This might be the best step by step tutorial on compression and compressors! Very well done! I’ve always used 3rd party pluggins for compression, never realizing how great Logic’s stock plugins are.
Best tutorial ever on compression. Probably the most under used and under understood features of Logic for me that I am finally able to understand and explore with substance. Thank you!
Extremely well explained. Now I know: 1) I will have to listen to it more often 2) I shouldn’t have bought so many 3rd party plugins as the Logic ones would fill all my needs 3) the before and after is often very subtle, sometimes very well heard -> for me it’s still difficult to set the paramters best sounding, as my hearing ability especially in the high frequencies has diminished a lot (can‘t hear them over 8000 Hz any more) 4) Is it true that most of the listeners don‘t hear all these subtle changes -> that means there are thousands of possibilities, everything success depends on the song in general rather the perfect mix?
One thing I discovered when testing Logic’s compressors with sine waves and pink noise is this: - not every distortion option is used in each comp type, but the “soft” option does add the most harmonics (i.e. color), while “clip” adds no harmonics for most comp types - the more gain reduction added (i.e. lowering threshold), the more harmonics are increased - similarly, the more make up gain added, the more harmonics are increased. This is where negative output is really useful - knee also effects the levels and content more than I previously thought - finally, the cleanest to the most colorful are Plat Digital, Classic VCA, Vintage Opto (which adds most of it’s color near the source freq), Studio VCA, Studio FET, Vintage FET, Vintage VCA
0MG I have only just had a chance to go through this session and as us cockney's say "cor blimey" what a fantastic piece, you have given me a complete understanding of compression and at last! how to use it properly? At last, I'm so pleased you spent the time to do this tuition, its so appreciated.
Really good explanation of a complex concept. Bravo. I'll be rewatching a few of these sections to glue them into my head. As an aside, I play bass and when I record slap bass I've found that relaxing the attack time lets the thumbs and pops sing through. But sometimes too much, so I'll be using the second compressor technique you showed to then reign them back in a bit. Many, many thanks.
This is the best youtube channel for logic pro and audio mixing tutorial in general. Following these videos for years now and it's always up to date e easy to learn with!! Thank you!!
I'm really loving this. I've struggled for so long, I get the idea of compression but when I apply it, the sound never comes out as expected. I'm finding this really helpful, thanks
I really enjoy these lessons , I’ve learned loads , and I’m not using Logic Pro yet , I’m getting an m4 iPad Pro in a couple of weeks so il be putting what I’ve learned to the test, also you are a good speaker, there is a lot on RU-vid , that mumble and suck there teeth etc , thanks for the knowledge
Thank you for this. I understand more about compression and how to better use the amazing compressors in Logic because of this video. You are a rock star!!!
Really exceptional tutorials. I have used logic for a year now. I only now decided to watch every single tutorial from the start and always find some hidden gems in them. Thanks. One question: most people recommend using the FET first on vocals and then the optical compressor. Why do you do the opposite?
The whole reason why I use the FET compressor after the OPTO is to make up for the fact that optical compressors often leave a quick transient at the beginning of phrases due to their slow attack times. With the Logic compressor, you have a lot more control over attack time than say on an LA2A hardware unit or plugin, so you could probably get away with using FET first for that. But the FET compressor in my mixes is purely to catch the extra transients and peaks that the OPTO misses.
Hi Josh, I’m composer, and classically trained pianist, producer and engineer. I have acted as engineer and producer for a classically trained pianist who is very much a purist and who doesn’t understand much about the process of recording and production. He wants everything to sound very natural, which I totally understand but he believes that “natural” simply means a good microphone and no post-processing at all. I have a hard time explaining the principles of why, even for a natural sounding recording, even for a classical recording in a way he’d understand as a musician. He seems to disregard the science and he likes to say, “We just use our ears and go by what we hear during initial sound check. Compression is a particularly difficult thing to explain to him. Have you ever had any of these struggles too? Could you perhaps do a video with some tips about how we could work with other musicians who are wary of the recording and production process? I love your videos! Thanks!
Analogies usually work in these situations. Show him an unprocessed raw image from your camera. Ask him if it represents what he is seeing in real life. Of course it doesn’t! The colors are muted, there is very little contrast, and the exposure looks different; yet it is the purest UNPROCESSED capture of the image. To represent what we see in real life, some adjustments need to be made (saturation, contrast, exposure, etc.) until the image reflects what you see in real life; being careful to make subtle changes and not go overboard. The same is true of music production. The tools we use to capture sound are fantastic, but we need additional tools (aka processing) to arrive at the closest approximation of what we experience in a live performance.
@@espedale @musictechhelpguy Thanks for this! What kind of analogy would you use to explain that unlike composition or performance, you can’t just go with what your ears tell you during sound check and mic setup? I have a hard time explaining that just because something sounds good before recording doesn’t mean that your ears tell you everything. He keeps saying, “Music is an art. We just need to use our ears. If our ears are saying something is good when we set up mics, we don’t need any mastering or post production.”
Similar to what another commenter said, the microphones do not capture a 100% realistic interpretation of what we hear in real life. With 1 microphone, you only get 1 perspective, from one position in the acoustic space. 2 mics, two perspectives, or a stereo field. But even stereo sound is 2D. What we hear in real life is 3D. We often have to enhance 2D records to make them better approximations of what we hear in real life. In concert music, they definitely like their dynamics, but sometimes I find the dynamic range of concert recordings a bit too dynamic in the recordings. (I used to do nothing but live concert recordings for 2 years as my job). I like to put a little bit of compression, just a touch to round out any "sharp corners" and if anything is missing detail, I might add a little top end, but not much.
@@MusicTechHelpGuy I just thought of a great analogy. If you play piano for a large audience and you play a pianissimo passage in a way that sounds perfectly delicate and soft to your ears, you won’t project to everyone in the hall. You have to listen bearing in mind that your sound needs to reach an audience, so you play in a way that might sound like mp to you but will sound like pp to the audience. The same is true in recording. Something might sound great to you before you add anything or before you master, but you need to keep in mind that if you don’t add any post production processing, it might be un-listenable to your audience depending on what they are using (and we never know that). Am I making sense?
Briliant video about compression, could you make a video about sidechain kick and bass?, also the button compare was on, what for? could you explain what the button compare is doing? thanks a lot.
Love your series and this episode in particular. Though the bass guitar in the bass guitar chapter has way too much sub boomy sound for my taste. I like more defintion in my bass guitar tones.
i have a question. I produce housemusic. My mixes usually are 80% ok compared with similar tracks on e.g. traxsource etc. I still dont understand how to make the instruments more sounding 'in the face'. Is that mainly obtained in the mastering stage? Or are there other reasons?
Excellent overview on a confusing topic! As an alternate technique, could I use the built-in limiter to tamp down the peaks, rather than running a 2nd compressor, as in your example? Just curious to see other ways that limiter circuit could be used.
You could, but using a limiter is limits the dynamic ranges of the peak reduction, so all peaks will be limited at the same threshold, with 100:1 ratio. I think in most situations the 2nd compressor would work better. In the past I've used the limiter in the compressor to intentionally clip/saturate some drum recordings.
I am a newbie when it comes to compression. Thank you for this video. I have a question: at 21:38 you said a hard knee would result in more compression to the signals around the threshold. But when I look at the graph it seems to me to be the other way around. That a soft knee would cause more compression overall. The dark area decreases when you turn down the knee. Which means more compression, right? I just wanna be sure I understand those graphs.
Let me explain in a different way. With a soft knee, the amount of compression applied to signal slightly above or slightly below the threshold is more variable, because the "breakpoint" in the graph is rounded, as opposed to a hard knee, where it's a hard break determined by the threshold and ratio. So with a hard knee, signals that are slightly above the threshold and signals WAY above the threshold will be compressed by the same factor (ratio). Signals slightly below the threshold will be left alone with a hard knee. With a soft knee there's a bit of variability around the knee, so signals slightly above the threshold will be compressed less than signals way above the threshold. However, I see your point, that because of the variability around a soft knee, this also allows signals slightly below the threshold to also be compressed a bit, which doesn't happen with a hard knee.
