How Does A Compressor Make An Audio Track Louder?
So you want to learn how to use a compressor? Well good luck. It takes years to get even a decent feel for a compressor. I’m just now getting where I feel that a compressor will tolerate me playing with it’s settings. In the past, it was just laughing and mocking me because I just didn’t understand how to use it to improve my recordings. So let’s talk about how a compressor can make an audio tracker louder. Ironically, a compressor actually knocks the volume down on a track, but then has a makeup gain knob that boosts it back up. To understand how a compressor can make something louder, you need to understand the difference between peak loudness and average loudness (also called RMS). A peak is just what it says it is. It’s a spike. The signal starts very low and goes very high. A good example of peak loudness is a snare drum hit. Average loudness is sound that occurs over time. Imagine hitting a low E on a bass guitar and letting it sustain. This is an almost constant sound. One other
