Upwards Compression Explained. How to use it and how it can help your mix.

[@brokko_le3]

Always nice to see another Tonebooster plugin enjoyer. I've bought the TB Compressor 4 a while back and I liked that upward compression option, although never knew when to use it. Thanks for the lesson!

[@AudioMountain777]

You're welcome!

[@EdwinDekker71]

Toneboosters is great!

[@Vignushead]

I think this channel is one of the best, and I know it's gonna keep growing with more and more viewers over time. Thanks a lot for sharing this knowledge, especially for those of us who can't afford crazy expensive courses or study at a crazy expensive ass academy. Quick question: Could you make a video explaining how to use multiple reverbs in a mix to create a 3D depth, please? I mean, I've seen mix engineers like CLA adding a lot of depth to their mixes using a technique called "The 3 Reverb Technique," where they use a Room Reverb for the first layer of cohesion, then a Plate Reverb for some depth, and finally a Hall or Chamber Reverb for height. How do you create depth using reverb? I've tried using that technique, but I get confused about whether every element in the mix should be sent to each reverb at different levels using sends, or only some elements based on how much reverb or where in the 3D space we want them in the mix. I've seen that they do apply Room Reverb to all tracks for cohesion.

[@TheDragonDeacon]

I'd love to see his approach to that as well.

[@AudioMountain777]

I will eventually get to multiple layered reverbs and delays. Thanks for feedback!

[@Vignushead]

@@AudioMountain777 Thank you so much!! Greetings from Guatemala

[@AudioMountain777]

Hello in Guatemala! Nice to have you on the channel!

[@steverachmadofficial]

I am totally with you on this! I have seen many many vids but these are most helpful and understandable than any others I have seen. Great stuff!!

[@MrKingclaude1]

Niiice, now I understand upwards compression! Thanks, man!

[@AudioMountain777]

Glad to help! Expansion is next.

[@steverachmadofficial]

Again very helpful and useful stuff I did not know about. Thanks again 🙏

[@AudioMountain777]

Glad it was helpful!

[@danepaulstewart8464]

👍👍 Excellent lesson on a sorely overlooked topic. Demonstrated extremely well. 👍👍

[@danepaulstewart8464]

Side note: whoever played the drums on this is fantastic!

[@AudioMountain777]

That's good to hear. Thanks!

[@EdwinDekker71]

Good tutorial! Thanks

[@AudioMountain777]

You're welcome!

[@ZeroMod]

Another fine job! On the boxes I have used they have it labelled "expansion" as you swing the ratio control past 1:1 The effect is like a much more well mannered AGC (to me) Good clear presentation on what can otherwise be a "trip into the weeds" between make-up gain, limiting, compression.

[@AudioMountain777]

Thank you, I'm going to do a video on expansion soon . It is a little different than upwards compression, which is still technically gain reduction, but expansion is gain increase. Stay tuned! Thanks for watching!

[@ZeroMod]

@@AudioMountain777 Coulda fooled me - but then I am easily fooled! So how would you differentiate between mild compression with make up gain vs upward compression? May be my problem is as an old guy I have never run into a piece of gear labelled "upward compression"? (help an old fogey out) I read this on a forum: Almost any compressor can do upwards compression - it's just a matter of having the compressor clamped - deep threshold so the signal spends most of the time in gain reduction - with a large amount of makeup gain to match. With the signal spending most of its time below the threshold (in large gain reduction+makeup), then, when the signal goes above the threshold (ie: quiet sections), the release transfer brings the volume back to normal signal level (which is louder), creating upward compression for the quiet sections. The timing of the release controls the onset. Or, in simpler terms... parallel compression does the same or a similar thing (parallel compression "is a form of upward compression").

[@AudioMountain777]

In practical terms (technicalities aside) you can accomplish the same thing with downward compression and make-up gain in a lot of situations, but upwards compression does give you a little more control over the interplay between ratio and release Parallel compression is different but can give a similar result. So, in my opinion, just knowing the different methods and choosing which ones makes sense for certain situations is the important thing.

[@ZeroMod]

@@AudioMountain777 Downloaded the OTT VST as it is labelled "upward compression" - going to play around with it and see if I can get a handle on this. Thanks!

[@AudioMountain777]

Nice!

[@G7sus4chord]

Great information! Gotta' run and check the compressors I use to see if they have negative ratio settings! Thanks again for another great technique!

[@AudioMountain777]

NOVA has negative ratios! A viewer pointed that out to me. Not sure if that's a new feature but it works great.

[@G7sus4chord]

@@AudioMountain777 Thanks. Fab Filter's C2 compressor does not, but Izotope's module in Ozone 11, Dyamics--which is both a compressor and an EQ--does. Now that I've just watched your video on CPU and RAM usage tips, I'll try Nova, as I've been reluctant to use it individual tracks as it's so resource intensive. But know I know how to " freeze" in Studio One from the CPU/RAM video, so it's manageable! Awesome!

[@AudioMountain777]

That's great!

[@G7sus4chord]

Oops. I want to correct the record. I had a chance to use the Ozone Dynamics plugin--it's both a compressor and expander. It is not an EQ.

[@AudioMountain777]

Gotcha- I've never used it but I've heard it's great.

[@TheDragonDeacon]

Another gem. Thank you, sir!

[@AudioMountain777]

You're welcome! Thanks for watching!

[@ClarkWagaman-pw7to]

Fabulous !!! Super useful ! Thank you so much !👍✌

[@AudioMountain777]

You're welcome!

[@NevilleDMusicTV]

Great video. Thanks!

[@AudioMountain777]

Glad you liked it!

[@0rican]

Thank you. Great channel

[@AudioMountain777]

Thank you!

[@pierreduplan4927]

Excellent!

[@AudioMountain777]

Thanks!

[@StellarWorks2023]

Great video and the track is absolutely smoking! Where can i hear more?

[@AudioMountain777]

Thank you! A lot of the tracks I use for videos are little stock music jams I'm working on. This particular one is just loops I grabbed from the studio one library and did a quick mix on. But I'll hopefully have a playlist soon for stock music. Glad you like it!

[@alban6101]

cool ... and also to enhance mid-range clarity, with more "infoS", harmonics, etc ... isn't it ? 13:00 and more, ... (This Tone Boosters BusComp is definitively a good TOOL to learn all these conceptS ! )Yes !

[@AudioMountain777]

Yes, upwards compression of the mid range in parallel is very helpful. Thanks!

[@tapaskumarnayak3051]

Really informative 👍👍🙏

[@AudioMountain777]

Thanks! Glad you like it!

[@steverachmadofficial]

Hi there, I have a quick question about something that is keeping me busy for a while. It's a question about Auto Gain. When using Auto Gain do you turn Auto Gain off (and then set the right volume) when bouncing or can you keep Auto Gain on? In some videos I see people adjusting settings and the they say they turn it off while bouncing. But it's never being explained really. Not sure if this is a topic for a whole video but I hope you have an answer to this. Again many thanks for the great helpful video's 🙏🙏

[@AudioMountain777]

Great question, and yes, this topic needs its own video. Not all plugins have a good auto gain, and some processing is more conducive to auto gain than others, so the safe way is to turn it off for bouncing. But it's easy enough to adjust your fader afterwards if needed, so as long as you're aware of the potential problem then you'll be fine either way. If something wonky happens just undue it and bounce it again without auto gain. That's the short answer, hope that helps! Thanks for watching!

[@steverachmadofficial]

@@AudioMountain777 Thanks very much! That absolutely helps and very much looking forward the video for some further info about this topic 🙏😊

[@AudioMountain777]

You're Welcome!

[@steverachmadofficial]

Sorry to bother you again with another "request"/question. Recently I bumped in to a video where the person grabbed a saturator instead of a clipper. When do you choose to do that? Does a saturator clip off the peaks as well in the same sense as a clipper? Or would saturation be more rough than a clipper? 🙏

[@AudioMountain777]

Clippers are ideal for that, but saturators are also very good on peaks if you want extra color. Check out my video called Saturating Transients.

[@steverachmadofficial]

@@AudioMountain777 I just started the saturation video and will move on to that one afterwards

[@AudioMountain777]

👍

[@AudioMountain777]

👍

[@1176hambone]

just use parallel compression.

[@AudioMountain777]

👍