[sdiy] Advice

[Glen]

At 10:32 AM 2/3/04 , Martin Fay wrote:

>Ingo wrote:
>>Seems a contradiction to me. A compressor lowers the dynamics, so it's 
>>no good if dynamics are already lacking.
>
>That depends on how you use the compressor. Consider a sound with a
>percussive envelope and running that through a compressor with a slow
>attack. The start of the transient will go through, then the volume
>will start to be turned down. The result exaggerates the dynamic!

For that result, why not use an expander, a peak unlimiter, or even a
carefully adjusted noise gate instead?

I must admit that I don't fully understand the love some people have for
compression. Some people seem to use it on absolutely everything. I've
never owned a good compressor, but I've heard a lot of commercial music
that I've thought would be a lot better without compression, or at least
with *much less* compression. 

Using a compressor for the job of *expanding* dynamics sounds a bit like
the fellow who's only tool was a hammer and every began to look like a
nail...   ;)


later,
Glen Berry