Guide to what compressor settings do?

[Roxy_Music]

Hi there!

Been loving the premium version of the eq for over a year now. I never really messed the compressor settings to much because I'm not quite sure how to properly use them. Wondering if there's a quick guide to what they all do. Like attack, delay, release, frequency etc. 

If I knew I would volunteer to write up a guide for you. Alas, I don't.

Any help you can provide would be awesome. Thanks in advance and for great software!

Cheers!

JP

[swtvdo]

Not an audio engineer but i used to work with them.  😅  With that caveat in mind I will try to explain what i know.

attack/release refer to how quickly the compressor responds to loud music.

Ratio refers to how much dynamic/volume compression is being applied. higher numbers mean more compression.

Frequency: i'm not sure what that does in this context. 

Threshold refers to how loud does it need to be before compression is applied. If it is turned way down then it will start compressing when the music not very loud. as you turn it up it won't start compressing until the music is louder.

how much extra volume is added to bring the volume up again after applying compression.

 

 

 

[jwrobinson1]

This is the main reason I purchased this app. I absolutely need to keep the soft parts audible without the loud parts blowing my ears off.

I'm surprised there was a year between the initial question and the first answer.

While that answer helps, is there any way we could get an actual manual on this? Or, at least a guide showing some sample settings. 

And, like the last guy hinted at, what does frequency do? And is balance really emphasizing one channel over another or some such?

Please help!!!

 

Much Appreciated,

John

[jwrobinson1]

Hi there.

I've been searching a long time for an audio compressor on my phone. Not the file compression that the search terms come back with, but actually being able to increase the volume of music (especially classical) so that the quiet parts can be heard BUT the loud parts don't blow your ears out. My A/V set up at home has this build in ("night mode"--but try looking that up! Nothing but ways to redden your phone screen.).

YOU HAVE SAVED ME! (I think.)

Now, I don't really know how to handle the dials in the compression screen. (Yes, I was able to do the adb stuff so I can compress everything.)
Do you have a list of instructions for those dials? Maybe a suggested setting for optimal compression for the purpose I mentioned? Or maybe an online video so we can see and hear examples of it working?

I would really appreciate your help!

 

Thank you,

John

[andrewilley]

The Poweramp Equalizer offers this as a tool, with the default setting providing a good starting point, but just like equalization itself it's not a one-size-fits-all process.

There are a number of guides to using Compressors, and the principle applies to both traditional analogue devices and digital processing. For example, a few returned from a quick Google search:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression

https://www.uaudio.com/blog/audio-compression-basics/

https://blog.landr.com/how-to-use-a-compressor/

Andre

[jwrobinson1]

cool. Thank you. I'm still a little off on things like how gain is working (why can some compression work on making something louder and other possible configurations reduce it?), but this was really helpful. Thanks.

[jwrobinson1]

Actually, to that end regarding gain... Is there a way to increase gain on the quiet parts (make them louder) but decrease it during the louder parts? Or, at the very least, making the quiet parts louder? (Since the compressor will have already been dealing with the loud bits.)

[jwrobinson1]

One more question!!!

The Poweramp compressor has a setting for frequency. I don't see this in the articles @andrewilley  posted. How's that used?

[maxmp]

@jwrobinson1 Poweramp Equalizer controls 2 bands of multi band compressor, the frequency sets that frequency. If set to 24khz or 20hz it's basically the single band. Otherwise it's like 2 independent compressors with the same parameters - one for the 0 -> frequency, and another one for frequence -> max. freq. bands.