How To Compress Like A Pro!

[@Dr.Bogdan.Lina.]

Among all the content creators focusing on mixing and mastering, you're one of the few who explain things exceptionally well-details that truly make a difference. I watch your tutorials and eagerly await each new one. I want to congratulate you for this, as you dedicate your precious time and do these things out of passion and for free!

[@Seriouspup]

Really like these seemingly basic tutorials. I think we could all improve our basic fx skills

[@BigZMusic]

Thanks for watching 👍🏻

[@j-maur]

this is one of the best videos on compression ever, funny how it finally starts clicking years later.. Thanks Big Z!

[@henryjohn5on]

Best compression tutorial I've watched !

[@Shinyshoesz]

These are amazing. I've been producing for three years Z and same here -- I've been deep-diving into compressors. It's so funny you can use a tool for years and not realize what it's true powers are. I always think of compression as a big old fat river being shrunk down into a smaller thinner river with less bends which you can then re-animate using other tools. Keep up the amazing work Z! Love you man.

[@Magic.Pixie.Dreamgirl]

Between you and Alice Efe I’m beyond appreciative. Some of this info is hard to learn on your own.

[@liammather4704]

Watched so many videos on compression and this is by far the best one

[@FLAN-MUSIC]

dude this is by far the best video on compression i have seen, props to you.

[@dizzlermusic]

The bass sounds so nice on this one

[@KudosCultureCartel]

I love this dude. Such a G and knows what he's on about

[@srjarends849]

Thanx man, I´ve seen a lot of tutorials about compression and learned much and also learned to apply it more or less, but never I really knew what I was doing. It was more like using tricks without understanding. This one showed me real insight in what´s going on. Life changing info. Thanx again.

[@guilma2]

Wow... I am really impressed from your tutorial! I couldn't even understand through my native language about the way of compression works, however after I watch this, now I underatand what compression is!! So appreciate for this Video🙏🙏🙏

[@nicky5799]

hey big z i recently got from around -5 to -3.1 lufs completely distortion-free and i honestly owe it to your videos. you're amazing, man!

[@vandpiben]

Lmfao horrible

[@isaacanthonydj4124]

i appreciate you going over the reason to adjust attack/knee settings, now that i know more about transients and what they are and why they are important. That was a key piece of knowledge i was lacking before, about transients, much appreciate!

[@isaacanthonydj4124]

still love my old Drumcode records that used super heavy compression, LoL

[@b9dger]

Big Z... The kinda guy you wanna go for a beer with. Class man

[@VVerTTeXX]

Best video I've seen on the topic

[@smplchmp]

i've been using compressors for a long time and i still really appreciate your breakdown of how they work. if i go too long without reviewing the basics, i find myself veering into wonky habits. this video has recalibrated my perspective. thanks for always providing such high quality production content. now i just need to figure out how to compress all my emotional breakdowns irl... 😎 cheers

[@dogclown33]

You did a good job explaining the basics of compression to someone who might be new to compression in just few minutes, Good work and looking forward to more uploads:)

[@dennismusic100]

Best tutorial I’ve found!

[@terryxtm]

Thank you for this!! After 4 years of producing I finally understand what a compressor does!

[@mathias2820]

This man just thought me something I haven’t been able to understand in 2 years🤯 Have even seen lots of videos on it!

[@DavidFeldmanMusic]

great tutorial !

[@gotmilkblood]

We like your vids 🖤

[@Chamber_xo]

Very informative bro, looking forward to applying these techniques to my production, thanks

[@IanSolano]

More like this, mate. You explained it very well so that anyone could understand it.

[@dannyake]

Best compression video I've watched, thank you Big Z!

[@chronosonemusic]

Love your content! Your examples for use in practise are great. The explanation you give of what the knee does is not quite right though. The knee determines the shape of the transfer function (amplitude in->amplitude out mapping), and is not a time-related parameter (like attack, release, hold). With a hard knee, the signal above the threshold will be reduced according to the ratio. For a soft knee, the reduction of amplitude begins below the threshold and gradually (relative to increasing amplitude, not time) increases the reduction to reach the ratio. Peace!

[@lawinter1949]

This is a great tutorial! I’ve been pretty happy with Logic stock compressor lately because it also has a built in clipper and limiter. Once I learned that compression is great for changing the shape of the sound and the clipper is great for making it loud and punchy I’ve been a lot happier with how my drums sound.

[@paustovskijf9487]

Wow! Best explanation out there! Thank you

[@8AMusic]

Amazing tutorial! Your tutorials are insane!🔥🔥 Thanks a lot!

[@trevorokorenmusic]

Yo Big Z - you should try sending your bass bus to a new bus with your kick going into it. This allows for you to do some simple G Bus comp that molds your kick and bass together in a beautiful way - Jon Kong does it and it is a cool effect for tech house. You can then compress your drums without the kick with more flavorful compression and saturation. You can do the Luca Pretolosi trick where you parallel them with a 76 on British mode. It’s amazing and gives you that Major Lazer sound for hats and Percs and claps

[@davidh1199]

A very well explained and uncomplicated compression tutorial with a great insight of PRO L to… great videos - thanks z🤟🏼👊🏻

[@lackofaffektmusic]

Loving these tuts recently, this one was definitely needed!

[@goldenmushrooms48]

thank you for this information pal 🕺🙏

[@tonyholden7099]

So good at explaining. Awesome , man Thank you 🙏

[@gabrielepaoli669]

Best tutorials as always!

[@350125]

Thanks Z

[@jubayerwasidraiyan5874]

can you show the processing on the vocal chops/ how you made those?

[@fernandofrancisco3298]

Amazing tutorial Thanks Big Z🔥🔥🔥💯

[@mkjaerkjersson7749]

you could do a follow up video showing how to apply compression on every popular sound in EDM and what you do in every case. That includes not only drums but also a synth, arp, dubstep bass etc. I feel like that's the way people truly get introduced to a technique and to the wonders of creating in general. As a student it's always easier to copy what your teacher does first, then delve into the "material" on your own.

[@ASHWYN]

Check out his start to finish mixing video series! it's dope and think it'll answer a lot of questions :)

[@kajammusicent.-djwhiteknig2931]

Great tutorial Big Z!

[@fefo_music_]

thanks for this one Z 🐐🐐

[@akshayyc010]

Quality content..keep it coming brother ❤️

[@paganXdrill666]

it really helped me! thx

[@dougleydorite]

This is so good.

[@JohannesAgust]

Great stuff as always

[@bewusstsein7061]

i love it ♥

[@greg.stainer]

Nice vid bro

[@AmnonBarnea]

Thank you for this :)

[@theXtremePiranha]

good video, keep it up!

[@iamchronix_]

Really useful brother 👍

[@bobbysantoni7997]

Pls convince Soave to host a remix competition for 'Missing You'. Would love to remix it!

[@bani_daciu]

Epic!

[@theunconciousmind7314]

That means mostly i will use hard knees, makes much more sense now. I was already wondering whats going on with this knees.

[@lucasprado1483]

Is this track released? I need it on Spotify!!!

[@dj_Kzas]

Hey great video you should go in more detail and make a separate video for each one.

[@Boltrex100]

ty

[@festivalmiami]

Great explanation:) thx for the work … much appreciated „Her“ voice ??😂😂

[@TimMer1981]

Female vocals with dropped pitch: very common thing.

[@sujaysonwalkar1213]

What is the software that you use , GarageBand , logic , or of that of Spotify ( soundtrap I think so ) I am trying to learn all these on bandlab ( lol cuz it's free ) Where , how should I begin ?

[@septemberwalk]

so the compression makes the drums more punchy because you're letting the transient through but then the compressor is turning down the tail? So its making the difference in volume between the transient and the tail even greater?

[@hermanhovland3705]

Sometimes it's nice to use a limiter or saturation after the compression just to tame those transients a little bit

[@manu8437]

Great vid! You skipped lookahead

[@lendinez6959]

"yoo whats good" ?? That's it? I was waiting for "Big Z here, and today.." :(

[@Nik_Rubin]

Gosh, why everyone is still repeating the same false information about attack and release for YEARS🤦🏻‍♂️ Attack and Release have absolutely no relation and no knowledge of the threshold setting. Release keeps working even if the sound stays above the threshold. Same for for the attack. That’s why even under heavy compression when the signal is always above threshold you can hear them still doing their job. A and R work on Gain Reduction, which is triggered by signal crossing the threshold, but the controls themselves have no knowledge of the threshold setting. There’s a book called ‘Mixing Audio’ by Roey Izhaki, there is very good in-depth explanation of the workings of the compressor.

[@tothefinlandstation]

Attack time isn't how long it takes the compressor to do 100% compression. Even though it is expressed in milliseconds, the compressor is going to reach 100% gain reduction much faster for a sound just over the threshold than one way over the threshold (everything else being equal).The millisecond value is actually how long it takes the compressor to do a certain amount of gain reduction (I think 10 decibels of gain reduction is common, but is not absolutely the same across different compressors from different companies). I'm also not sure the knee setting is that important for sidechaining the bass to the kick, given how transient heavy a kick is (it is going to be over an threshold almost instantly).

[@MrFree-vj8qj]

The compressed sound should have the same peak level as uncompressed. You added too much gain which wrongs the result. Comp makes sense on live performance but vsts are already velocity perfect

[@stephendsouza5700]

I'm not able find the difference.. or may be i have to check my ears But what's the difference.?

[@KudosCultureCartel]

just so you know man the link to your website doesnt work on any of your videos!

[@will.davlin]

No one has been able to recreate the justice cross or sebastian total sound Those are the benchmarks imo

[@designxjake1055]

Big Z! I’d love to work with you on making thumbnails. I’ve been watching you for over a year now and I’d like to return the favor by taking some work off your hands! 🙌🙌🙌

[@felixschumannbewerbung]

Bro even for me as producer i dont hear a single different maybe overthink your procress