Can you really hear what your compressor is doing?
In this pureMix.net Exclusive, Fab Dupont returns to the How To Listen Series. This time, It’s the Compression Edition.
Compressors are one of the most valuable tools we have as engineers. Offering us the ability to control dynamics and shape the tone and behavior of the source material.
But can you really hear what your compressor is doing?
Over the course of this 40-minute tutorial, Fab will show you how to:
Listen to dynamics not only as levels but as frequency changes
Send elements further back or forward in your mixes to increase depth
Add consistency to drum performances
Identify the behavioral differences between famous compressors.
After teaching you how to hear the differences, Fab will give you a quiz, where you will have to identify the difference between 4 popular compressors on Bass Drums, helping you to add the sonic signature of multiple compressor settings and styles to your sonic memory.
Learn techniques and approaches to compressing vocals, drums, and one of the most overused applications for compressors, 2-Bus Compression; from Fab Dupont.
00:00:00 Good morning, children!
This is the follow-up
to the much loved How To Listen video,
and so we called it
'How To Listen: Compression Edition'.
00:00:08 Let's go!
The purpose of this video
is for you to learn
how to listen for compression
or listen for what to compress.
00:00:24 It is not to learn how to compress things.
00:00:27 That's other videos.
00:00:28 This is solely to help you focus
on what needs dynamics or not.
00:00:34 For example, let's talk about vocals.
00:00:36 Vocals are some of the most
compressed tracks
in the history of 'compressionkind'.
00:00:40 They are front and center,
and they define the mix.
00:00:43 One must be very careful
with how much to compress your vocals,
because an overcompressed vocal
will actually lead you to
overcompress everything else,
and then it's the end of the world for you
and all your offsprings
for seven generations down the line.
00:00:54 So,
let's listen to Will Knox
without compression.
00:00:58 I'm going to listen to just two phrases
so we can really focus on something
and I can really show you
what the problem is.
00:01:04 Check it out.
00:01:18 I'll play it again.
00:01:33 So,
"SHE's dropping me
I'M a leaf in her BROken breeze
Trying to clear the treetops..."
Right? There's this stuff going on.
00:01:45 Check it out.
00:01:59 This is uncompressed, right?
So, did you hear that?
Listen for not only dynamics as levels,
but also frequency changes,
especially, like, "treetop."
Listen to the word "treetop."
Right? You heard that?
I'm going to play it in solo so you can
really memorize the shape of the vocal
and just make a mental picture of it,
so this is, focus a lot
on all the peaks and valleys,
and the shifts in range.
00:02:50 So now I'm going to compress.
00:02:51 I'm not showing you the settings.
The settings don't matter.
00:02:54 I'm going to play it to you
once compressed,
and then I'm going to be kind
and play you the uncompressed again
so you can really hear the difference
and really learn
what kind of difference
the compression makes.
00:03:34 All right. So I level-matched
uncompressed and compressed,
and I made sure that I used
a very transparent compressor.
00:03:41 Did you hear the difference?
Let me point it out to you.
00:03:44 This word right here,
listen to it in the context
without compression and with compression.
00:04:04 So now the compression
just brings that level down
but touches very little else.
00:04:08 I can show you the settings now.
00:04:11 Check it out.
00:04:27 So you hear all those little things
being flattened a little bit, right?
But not too much.
00:04:31 So, basically,
if I just play this to you
like this, compressed,
but without telling you it's compressed,
you probably would have not guessed
it's compressed,
or maybe you would have made
the assumption I compressed it.
00:04:42 Now let's go a step further,
and hide this,
and go to the same compression
but with different settings.
00:04:49 So this is what we just heard.
00:05:19 I'm going to give you a clue:
it's the same compressor,
it's the same Ratio,
and it's the same Threshold.
00:05:25 What could be different?
Option A.
00:05:55 Do you feel the vocal
going further back a little bit
and not being as present?
Let's listen to that second
phrase right there
with the new settings.
00:06:13 One more time. Second settings.
00:06:14 Listen to
"I'M a leaf in her BROken breeze."
You don't hear a drastic difference,
what you hear is a different vibe, right?
You hear that the second compressor
is actually pushing
the vocal back quite a bit.
00:06:36 Here's a clue:
I shortened the Attack a lot,
so basically, the compressor comes in
right away and catches the transients.
00:06:45 You hear that a lot
on mixes where the compressor is on stun,
especially if people are using
the SSL compressor
and they have the Fast Attack on.
00:06:52 Everything pulls back
as the more you compress
the faster it gets,
the more the transient gets killed,
the less presence and texture you have.
00:07:00 I'll play it again
now that you've seen it,
because if you've seen it,
you'll hear it. Check it out.
00:07:04 So this is the first setting
with a wide open Attack
at 10 milliseconds.
00:07:35 Do you hear the difference in presence
and grabbing?
I would say grabbing,
that texture thing.
00:07:40 So the lesson here
is that the Attack of the compressor
is as important as the Threshold
or the Ratio
if you have control over the Attack.
00:07:47 So when you hear something,
either on the radio, Spotify,
or a session that somebody sends you
that you've got to work on,
when you listen to something
you can tell right away,
"Am I crushing the transients?
Am I crushing the transients
because the Attack is too fast?"
The first thing to do is to adjust
the Attack of your compressor
if you like how the compressor
is doing the level.
00:08:05 So you have to train yourself
to hear the difference
between overcompression
because of too much compression,
or overcompression because of the
Attack, and that's the difference.
00:08:13 Now, some compressors
do not give you control over the Attack,
like for example, this compressor.
00:08:19 Question: do you remember
what this just sounded like?
Aha!
So I'm going to play it back for you.
00:08:25 Let's say, the more metrosexual
compression setting, okay?
Open Attack.
00:08:42 Here is a Fixed Attack compressor.
00:08:56 Notice what it does?
It's even smoother, right?
It makes everything
more like a ribbon of sound.
00:09:01 As a reminder, this was
the original uncompressed sound.
00:09:31 The thing here is you have
no control over the Attack.
00:09:34 It's the Fixed Attack of this compressor.
00:09:37 I chose this compressor
because it is the compressor
that's been heralded
as the vocal compressor
for about 50 years,
which is great.
00:09:44 Its Attack time is about 10 ms,
and its Release time
is program-dependent.
00:09:50 If you noticed, the Oxford
also had a 10 ms Attack time.
00:09:54 They sound completely different,
and that's what you
have to pay attention to.
00:09:58 You can't just slap a compressor
that everybody else in the universe
has been using on vocals
and hope that it's going to work.
00:10:04 That's the only compressor they had.
00:10:06 It was the best compressor
that worked on vocals
and it works on a lot of vocals,
but not on all vocals,
and you have to pay attention
as to what it does to your vocal.
00:10:14 Check it out.
00:10:15 This is uncompressed.
00:10:33 Do you see how it crushes "I'm a leaf"?
But it's basically at the same level.
00:10:36 Everything is level-matched
for your entertainment.
00:10:39 Now, let's listen to the Oxford.
00:10:48 So the Oxford has about
the same Attack... ish,
but you have a lot more presence
and a lot more definition
and connection with the vocal
as far as I'm concerned.
00:10:58 Check it out.
00:11:05 Especially "I'm a leaf in her..."
That part.
00:11:08 With the LA-2A.
00:11:32 So, between the two,
I would choose the Oxford right away
because I get more of that distance,
but that's my style.
00:11:38 You have to educate your ear
— and this is part
of what this video is about —
so you can really hear what the
compressor is doing to your sound
both dynamically and sonically.
00:11:48 Check this out!
All I'm doing here is opening the LA-2A.
00:11:51 Listen to the high end,
the first transient.
00:12:01 The LA-2A is also adding
a little bit of an edge
due to the transformers
and to the saturation inside the box.
00:12:07 You also have to pay attention to that.
00:12:10 Very important. More on that in a minute.
00:12:12 A lot of people use
that other compressor on vocals.
00:12:15 Let's listen to it.
00:12:16 This is uncompressed.
00:12:43 Do you hear that? Check this part out.
00:12:51 Do you hear all that [mouth noises]
on the "Trying to clear"?
Listen again.
00:13:00 That's a sound you know.
00:13:01 You hear that a lot on major mixes.
00:13:05 I don't like that sound,
but you may.
00:13:08 This is the uncompressed version.
00:13:15 So we can confirm that those 'Ts'
were not like that uncompressed.
00:13:18 This is uncompressed.
00:13:24 This is that compressor.
00:13:32 You know that sound, right?
It's the sound of this thing.
00:13:35 So, this is a setting that I see
a lot of my friends use.
00:13:45 Lots of compression.
00:13:47 With a wide open Attack you can say,
"Oh, well, those 'Ts' come out
because of the open Attack, correct?"
What if I speed the Attack up?
It becomes a little bit of a mess.
00:14:03 Here's the whole phrase.
00:14:16 This is without anything.
00:14:30 And this is the metrosexual setting
on the Oxford.
00:14:46 So, which one would you choose?
Good question!
Obviously you understood
that an 1176 is an 1176
and it has a lot of color with it
and the circuitry sidechain
does what it does
and now you can hopefully,
you know, be more acquainted
with its idiosyncratic color, shall I say.
00:15:03 LA-2A, same thing.
00:15:04 The Oxford is the quintessential
clean compressor.
00:15:07 There are other options
if you don't own the Oxford.
00:15:09 For example,
the FabFilter Pro-C2 is bananas.
00:15:12 The built-in compressor
in Pro Tools is great.
00:15:14 The Logic compressor is good, too.
00:15:16 A little more finicky,
but it does the job very well.
00:15:18 It compresses and it's clean,
and it has control
over Attack and Release,
and it will not impart any color
unless you choose one of those new colors
they added in Logic Pro X.
00:15:26 Or, was it 9?
Or, well, using Logic above 8 anyway.
00:15:30 Let's do a quick recap, all in a row,
so you can really feel
the difference, okay?
I'm going to do the original sound,
I'm going to do the metrosexual
settings on the Oxford,
I'm going to do the fast Attack
settings on the Oxford,
then I'll do the LA-2A,
and then I'll do the 1176
so you can really tell the difference.
00:15:50 And I will put up the interface
of what I'm using, when I'm using it,
so that you know what it is.
00:15:56 If you can avoid looking at it,
that would be great.
00:15:59 If you can't avoid looking at it,
it's your problem.
00:17:22 Any of these choices are valid,
even the uncompressed one.
00:17:26 What matters is that you know
what you are doing
and you can hear the difference
between the three.
00:17:31 You know you want something smooth
with
some dynamic control,
but not transient control
so you can still connect with the vocal
and have this presence,
or you want something very ribbon-y
and very, like, smooth,
or you want something that has
a lot of [mouth noises].
00:17:47 Those are your choices.
00:17:49 Once you can hear the differences
and immediately identify the differences,
then you're qualified to make the choice.
00:17:54 Until then, keep listening.
00:17:56 There is this myth going around
that every percussion instrument
has to be compressed to be in a mix.
00:18:01 I think that's not true.
00:18:03 It's only in the context
of trying to compete
with electronic instruments
or trying to have a lot of
in-your-face presence,
but,
if you record a drum set
and the bass drum is compressed
and the snare is compressed,
maybe the hi-hat doesn't need
to be compressed.
00:18:17 Or maybe the bass drum is compressed
and the snare is not as compressed
as the bass drum
to give some distance.
00:18:22 It's not a rule of thumb.
00:18:23 However,
if you're going to compress
a percussion instrument,
you have to be very careful
about how you do it,
especially Attack and Release.
00:18:32 So what I'd like to do right now
is I'd like to show you
different kinds of compressions
on the bass drum,
because the bass drum
is the hardest one to compress.
00:18:40 It's hard to compress because you
have to deal with level variations,
but also, on an acoustic bass drum,
a lot of sound variations.
00:18:47 And compression will affect both
at the same time,
so I'd like to help you educate your ear
as to what's necessary
and what's not necessary,
and what different kinds of compressors do
just like we did on the vocals.
00:18:58 So, first, let's listen to
some real man's music.
00:19:01 This is ViFolly's "Face Your Fear,"
and I've isolated just the drums and bass.
00:19:06 I'm leaving the bass in here
to give you some context,
and then, when we go deep
into listening, I will remove the bass,
but for now, for you to understand
what we are trying to do,
here it is.
00:19:38 So for example, right now,
I'm telling you,
the bass drum is not compressed.
00:19:42 There is no compression
anywhere on the bass drum.
00:19:44 It's just three microphones:
a D112 inside,
a Lauten Clarion on the outside,
and a Yamaha SubKick.
00:19:51 And this is the balance between the three.
00:19:54 That's quite a bit of SubKick.
00:19:56 If you want to hear them in solo,
this is the D112.
00:20:04 The Clarion.
00:20:09 And the SubKick.
00:20:14 And the combination of the three.
00:20:22 Now, here's an example
that I felt was really telling.
00:20:27 I'm going to mute the bass now.
00:20:29 Listen to the bass drum very carefully.
00:20:31 Listen to the level
and listen to the tone.
00:20:34 Not just the level, the tone;
how some hits are fatter than others.
00:20:50 You can tell on that second hit.
00:20:52 Check it out.
00:20:58 That second hit is much fatter
because when he played it
he played 'BOOM Ka Boom'.
00:21:03 He didn't hit the second hit as hard
and didn't choke the head as much,
and that gives you a fatter bass drum.
00:21:09 So now we have a fat bass drum,
a fatter bass drum.
00:21:12 The pickup is even less fat,
and then a medium-fat bass drum,
and then a standard bass drum.
00:21:17 It could be the sound you're looking for
if you're looking for something natural,
but for this kind of stuff,
it's obviously not going to work.
00:21:23 Check it out.
00:21:34 Also, listen to the difference
between the attack
and the tail of the bass drum.
00:21:39 It kind of goes 'kop-mm kop-mm'
because there's a little bit of like a...
00:21:43 a delay, if you will,
on the arrival of that low end.
00:21:47 Check it out.
00:21:53 It goes 'boomf boomf'.
00:21:55 That also is a problem because
you don't get that [knock sound]
that you would get if you had
an electronic drum.
00:22:00 Now, this is a good player,
and it's well-recorded,
so I have good control,
but I think I want even more.
00:22:06 So once you listen to your tracks
and you identify those things;
identify the difference in tones
in the bass drum
and identify that kind of
delay of the bottom
coming later than the attack,
you know,
"Oh! I may be able to fix that
with a compressor."
Don't just compress.
Listen to the problems first,
and then you can fix them.
00:22:25 So I want to use a compressor.
I'm not going to tell you what it is.
00:22:28 Here we go.
00:22:52 Did you hear the difference?
You did, right?
So now, the bottom
is in line with the attack
and there's not as much of a difference
between the two different bass drums;
the one that's hit hard
and the one that's hit not as hard,
and the levels were pretty even.
00:23:06 What the compressor is doing here
is actually leveling the tone,
if you will.
00:23:10 Evening out the tone.
00:23:11 I'll play it again.
00:23:13 Without, one round,
and with, another round.
00:23:28 That's it! Do you want to know what it is?
It's this.
00:23:32 Want to know the settings?
These are them. Check it out.
00:23:40 It's important to be able to
tell right away
that this is a signature
of this compressor.
00:23:45 Does a different compressor
give a different tone to the instrument?
Yes! But not always.
00:23:51 The built-in compressors
like the one in Logic
or the one in Pro Tools
or the fancy clean ones
like the Oxford or the FabFilter Pro-C2,
those don't really have a sonic signature
unless there's an option for it
and then you put it in.
00:24:06 The vintage compressors,
because the companies
like UA or Waves or whomever
have been modeling the actual circuitry
before and after the actual
gain reduction circuit,
they have tubes,
or they have transformers.
00:24:19 That actually changes the sound
more than the compression.
00:24:22 So, this is the sound of an 1176.
00:24:25 Print it in your ear and then we'll switch
to a different compressor.
00:24:43 Did you hear the difference?
I hope so. Check it out.
00:24:46 If not, I will show you how to listen.
00:24:49 This is the 1176.
00:24:51 Listen to the bottom of the bass drum
and listen to the transient, the attack.
00:25:08 Do you hear how aggressive
and gnarly and clacky it is?
It's a dbx 160,
and it's actually level-matched
with the 1176, if you can believe that.
00:25:16 So, now you can tell the difference
between the two compressors, right?
Now you know what you have in your ear.
"Oh! I can tell the difference
between an 1176 and a dbx 160,"
which is great!
Now let's listen to a clean compressor
like the FabFilter Pro-C2.
00:25:41 As a reminder, the uncompressed
sounds like this.
00:25:43 Do you remember what it sounds like?
That difference in arrival time
between the attack and the bottom,
and also,
the varying of the tone.
00:26:21 So now we know that
a clean compressor does the job
and can be very close to a vintage 1176.
00:26:26 This is the 1176.
00:26:43 Where is the difference?
The difference is in the Attack, right?
First, the C2 doesn't high-pass
like the 1176 does,
and second, the Attack on the C2
is a little more aggressive,
so the C2 would be in between the dbx 160
and the 1176 for the Attack,
so what we're going to do now
is we're going to do a blind test.
00:27:03 I'm going to play all four examples
in random order
and you're going to have to guess
which order that was,
and that's why we're going to go black
because I don't trust
that you will close your eyes,
because I don't trust you, heh!
Did you get it?
As a reminder — and I promise
I did not trick you. I promise! —
there was the uncompressed,
the 1176,
the dbx 160, and the FabFilter Pro-C2,
but not in that order.
00:28:00 What was the order?
Did you recognize them?
Are you 100% sure?
Well, here's the answer.
00:28:15 One of the places
where compression is most overused
is 2-Bus compression,
so I thought it would be a good idea
for you to educate yourself
on the benefits and perils
of using 2-Bus compression.
00:28:28 So I have here the same song
that we used for the bass drum,
"Face Your Fear" by ViFolly,
and I'm going to play the whole song
and right now there is no compression
on the 2-Bus.
00:28:38 It's very raw.
00:28:39 I'll play this song,
and this is the live mix,
and then we'll focus on the chorus
when it hits hard
because that's when you hear
the 2-Bus compressor freaking out.
00:28:47 So, right now there is no compression.
00:29:52 So let's learn the dynamic profile
of this song.
00:29:55 To do that, what I usually do
is I listen to the relationships
between the bass drum,
the snare drum, and the vocal,
so it goes poof, poof, poof, right?
And check it out on the verse.
00:30:18 And then, on the pre-chorus
there is this stuff that comes in
and raises the energy.
00:30:22 Check it out.
00:30:34 Then, the chorus blows up.
00:30:58 You got a mental picture of that?
Okay. So now I want to turn on
the 2-Bus compression.
00:31:02 Let's listen to the verse again,
pre-chorus again,
and chorus again.
00:31:07 Listen to the difference.
00:31:08 Make sure you focus
just on the difference,
not what it does — just on
the difference.
00:31:13 What has changed?
How different does it feel?
It sounds more like a record.
00:32:15 The reason why it sounds
more like a record
is because the records that you listen to
have 2-Bus compression on them.
00:32:20 That's it! Not because records
were born sounding this way.
00:32:24 It evolved into this over time.
00:32:26 If you listen to a record from the '50s,
there is no 2-Bus compression.
00:32:30 The only 2-Bus compression there is
is the tape freaking out.
00:32:33 That's about it.
00:32:34 So, let's listen to the first four bars
of the verse without compression,
and then the first four bars of the verse
with 2-Bus compression.
00:32:42 Pay attention to the placement
of the bass drum,
the tone of it and the placement,
and the placement of the vocal
and the tone of it also.
00:32:49 Without, first.
00:33:15 Hear the difference?
There is a lot more transient.
What's going on?
Well, what do you think?
We looked at it on vocals
and we looked at it on the bass drum.
00:33:23 What do you think is going on?
What is going on
is I have an open Attack
on the 2-Bus compression
and that's what makes that difference.
00:33:31 I'll play it again. Without.
00:33:57 Hear the difference?
Now check out the transition
in the pre-chorus.
00:34:01 Without.
00:34:25 Pretty well, isn't it?
It's not even 1.5 dB.
00:34:28 Listen to the sides.
The sides here are the most important.
00:34:54 It keeps everything in check,
but most importantly,
it evens out the tone,
so when you're listening to a track
you can hear if something
is pushing back against the mix
and the energy of the mix,
and thus, creating more density.
00:35:08 That's what you have to listen for here,
even more so on the chorus. Check it out.
00:35:13 Two bars into the chorus,
without the compression.
00:35:43 I'd like to attract your attention
to the sound of the bass drum
in the middle right here.
00:35:47 Obviously, the bass drum is in the middle.
00:35:48 I'm talking about the middle
of the spectrum for the bass drum.
00:35:51 Say, two hundred and...
00:35:55 210-220 Hz.
00:35:56 Check it out.
00:35:57 Listen to the sound of the bass drum
without compression,
listen to that 'mmm' thing,
and then listen with compression.
00:36:30 It's cleaned up.
00:36:31 It's cleaned up because
of the tone of the circuitry
emulated by the plug-in,
and also because everything
is kind of like
melded together and things
kind of work together better.
00:36:40 Now, when you listen to a track,
a finished track from your favorite band,
you can listen for that stuff.
00:36:46 You can listen to something
pushing back against the energy
and you can tell how it was set up
just by listening to it.
00:36:54 You can tell if the Attack was slow
or if the Attack was fast.
00:36:58 As a reminder,
this is what it sounds like slow.
00:37:16 And now fast, but level-matched,
because obviously a faster Attack
is going to compress faster,
and thus more,
and thus will be quieter,
but I want you to hear the difference
at the same level.
00:37:44 We know that sound, right? Again.
00:37:47 Slow Attack.
00:38:21 You know that sound, right?
That's the sound of a lot of mixing,
like, a lot of 2-Bus compression,
and the music goes further back,
the transients are eaten,
the bottom goes away
because the bottom is what gets hit first,
and the vocals come out
and become aggressive,
and then everything sounds kind of like
it's in a tin box a little bit.
00:38:39 And this is reasonable.
00:38:40 Some people go further.
00:38:42 It's not under malice, it's just they have
a compressor parked there
and they're having fun mixing
and they've been into it
for 12 hours and...
00:38:49 and, you know.
00:38:50 It's important to pay attention
to these details.
00:38:52 There's not that much of a difference
between just moving the Attack
of the compressor,
but if you pay attention,
if you know those telltale signs,
like I just showed you on the vocals,
or like I showed you on the bass drum,
and like I'm showing you here
on the 2-Bus,
you're able to identify
the problems right away.
00:39:06 So you've got to train you ears,
not just look and fiddle with the knobs.
00:39:11 You've got to train you ears
so that when you listen to something
without looking at settings,
that transient-eating,
the bottom going away,
those clacky attacks
just tell you, "Oh! I know what that is!
I've heard it before
because I listened for it."
Compressor Edition.
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Fab Dupont is an award-winning NYC based record producer, mixing/mastering engineer and co-founder of pureMix.net.
Fab has been playing, writing, producing and mixing music both live and in studios all over the world. He's worked in cities like Paris, Boston, Brussels, Stockholm, London and New York just to name a few.
He has his own studio called FLUX Studios in the East Village of New York City.
Fab has received many accolades around the world, including wins at the Victoires de la Musique, South African Music awards, Pan African Music Awards, US independent music awards. He also has received Latin Grammy nominations and has worked on many Latin Grammy and Grammy-nominated albums.
Not sure if its just me, but the audio goes out of sync after the vocal compressor goes into bypass
Fetch2017
2022 Oct 07
When Fab says that the attack is wide open, does he mean really fast or really slow attack time?
Brian Hunker
2022 Aug 23
Wow. Excellent class. The musical examples were amazing & especially helpful. I can now definitely hear the tonal difference that the compressors were making on the kick. Such an important level of detail. Thank you Fab!
Jozeph
2022 Jan 12
Thank you for opening my ears
kemccarthy1
2021 Aug 05
Once your ears become attuned to the differences it's like tasting different flavors and types of ice cream and gelato. Great class, thanks!
minh.l
2021 Feb 24
This lesson was super helpful!
eduguitar
2021 Jan 12
Incredible lessons from Fab! Thank for your art!!
jaycarlinmusic
2020 Dec 27
Great Video, Fab. Thank you. Would love to see more quizzes like in this video -- it really helps some of us focus that knowledge and build some confidence.
I recently took an Art of Mixing course at Berklee, and the course materials do this often; 8-10 recordings with all sorts of different EQ's and compressors, even Reverb types, and saying "which one is this?"
It would be really, really cool to add this to your "Ear training" section of this website. "Here's a drum set with an 1176, and now with and LA2A, which is which?" "Here's a plate reverb, a chamber, and algorithmic hall."
Thanks!
DannyOwl
2020 Dec 19
Unbelievably amazing...thank you!
watchmaker
2020 Dec 04
What do you mean by the "metrosexual setting" on the Oxford? I didn't really understand that.
fangjin
2020 Oct 14
Great
fangjin
2020 Oct 14
Great
blattspiel
2020 Jul 05
I don't know if it was luck or if I would really stand the quiz a second time, but I got them all right and I wonder about that... :-) Great video with Fab anyways. I really can't get enough of his trainings.
onechoiz
2020 May 25
I like how he explains things
EBMusic
2020 Apr 18
Great teacher, as always !
a2c
2020 Jan 14
Great explanation of how to listen to compression. Developing my ears! Thanks!
ecairncross
2019 Oct 23
Fantastic video. So much learned in such a short period of time... Now to apply!
kevinnute
2019 Oct 02
Fantastic , thank you:) I mixed up the 1176 and the 160; hearing the uncompressed immediately before it made the C2 easy to spot.
studiosix
2019 Aug 09
One of the best videos on compression. Fab uses excellent language such as "tone", "density" to train us what to listen for. The bass drum exercise was the best!
Fals2000
2019 May 22
Good one, thank you..
talat
2019 Jan 09
Great Teacher
Jovanel
2018 Dec 10
Merci !!!
maskdance
2018 Nov 27
Very useful video , it's very important things that trust your ears !
RobertBrockCoble
2018 Nov 21
I love this one. I've always noticed the differences between the different compressors mentioned in this video, but Fab has a great way of breaking down exactly what it is to better break down what is causing the differences and how to describe them to more readily identify what it is. I highly recommend this video for people who want to compress with more intention and objective.
okamara
2018 Sep 03
@basso: open is slow attack
TC Hotrod
2018 Aug 07
Glad to see these "How to listen" series are back. Fab always have a very pedagogical way to approach any mixing issue from the very begining of Puremix. He manages to remain interesting whatever subscriber's skill level. I guess this is real part of PM success. These videos are really complementary to full mixes. Keep on releasing guys !
@ basso : "open" attack setting means slow. ;)
stuart.ch
2018 Aug 01
Absolutely superb stuff. Fab is really amazing at explaining things.
basso
2018 Jul 31
Is an "open" attack setting, fast or slow?
guy.pelletier@century21.ca
2018 Jul 27
Thank you Fab for leaving the cookies on the lower shelf where I can reach them! Guy
Tamko
2018 Jul 25
It's very useful for understanding how attack works . Also it helps to understand that it's not very good idea to have just one universal compressor for everything. Drums part of this video is the most clear for understanding the difference between compressors.
Sariel Montalván
2018 Jul 24
Please, in spanish!
thomas.r
2018 Jul 19
Great video! Just saw the Q&A with Ryan Hewitt. Is it possible to see pure mix other videos on you tube too?
silakov1987
2018 Jul 17
Pretty cool video! Thanks, Fab, you are awesome!
Maxiemixer
2018 Jul 16
At25 minutes I hear the snare jumping a lot in volume, it's quite confusing :)
Phantom Studios
2018 Jul 14
Very helpful video. Very detailed yet to the point. Would love to see more like this. Thanks Fab!
jordanne
2018 Jul 12
Thank you, really thank you sir
jordanne
2018 Jul 11
GREAT
We waiting for an EQ edition now^^
LucaSkyline
2018 Jul 11
Always interesting stuff! never paid too much attention to attacks but since this video...i will! Thanks puremix! always over the top ;)
L Pass
2018 Jul 10
Fantastic!
vovk.pavlik
2018 Jul 10
Hi. I'm not good in english, and i want to know - can i turn on subtitles?
moda
2018 Jul 10
great stuff! in the quiz I mixed up the DBX and the C2 because to my ears those two guys are in the same ballpark.
I have yet to find something where the LA2A is of any help. Whenever I turn it on at first I don't hear any difference and though I'm gently cranking it up it goes from nothing to squashed within the blink of an eye. And it's not nice squashed- it's dead
moda
2018 Jul 10
great stuff! in the quiz I mixed up the DBX and the C2 because to my ears those two guys are in the same ballpark.
I have yet to find something where the LA2A is of any help. Whenever I turn it on at first I don't hear any real difference and though I'm gently cranking it up it goes from nothing to s
jessrho
2018 Jul 10
Thanks Fab, useful stuff to know!
DRocksRecords
2018 Jul 09
wow. Perfect course. Thats awesome teaching. thanks man
jcrodriguez
2018 Jul 09
Clear, unbiased and thorough. Vital info to be able to hear the difference between a vibrant mix and a flat, lifeless one. Excellent tutorial!!
jarvismarcedo
2018 Jul 09
Superb lesson..tough quiz ,couldn’t guess the right order though. So back to listening while keeping my eyes closed that’s the tough part , so used to looking at the screen while working.
Michaeltn86
2018 Jul 09
great video Fab, thanks. though I wished u talked more about using compression to put thing forward / backwards in a mix context, and changing compressors while mixing to giving examples (though you gave lots of hint!). I also would like to ask a video about multi band compressors in depth like this too, eq too (also some videos about harmonic content, which is something that I still get confused a lot....)!! thank you very much.
ps: I was wrong on C2 and uncompressed. haha
