Basic Compressor

#1

Hey,

Could you please explain what you have done in the “BasicCompressor_Float” program?

Anagha

#2

Hello,

I looked into the BasicCompressor_Float programme.
Could you please explain the significance of the following terms in the programme: knee_dBfs, attack_sec, release_sec ?
How would changing the value of these terms effect the output?

Thank you

#3

Hi!

First, if you have not already seen it, you may find this link to be helpful:. http://openaudio.blogspot.com/2017/01/basic-dynamic-range-compressor.html

To answer your questions directly:

  • knee_dBFS: this is the knee point where the compression starts. Any signal that is louder than this value will be compressed. The units are decibels relative to full scale. So, a knee that is -40 dBFS will start compressing 40 dB below the loudest signal that the device can handle.

  • Attack and Release: these define how quickly the compressor responds to signals when the get louder (attack) or when the get quieter (release). See the link above for a good illustration.

Chip

#4

For a quick, but thorough tutorial on the basics of compression, I recommend “The Compression Handbook” which can be downloaded for free: https://starkeypro.com/pdfs/The_Compression_Handbook.pdf.