Anatomy of a Compressor: Overview
[h4][b]Action Items[/b][/h4]
Okay, once you've watched the above video, it's time for your first activity!
Throughout the course, we have included practice assignments that will help you to apply what you learn.
We highly advise you to complete these assignments. It’s no good having this knowledge rattling around in your head – you need to actually apply it.
After all, the best way to internalize something is by doing it. Not by reading about it, or by watching a video.
However…
If you’re really pushed for time, you can always skip these assignments.
Now that that’s over with, let’s talk about this first activity.
This one’s a two-parter:
First: Investigate your DAW’s compressor.
Maybe a little boring for a first assignment, but so, so important.
Open it up in one of your sessions. What knobs does it have? Does it have everything that we covered in this video? Is everything named the same?
Where’s the gain reduction meter? Where’s the makeup gain?
Are there any bells and whistles that yours has that might be fun to experiment with one day?
Put it on an instrument and start turning your attack and release knobs. See how the gain reduction meter changes speed when you turn those knobs?
Second: Check out [url=https://codepen.io/animalsnacks/full/VRweeb]the compression visualizer[/url].
We’re going to be using this website for a good chunk of this course. It helps us to visualize what different compression settings are actually doing to the waveform of our audio. You’ll be getting very familiar with it over the next several videos.
Take a few minutes and play around. See how dramatic the waveform changes when you change certain settings even by a little bit?
And that’s it for now. This activity is a little light. But still very important!
Okay, once you've watched the above video, it's time for your first activity!
Throughout the course, we have included practice assignments that will help you to apply what you learn.
We highly advise you to complete these assignments. It’s no good having this knowledge rattling around in your head – you need to actually apply it.
After all, the best way to internalize something is by doing it. Not by reading about it, or by watching a video.
However…
If you’re really pushed for time, you can always skip these assignments.
Now that that’s over with, let’s talk about this first activity.
This one’s a two-parter:
First: Investigate your DAW’s compressor.
Maybe a little boring for a first assignment, but so, so important.
Open it up in one of your sessions. What knobs does it have? Does it have everything that we covered in this video? Is everything named the same?
Where’s the gain reduction meter? Where’s the makeup gain?
Are there any bells and whistles that yours has that might be fun to experiment with one day?
Put it on an instrument and start turning your attack and release knobs. See how the gain reduction meter changes speed when you turn those knobs?
Second: Check out [url=https://codepen.io/animalsnacks/full/VRweeb]the compression visualizer[/url].
We’re going to be using this website for a good chunk of this course. It helps us to visualize what different compression settings are actually doing to the waveform of our audio. You’ll be getting very familiar with it over the next several videos.
Take a few minutes and play around. See how dramatic the waveform changes when you change certain settings even by a little bit?
And that’s it for now. This activity is a little light. But still very important!