Using Your Compressor Effectively To Create Punchy Mixes

If you have a problem with the peaks then know what you’re targeting when you add a compressor to the track, like with the vocal tip above. If you need thickness to your drums, know how you can go about it with high ratios. But if you throw compression on a track and it doesn’t sound better no matter what you do then maybe you should just leave it off. It’s perfectly fine to experiment with different compressor settings once you’re learning to use them, especially when you’re figuring out which compression style works the best on which tracks.

Key Takeaways:

• I often pick a preset that seems to offer what I’m looking for but then I tweak it according to the song and the track.
• What I tend to do is put compressors on each submix and group to glue all the tracks together.
• Always have a reason for compressing something.

“Compression presets can work great as a starting point. Often all you need to do is adjust the threshold so that the right amount of gain reduction is reached.”

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