When and why do you use a compressor in electronic music?

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With regards to making dance music I have been getting my head around sound choice, arrangement, setting levels and EQ to a reasonable standard. Now I'm starting to focus on compression, and curious to know firstly the 'why' that people use compression (or not) within the realm of electronic music and dance music. Much of the info on compression relates to recorded instruments / vocals and controlling unruly dynamics, which is not an issue in my world of soft synths and drum machine samples (which in addition usually have had some form of compression applied).

So far I've experimented recently with mix bus compression with The Glue, where the kick drum is pushing the compressor and can appreciate how that applies a sound and groove to the overall track.

I'm more unsure on channel compression. Using the Ableton Live 9 compressor, which is a 'clean' compressor, I think I can "toughen up" a sound where it feels like it packs more of a punch when set at the same RMS level as the dry signal. I guess in this sense I'm using the compressor as an envelope shaper.

So my question is when and why do you reach for a compressor in your electronic tracks?

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Some :
-envelope shaping as you say
-for pumping effects
-to bring out detail (parallel)
-to glue instruments together
-to duck one instrument by another (via side chain)
-to add character
-to control reverb
- probably more...

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Thanks for that Keith.

If I can pick up on one of your answers "to add character", would that be done with plugins that model the distortion of emulated units?

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yes that was what I was thinking by that one. You can even use the side effect of a compressor reacting too quickly to create a nice click on a kick drum.

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Aside from my amateur mastering, the ONLY time i use a comp is on dist acid lines, to keep the vol even when opening the filter

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Keith99 wrote:yes that was what I was thinking by that one. You can even use the side effect of a compressor reacting too quickly to create a nice click on a kick drum.
Ok, thanks for that :tu:

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Kriminal wrote:Aside from my amateur mastering, the ONLY time i use a comp is on dist acid lines, to keep the vol even when opening the filter
I getcha, so you only use the compressor for what I'd think of as its "traditional" purpose, i.e. keeping dynamics in check.

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Sidechain compression is in all sorts of dance music!

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So far my experience shows too many compressors (or limiters) make track unbearable, even if dynamics and details seem ok.

I now use only compressor in each group track and a limiter on master chain, but never alone. Compressors work well with sdechan and transient shapers.

Also, sidechain compression of pretty much everything is a must. I use subtle settings at melody, but still it's there - just ducking lows if they interfere with kick.

I used to try compressor on heavy clap - but it didn't work. What actually worked was layering lots of claps for that smashing trance sound.
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gluein' pumpin' 'n duckin'

But I tend to use compression mostly on drums for oomph and on the master to glue things together nicely.
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In mastering on beat driven music, I am usually using compression to enhance the transients and make them pop a bit more with the Attack parameter, add groove and swing with the Release parameter, add a little overall glue to the mix, enhance low level detail, and add some colour and saturation. Never doing more than about 2.5dB of GR here.

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Thanks everyone for your replies :tu:

Plenty of food for thought. The more I look into compression, other than it taking time to train my ear, I also realise my other skills still need plenty of brushing up (levels, EQ, sound choice) i.e. trying to achieve pumping isn't possible without the mix 'correctly' balanced to the kick, come to think of it any attempt at mix bus compression just falls apart without a good mix.

I guess it's a continuous circle [hopefully] of improvement.

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I like to sample mine for a really cool sounding raw noise source. I also find it handy for blowing dust out of gear, but that's not specific to electronic music.

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I mainly use compression for drums. Like you say envelope shaping.
You can emphasise the attack phase if you lengthen the attack. A short release is almost always best.
The higher ratios are good for adding punch where as the lower ratio's are good for adding weight.

I only sometimes use compression on bass. I would first of all try saturation (and lets not forget filter saturation) as this can even up the sound better than a compressor on bass.

On synths I would try to achieve the desired envelope using the synths envelope shaper first of all, but if you are then running it through various post distortion units then you might need one.

Try not to focus on it too much as you can waist a lot to time on it. I often find that at the end of a session I decide to take off the compressor and then go back into the midi window and tweak the velocity values manually.
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I use a compressor to convert my renders to mp3.

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