Creative Session: All About Compression

One essential way to shape your sounds is compression, but using compression effectively takes knowledge, skill and experience. In these tutorials we explain what compression is, and when how to use it. We tackle buss, parallel, multi-band or side-chain compression.

Posts in this series

4 Things You Can't Afford to Stop Doing While Compressing
Compression is a complicated subject. But if you follow a few simple things, you can easily work any compressor and make every signal sound better. The trick...
Björgvin Benediktsson
10 Nov 2011
Encyclopedia of Home Recording: Compression
Understanding compression is essential when producing, mixing and mastering. This post is a clear explanation and helpful overview of the topic from Mark...
Mark Garrison
28 Oct 2011
How to Use Buss Compression
Compression can be a pretty confusing subject. With so much jargon and literally thousands of different compressors to choose from it's no wonder some less...
Mo Volans
9 Jan 2012
5 Compression Techniques and How to Use Them
Inspired by the great reception I received from 6 Frequencies and How to Spot Them I decided to do something similar with different types of compression....
Björgvin Benediktsson
2 May 2011
Mastering Elements Part 1: The Buss Compressor
Mastering is a pretty big subject, so instead of tackling it in one tutorial I thought it might be easier, for those new to the subject, if I split it up...
Mo Volans
22 Mar 2010
Create a Parallel Compression Bus in Logic Pro 8
When it comes to processing a drum bus, parallel compression is a technique that produces great results on just about any DAW available. Of course, the...
Mo Volans
15 Jul 2008
Give Drums Impact with Parallel Compression
It seems that the more elements your drum mix is comprised of, the harder it is to give them impact. With mics on the majority of drums, plus overheads, room...
Joel Falconer
21 Aug 2009
Quick Tip: Super Quick Parallel Compression
There's no denying that parallel compression is a great way to pump up just about any group of instruments. The technique involves creating a parallel stream...
Mo Volans
1 Nov 2010
Quick Tip: Pro Tools - The BF76 and Parallel Compression on Drums
Parallel compression has long been a part of the arsenal of engineers the world over, traditionally used on drums but can be used to great effect on just...
Brandon Davids
17 Feb 2011
How to Use Multi-band Compression in Mixing and Mastering
Twice a month we revisit some of our reader favorite posts from throughout the history of Audiotuts+. This tutorial was first published in August 2009. In...
Mo Volans
29 Apr 2011
Mastering Elements Part 3: Multi-band Compression
As many of you will know by now mastering is a subject with many facets. Learning how to successfully treat your tracks after your mix is complete generally...
Mo Volans
9 Aug 2010
How to Set Up Side Chain Compression in Cubase 4
In past tutorials I have covered side chaining in Reason and touched on side chaining effects busses in Logic Pro, but after a few emails on the subject, I...
Mo Volans
7 Jan 2009
Quick Tip: Side Chain Compression in Ableton Live 8 - Part 1
Up to Ableton Live version 6, the software didn't include a compressor device with side chain input. Ableton Live 7 onwards introduced the new side chain...
George Mitropapas
11 Nov 2010
Getting Started with Creative Compression in Dance Music
Compression is often a misunderstood process. The importance of effective compression in the realm of dance music reigns absolutely supreme. Without the...
Dean Kelly
30 Sep 2008

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