There's certainly a great deal of confusion surrounding compression. I know because I'm usually one of the confused.
I think Steindork's post clarified one of the main reasons for this confusion: At a really basic level, you could think of a standard compressor as being two totally different FX units in the same box, (1) it can smooth out the volume of a track, or (2) it can alter the character or tone of individual notes.
From the learner's point of view, it's unfortunate that both these functions have the same name, compression, because they have distinctly different effects on the sound.
Another thing that has confused me is that a lot of compression advice assumes that you're dealing with live instruments. These really
need compression, particularly for smoothing out the volume level.
But, if you want to smooth out the overall volume level of midi-controlled samples and VST instruments, I think you'll get a more 'natural' sound by directly editing each note's midi velocity, instead of using compression.*
Compression is still very useful to adjust the character of individual notes generated by sampled/VSTi sounds, but don't forget that the samples may already have been compressed by the developer, so they could sound fine without additional compression.
*(Advice on more advanced level control techniques, like sidechain compression to create space for vocal, bass or kick drum, should apply fairly well to both live and midi recordings).
Quote:
Originally Posted by bls
Similarly, the West Coast had a system of recording an instrument, forgetting what they were doing, and taking In & Out burgers to the beach instead. Both techniques have a strong following.
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