From the 1960's compression was used more as a sonic sculpting tool than as simple a gain control! Riding the gain just changes the output level but compression allows the sculpting of transients, positional changes and changes in the sonic character and feel of a channel, group of channels and the entire mix.ģa. Riding the gain and compression are two entirely different things! Sure, the original purpose of a compressor was the same as riding the gain but that's essentially a 1940's-1950's view of what compression is.
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So, manual gain riding is not exactly the pure one hit "performance" thing it's being made out to be.ģ. In fact, the history of gain automation is far older than that of automatable processors, being implemented on analogue desks long before DAWS were even invented. Like the ability to "automate" a compressor, or any other parameter of any other plugin processor, the gain (fader output level) of each channel is also automatable. These compressors will all likely have different settings, some of which will be static (don't change throughout a piece) others will be "automated".Ģa. Many compressors are typically employed on every mix, on individual channels, on sub-groups of channels and on the entire mix. These changes can occur instantly or morph over any period of time, entirely at the discretion of the mix engineer/producer and DAWs provide editable graphical overlays of this automation data so it can be tweaked with almost infinite precision. What this means is that the threshold above which compression is triggered, the compression ratio, knee settings and pretty much everything else which defines the performance of compressors and limiters can be changed throughout a piece of music/audio. Something which is being overlooked by everyone, including pinnahertz, is automation! "Automation" is the ability to record and replay setting changes and every parameter of a compressor in a DAW is "automatable". A violin, a snare drum and a trumpet are also dumb devices, it's not until a musician plays them that they are anything other than just a piece of metal tubing, wooden boxes with strings or a wooden shell with a plastic head.Ģ. Compressors are dumb devices but those operating them are not. There are a few misconceptions going on in the last page or so of posts:ġ.