the signal. You can either increase or decrease the signal depending on the ouput volume required.
Attack: This controls how fast the compressor reaches its full compression setting. For a kick drum (short sample) you will need a fast attack so that the compressor applies compression to the sample.
Release: This controls how fast the compressor stops compression after the dB level falls below the threshold. Fast release is more flexible to fast changing signals but may not sound pleasing to the ear as a longer release. This all depends on what you actually are compressing.
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Hard - 0dB
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Medium - 6dB
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Vintage - 7dB
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Soft - 15dB
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January 30th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Hmm,I think i’m beginning to understand compression a bit better(I’m a slow learner lol)
Ok,I have two questions!
1)say my kick is peaking at -11DB,and I want it to peak at -3DB through Compression,what settings would I apply to the Fruity Compressor?
2)what is the difference between 1.9:1 and 2.9:1?or does the number before the .9 not matter?
Sorry if my questions are a bit noob-ish
January 30th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Answer 1) Ok, it all depends on the sample and the sound you are trying to achieve. So if it’s a hard wack that you are trying to achieve you could try the following settings:
Threshold: -18dB (Lower than the peak of the sample but not too low or you start to get too much compression and loose the overall loudness)
Ratio: 2.9:1 (For every 2.9dB the input level is raised the output level is only 1dB)
Gain: 10.3 (Adjust this so that it peaks at -3dB as you wanted)
Attack: 3.1ms (A kick drum is only very short and peaks fast so we need a fast attack)
Release: 40ms (Same again we need a fast release)
Type: Hard
I just tried this with a random kick drum of mine, so you may have to tweak the settings to suit. My kick now sounds heaps fatter than before as the compressor basically knocked the high peaks of the sample and made some of the quieter bits of the sample louder acheiving an overall increase in volume.
2) 1.9:1 - For every 1.9dB the input level is raised the output level is only 1dB, and 2.9:1 - For every 2.9dB the input level is raised the output level is only 1dB.
Remember that this is based on what you set the threshold at. The 0.9 bit is simply 0.9dB of gain reduction.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Hmm I think I almost got it,I have just one more question!
so if the kicks peak before compression was -11 DB,then you put a fruity compressor and set the threshold at -18 DB,and applied a ratio of 2.9:1,what would the peak of the kick be at this point(without applying Gain yet)?
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
The peak of the kick would be less than -11dB because you are applying a compression ratio of 2.9:1 to every part of the kick from -18dB. Basically the loudest bits of the drum are being cut down (compressed) and the overall wave will be lower in volume. Great! That’s exactly what we are trying to acheive with compression! Now just turn up that gain knob to hear a fuller kick sound.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the mathematical side of things with compression. Just keep in mind how it works and focus on what the output sounds like. Like with any effects too much is a bad thing, adjust to taste and your tunes will be well on the way to sounding pro!
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:34 am
Thanks for all the help Anto,I definitely understand it better now!I’ll stay away from the Fruity Multiband Compressor for the moment until I master the Fruity Compressorl,I just opened the FMC and boy the number of knobs on there are something else lol!