Dynamics processor is an umbrella term for any kind of processing that impacts the dynamic range (amplitude of your waveform).
Compressors are a type of dynamic processing that are used to reduce (compress) the amplitude of your waveform. When your piece is finished you might use one on the overall mix to smooth out your dynamic range (reduce the difference between the loudest and the quietest sounds) which can make the whole mix feel more cohesive.
On individual tracks you would use the compressor to get various effects. Often you use one so you can turn up a track without it clipping.
You might use it to make a kick or snare sound more snappy. For ex. on a snare you would typically apply compression with a quick attack, a high ratio, and a low threshold.
If a vocal part is too soft you can use compression to make it sound louder (though as a live sound engineer I recommend making the vocalist sing louder or closer to the mic ;) ). I was taught to record at about -12dB to give yourself enough headroom and avoid having to over compress during post processing.
You can use side chaining compression on the kick to get the pumping effect you hear in genres like dubstep.
Peak limiter is just a compressor with a high ratio. Compressing the peaks can give you more room to turn up your overall mix to make it louder for example. You don’t want to crush the peaks too much or you will just get clipping.
Plugins will often include various types of compression.
Sorry I was a bit all over the place, there are many many uses!
Well a “limiter” will prevent the signal from crossing a certain volume threshold, but it doesn’t necessarily change the sound of things, so you’d expect dynamics to stay the same.
A compressor is taking all the dynamics and ‘puffing them out’ so they sound more equal to each other, which does change the dynamics.
At least that’s my take. Limiter can sometimes use compression to do what it does, and that blurs it a little but in theory thats the main difference.
So i’ll take a live recording and compress it, which makes quieter instruments louder and vice versa, and then I’ll apply limiting so that nothing goes over, say, -1db so the signal never clips.
The way most limiters work, you can easily configure them in a way that the threshold they're set to happens multiple times per measure (e.g. on every snare hit or bassdrum hit), at which point they function identical to a compressor. Limiter vs. compressor is really more about the available set of options, what ranges the options are tuned to and how they're presented to the user.
3 Comments
reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 9h
Dynamics processor is an umbrella term for any kind of processing that impacts the dynamic range (amplitude of your waveform).
Compressors are a type of dynamic processing that are used to reduce (compress) the amplitude of your waveform. When your piece is finished you might use one on the overall mix to smooth out your dynamic range (reduce the difference between the loudest and the quietest sounds) which can make the whole mix feel more cohesive.
On individual tracks you would use the compressor to get various effects. Often you use one so you can turn up a track without it clipping.
You might use it to make a kick or snare sound more snappy. For ex. on a snare you would typically apply compression with a quick attack, a high ratio, and a low threshold.
If a vocal part is too soft you can use compression to make it sound louder (though as a live sound engineer I recommend making the vocalist sing louder or closer to the mic ;) ). I was taught to record at about -12dB to give yourself enough headroom and avoid having to over compress during post processing.
You can use side chaining compression on the kick to get the pumping effect you hear in genres like dubstep.
Peak limiter is just a compressor with a high ratio. Compressing the peaks can give you more room to turn up your overall mix to make it louder for example. You don’t want to crush the peaks too much or you will just get clipping.
Plugins will often include various types of compression.
Sorry I was a bit all over the place, there are many many uses!
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 9h
Well a “limiter” will prevent the signal from crossing a certain volume threshold, but it doesn’t necessarily change the sound of things, so you’d expect dynamics to stay the same.
A compressor is taking all the dynamics and ‘puffing them out’ so they sound more equal to each other, which does change the dynamics.
At least that’s my take. Limiter can sometimes use compression to do what it does, and that blurs it a little but in theory thats the main difference.
So i’ll take a live recording and compress it, which makes quieter instruments louder and vice versa, and then I’ll apply limiting so that nothing goes over, say, -1db so the signal never clips.
rumschlumpel@feddit.org · 1 pts · 8h
The way most limiters work, you can easily configure them in a way that the threshold they're set to happens multiple times per measure (e.g. on every snare hit or bassdrum hit), at which point they function identical to a compressor. Limiter vs. compressor is really more about the available set of options, what ranges the options are tuned to and how they're presented to the user.