All About Audio Compression Ratios - Into The Lair #81 

You can't not love Dave Pensado. Thanks for this!!

The service that Dave has been doing for the audio community is huge. Awesome person and definitely forward thinker.

I love how confused Dave gets at parts during his explanation haha, cos it really can get that confusing when talking about ratio's! Great tutorial!

8 years later and this is still one of the best explanations of compression I've seen

Yeah I watched it with my in-ear headphones and the vocals almost blew me through the roof.

Crazy that after every compression video I watched on ratios, this one made the most sense to me. Even the question of EQ before or after compression. Thank you!

Dave, I can't thank you enough for sharing so much of your insight in these videos. Even though I understand comp ratios, I never really stopped to think through what you just so eloquently explained; how to think about the effect of different compression ratios to various source material. Now I completely understand why my results sometimes don't work out as expected. I can't wait to apply these ideas on my next mix. Really great stuff, and thanks again for being so generous with your knowledge!

This is called 'teaching'...such a knowledgeable and yet humble dude

I know Dave.., It's hard to explain with world, right? But I got it.... Love you for doing what you are doing for the community!

What a great guy.I think Dave Pensado and Graham from "The Recording Revolution" are two of the best online resources for mix engineers of any experience level.

I love Dave, he's so god damn chill! Not to mention a genius

If you complain about any of his videos stop watching then. He is a certified pro who gives us gems. He doesn’t have to do this. I would appreciate if you quit with the thumbs down and the unnecessary comments about a master engineer. He’s very generous for allowing us access to his mental vault.

Yes Great video....this is how to use compressors...to create energy and control it at the same time...instruments and vocals in great mixs sound uncompressed even though they really are...Dave demonstrated it very clearly and the energy is something that few beginning engineers think about while only watching meters

Though hip hop & pop isn't really my thing, just listening to how a pro operates, thinks and uses his tools is just so invaluable. What a cool cat!! Thanks Dave. Get some sleep

High level approach.. modelling the intentionality of the lyrics with compression. You are the 6th Beatle ; )

To Dave Pensado i'v only been watching your videos for two days now. I am greatly inspired to one day reach your level of experience. Thank you so much for your lessons. You should teach at a tech school if your not already doing so.

Only one professional full time world class , and highly sought after engineer producer in this discussion and he's giving the lecture. I'm going with his advice and being grateful for it!

Dave thank you so much for taking out the time to do this for us. It really does help out a lot!

I love how he said "You guys can do some work too" haha :P

thank you i was struggling with compression for a while, but it finally clicked after watching this video

Hahaha..explaining compression ratio is alil tricky...I been watching you for years love your videos, keep up the great tutorials... Much respect

Great video, but did anyone else have a heart attack the first time he played he hit play?

These videos are awesome. Please never stop making them

Thanks dave. when i'm finally famous and on pensado's place i'll reference this comment; you really illuminated compression for me.

thanks so much for these videos man. still helpful 4 years later to someone that is trying to delve further into production and engineering!

everytime i hear his voice like this, i want to blame the videographer because Dave is an excellent engineer lol

Wow! So many things to think about in this ITL. Fantastic as always! Also, it would be really cool to see Dave kind of take us through a tour of his home studio!

Love your insight sir and it's a lil privilege for us to get a snippet of the production encyclopedia that is your brain, keep them coming, much luv from Northern Ireland

Good on you Dave. A kind and generous tutorial.

Thank you so much for taking your time to do all these tutorials Dave, your the best!!

Great as always. The thing about Dave is he makes me feel like I can do it just as easy...even though I can't.....

Thanks for doing these series of videos....

Excellent teacher.

Dave, you're the best.

How come such a genius like Pensado can be so funny....!!!! for a moment made me think... mmm are you sure? jajaja! but I know... You are the Best! Bless!

It's funny that on a video about audio compression that there is such a wide disparity in volume between the speaking and the music track. I had to constantly turn the volume up and down to get through this. Ironic...

Really appreciate your videos Dave. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!!

well explained! this has always been really confusing to me

don't worry, son, I am. that's why i was here. you keep worrying about the levels on youtube tutorials it's a big help to us all

Thank you, Dave 👌🍀

"Anyway, look it up! You guys gotta do some work, too!" - Apart being a funny thing to say in such a video, this is probably the best advice one could get anyway- go and do it. Lol. I like his mind.

you're great Dave. thanks so much.

Finally! Been waiting for these to come back!

Thank You Mr. Dave Pensado 🙌🙌Ver Helpful Video🔥🔥.

I heard your mic move from point A to point B at the start of the video. It sounded like panning. Lol.

I feel like a person that finds Pensado's found something that will weather. I have never met Dave but I like Dave.Thanks again KPM

True there's so much to learn and experience!!!

Bravo sir, fantastic explanation!

I love my 160 XT, specifically on kick and rap vox, and dave makes me appreciate it more!

Cheers Dave. Informative and encouraging as usual.

This was actually a good ratio & threshold tutorial for beginners

As always, brilliant!!

thank you Dave and the Gang this is a great tutorial .....i've again learned a lot here

Dude, you've got AWESOME videos, and you do a great job of explaining things. I've been making music for years, but never bothered with mixing/mastering .. largely because I didn't understand it. You're really helping me understand it, and I'm totally hearing the difference in my tracks. ... I'm watching other vid sources too, but yours are some of The Best!! Thank you! =]

You're the man Dave, awesome lesson, thanks so much!

DAVE! Love your videos. I'm watching every single one. My mixing has exploded because of your wisdom. Thank you. I gotta ask though, we aren't you mixing you're own mic? A closer mic with some bass roll-off. A little 2.5:1 compression and a limiter at the top. And a volume that matches your examples... Your examples are way loud! Anyways, I luv ya dude. I hope to meet you face-to-face one day.

Dave, dave, dave.....Awesome guy . Character

Useful info and Dave imparts gold that he doesn't have to. But do my ears deceive? Audio starts panned hard right and slowly moves to center? :) Bless the "hey guys, I'm not perfect. No one is.." aspect of Pensado's Place.

I had a major breakthrough in mixing, and thought I would share it with everyone. I did live mixing back in the 80's, and have played as a musician in a few bands. I got back into mixing/recording around the year 2,000. Enough background, now onto the really simple mixing template that can get you into a great mix quickly. Place a compressor on all tracks, and have them all set to a 2:1 ratio... turn the threshold down while the track is in solo mode, pay attention to the 'feel' or 'vibe' of the track as you turn your compression ratio down. Do this to all tracks. place a second compressor on the final L/R output, and make sure it is set to limit, brick wall, at the last 1dB before clipping. Now start mixing. You may end up with something completely different (more or equivalent compression) as this, but this start point mixing template will have you experiencing a good mix quickly. Once you have something that sounds relatively decent, and you are about 30 minutes into the mix, render that mix. A really important vibe will be captured, and you can use this as reference when you're into your 3rd, or 4th hour of mixing.

Awesome. Love your videos

wow, as long as I have been using compressors by ear, I finally GET the ratio better. Low ratio can bring UP the lower stuff and make the higher stuff tame. When you take the threshold higher, it starts to even the whole thing out into one dynamic range...I can picture small and capital letters all starting to become capital letters as the ratio is increased...or i'm just retarded,,,lol anyway..thanks Dave!

This cleared up alot for me! Thank You

That make sense to me, different applications would require fundamental differences in design. Thanks

i never really understood ratio on compressors. now i do, thanks for that!

If you guys compiled all "into the lair" episodes together ... You gonna get a great 3-4 hour lecture video of bit and pieces regarding all you need to know about audio mastering ... For those enthusiasts or beginners, this is a real source of your research and a great start to improve your skill further. If you are pro, well stuff that Dave said will teach you a thing or two even more. :)

These are the important things about compression and not to always get the newest fanciest plugin. Great videos Dave thank you!

I like to think of ratio as gravity and threshold as the ground. Any signal above the threshold is pulled back down to earth (the threshold) by gravity (the ratio). The higher the ratio, the stronger the gravity.

man, thank you for this vid! I always have a really hard understanding exactly how a comp works. I think you gave quite a bit more info into the situation.

Dave is awesome!! "Infinity to 1, or is it 1 to infinity? Well look it up, you guys gotta do some work yourselves" He is in my top 3 fav engineers.

Thanks for the more in depth explanation! :)

Amazing. Informative and encouraging, thank you.

thanks Dave, you're the man!

Subtractive EQ goes before compression; additive EQ goes after compression. The logic is that you don't want to bring up (through compression) something you don't like (the offending frequencies). Once you've cleaned up the sound and made it coherent and "tight" (through compression), you can safely boost your frequencies of choice.

Great Video!

great video! still helpful

Thank you for this great video friend. Just bought softubes native VC bundle and dbx 160 from waves cheers.

Limiters are designed to have a faster and more transparent attack time in general where as classic comps are designed to produce a specific shape

So it was that simple huh....wow! thanks man!

Stillwell-audio made MajorTom, which was modelled after the DBX160. I love that compressor. They are the company that made Rocket & vibe-eq.

that new camera got dem nice resolution

The ITL's are Dave's break from mixing ;-) Great video Dave as always...Many Thanks :)

@radioloud I recommend you record some automation with the channel volume fader first and get the general volume to sound even that way, then you can send the output if that channel to a bus (group) and put the compression and other effects on that. It is very useful for fine tuning odd words that may be a little too quietly recorded too

great video.

awesome explanation I really learned something here. Thank you :)

Thank you!

Also, what an epic chair you got there man! ;)

GENIUS.... SHEER GENIUS!!!!

A ratio of 1:Infinity would be gnarly lolol

Thank you for this vid. Im quite new to this and am struggling with understanding compression.. yhis made it a bit easier :-)

Awesome video Dave, but I have to know - was the surprise volume a real world demonstration on why compression is important?

You're my favourite man

RIP earphone users when the song comes in

Wow it took my 2 year to get this down but yes the rule of put in an EQ before the compressor, for the simple fact of the environment hose the Peaks where the recording is happening so tame those environmental Peaks are priority for more direct sound

Thank you sir

Thank you.

i like how this guy is all about mixing and engineering and then the audio is only in the right speaker

You should do an ITL on using the outboard gear in your setup. For instance how do you capture some bricasti verb on a track. Take us through that process. Its always about stupid plugins. Or even just give us a studio tour of your outboard and tell us what you use what on etc. All this ITB ITLs and NOTHING ever about outboard! :)

very nice!

Great tips. Thanks again. (Didnt like the way Dave's voice sounded in this episode)

The ratio went waay higher than I expected before it fully lost the feeling. I thought about 10:1 but, to my ears, complete squash happens around the 50:1 mark