Continue — Chapter 1: Dynamic Range
Pick up where you left off.
Dynamic Range
The gap between a signal's loudest and quietest moments, why it needs controlling, and what a compressor is actually doing when it "squeezes".
The Compressor's Controls
Threshold, ratio, knee and makeup gain — the controls that shape the transfer curve, and the graph an exam question may ask you to draw.
Attack, Release & Punch
How attack and release set a compressor's timing, the punch that timing choice controls, and the pumping artefact — or effect — that timing mistakes create.
Limiters, Gates & the Side-chain
Push the same numbers to their extremes and a compressor becomes a limiter, an expander or a gate — plus the side-chain trick that lets one track trigger another.
Compressor Interface
Explore a real compressor interface — click on each control to learn what threshold, ratio, attack, release, knee and makeup gain do.
Gate Interface
Explore a real gate interface — click on each control to learn what threshold, return, attack, hold, release and floor do.