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Compressors, Limiters and Gates

What is a Compressor?
OK, Imagine you had a vocalist who would whisper words quietly and then belt out some loud screams.  You,  the engineer, has to record such a take. You find the whispers are too quiet unless you boost the fader and the screams require you to quickly lower the fader so you don't overload the recorder. That is the time-honored technique called "riding the gain" (gain is another word for volume).  A compressor is an audio circuit that automatically rides the gain. It pumps up the volume when things get quiet and slams down the peaks when they get loud. The goal of the compressor is to achieve a more uniform, more consistent audio signal that is optimum for recording and listening. 

How does it Connect to My Studio?

There are 3 places where a compressor can be advantageously connected.

1. On Mixer channel Inserts.  Here the signal goes out of a single channel, gets processed, and goes back to that channel.

2. In between a sub out bus on the mixer and audio interface.  This way anything going out the bus gets processed.  This way is very flexible as it allows you to use your compressor both during recording and mixdown and you can select any number of channels to be processed.

3. After the Mic preamp and before the audio interface.  For those going mixerless, this is the way it is done.  You go form the preamp line outs to the compressor line ins, then from the compressor line outs to the audio interface line ins. If your mic preamp has inserts (not all do) you can use that.

 

ART Pro VLA Compressor (Model 212)


 

 

 

 

 

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