The WHY Behind Compression

US James Wiltshire goes beyond the numbers 23/01/23

James Wiltshire (Freemasons, F9 Audio) is back with another tutorial video covering the WHY behind compression, where so many videos just cover the HOW. With a myriad of videos on compression, it's important to know the history of an effect, and why we need to set a compressor to do a certain job - and that's just what we have here. More from James...

Compressors are one of the most versatile and down-right useful pieces of music gear out there, and they're also one of the most misunderstood. In this series of videos, I'm going to share with you some of the secrets of compressors and explain the magic of compression and limiting – I guarantee some of these you didn't know!

We'll not discuss only the how? - but the WHY? ... Why compressors can impact your sounds and mixes so much, WHY you should compress parts of your audio - And WHY certain legendary designs seem to be converted into plugins every single week!. Ever wondered when you should use a Shadow Hills Mastering compressor?, Was Deadmau5 right about the SSL compressor and EDM Kicks? What's the difference between a UAD 1176, an LA-2A and Fabfilter C-2 and when do you use each of these? What is Parallel compression? .. What does the compressor's Threshold, Ratio, Attack & Release [actually] do? We'll get to all of these questions in this series and more ...

This 1st video covers the beginning of the history of compression, and by the end, you'll understand why the valve era of the Fairchilds was so vitally important - You'll know your 1176s from your LA2A, you'll know your FET from your OPTOs and FF from your Feedback circuits. And you'll understand all the fundamentals of compression by revisiting your teenage bedroom, it's stereo and annoying your parents.

More videos from James: https://www.youtube.com/@F9Audio

Visit F9 Audio: https://www.f9-audio.com/

About the author [midierror]: midierror makes nifty Max For Live devices, innovative music hardware, award winning sample packs and hosts a podcast speaking to people in the music world.