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Table Of Contents
Chapter 4 Dynamics 37
Compressor
The Compressor is designed to emulate the sound and response of a professional-level
analog (hardware) compressor. It tightens up your audio by reducing sounds that
exceed a certain threshold level, smoothing out the dynamics and increasing the
overall volume—the perceived loudness. Compression helps bring the key parts of a
track or a mix into focus while preventing softer parts from being inaudible. It is
probably the most versatile and widely used sound-shaping tool used in mixing, next
to EQ.
You can use the Compressor with individual tracks, including vocal, instrumental, and
effects tracks, as well as on the overall mix. In most cases, you’ll want to insert the
Compressor directly into a channel.
Compressor Parameters
 Circuit Type slider and field: Choose the type of circuit emulated by the Compressor.
The choices are Platinum, Classic A_R, Classic A_U, VCA, FET, and Opto (optical).
 Gain Reduction display: Shows the amount of compression applied as the audio
plays.
 Attack knob and field: Sets the attack time (the amount of time it takes for the
compressor to react when the signal exceeds the threshold).
 Release knob and field: Sets the release time (the amount of time it takes for the
compressor to stop reducing the signal once the signal falls below the threshold).
 Auto button: When selected, the release time dynamically adjusts to the audio
material.
 Compression curve display: Shows the compression curve created by the Ratio and
Knee parameters, with input as the X-axis and output as the Y-axis.
 Ratio slider and field: Sets the compression ratio (the ratio by which the signal is
reduced when it exceeds the threshold).
 Knee slider and field: Adjusts whether the signal is compressed immediately or more
gradually at levels close to the threshold.