Engineers are familiar with a wide variety of compressors. But one thing they rarely know is the differences between them. They would never know that most compressors these days are not different from their old analogue variants because they are all based on the same four electronic building blocks.
The author of the below article makes a listing of the characteristics of compressors. The first characteristic is their optical style. While a light bulb and a photocell are used in compressor circuits, a time lag exists between these two that gives them their distinctive attack and release time.
He recommends using slow attack and release in a vocal when large transients are not present in the sound. The next characteristic of compressors is the Field Effect Transistor (FET) style. This style was used to vary the gain in the analog circuits and this made them to have a much quicker response than the optical circuits.
One limitation of this style is that it is not transparent. The next is a Voltage Controlled Amplifier (VCA) style that was a feature of the 80s technology. This gave the compressor excellent controls and more response time. But one limitation of this style is that it doesn’t smooth out volume. Other characteristics are highlighted in the blog.
Key Takeaways:
- Engineers have a lot of compressors that they are familiar with and use but they rarely know the differences between all these compressors.
- Most compressors these days are not different from compressors in the analogue days because they are based on the same four different building blocks.
- The main components of the compressor circuit were a light bulb and a photocell which had a time lag that gave it distinctive attack and release time.
“Slow attack and release, use when large transients aren’t present (like vocals). Transparent, tightens up track without being noticed. Adds warmth. Limitations: Won’t control transients, pumps with low end content.”