Compression?

[Herdunculus]

Hi. I was just wondering what compression is. I am kinda noobish at this sort of thing. It would help a lot if someone could help.

Thanks,
Herdunculus.

[Birdinator99]

To compress a file is to make it a smaller size (less space)

I.E. A 10 MB song could be compressed into a 2 MB song.

Different programs are used to do this, like DBpoweramp Music Converter.

Hope that helps.

[Herdunculus]

At 12/24/09 02:26 AM, Birdinator99 wrote: To compress a file is to make it a smaller size (less space)

I.E. A 10 MB song could be compressed into a 2 MB song.

Different programs are used to do this, like DBpoweramp Music Converter.

Hope that helps.

Ahh. So, when someone says "way too much compression" in a review on a song, the mean that the person compressed it too much? I'm assuming that compressing a song also reduces its quality...

[Birdinator99]

Exactly. Sorry, forgot to mention that lol.

[Herdunculus]

At 12/24/09 02:41 AM, Birdinator99 wrote: Exactly. Sorry, forgot to mention that lol.

Alright then. Thanks a lot for the help.

[New-Milkman]

Compression is also an effect that can be applied to audio, which is explained in a bit of detail here.

[Back-From-Purgatory]

This is an audio forum, I find it odd that when someone asks about compression the first reply is in relation to file size.

When someone says "you used way too much compression" in a review, they are talking about the effect of leveling out the volume of a, or many, track(s) to prevent clipping. When speaking of audio, compression is the effect of lowering the peaks of the audio and then raising the volume of it overall.

Check out the link above, because it can be somewhat difficult to understand at first. Many people/artists (If not all) use compression in one way or another, a very popular use is on vocals to increase intensity and consistency across a vocal track, making it sound more powerful, and preventing the volume from wavering too much.

[Usernamemyarse]

The effect makes your songs more fluid, i do it all the time :D (and when i overuse it iget a score over 4... wtf?)

[Birdinator99]

At 12/24/09 03:57 AM, Back-From-Purgatory wrote: This is an audio forum, I find it odd that when someone asks about compression the first reply is in relation to file size.

When someone says "you used way too much compression" in a review, they are talking about the effect of leveling out the volume of a, or many, track(s) to prevent clipping. When speaking of audio, compression is the effect of lowering the peaks of the audio and then raising the volume of it overall.

Wow, I didn't even know that! I was just sharing what I thought I knew haha! Thanks for providing the real definition lol.

[Mystery-Moon-Pie-Aud]

What Back-From said.

Compression is, similar to how people compress file sizes to make them less spacious or smaller, we compress a sound so that it is not so loud or overpowering. It's also used when someone sidechains (you'll have to look that up), and sometimes too much compression via sidechaining can really be discusting to the ears. People also use compressors to, on contrary, boost the volume/gain of a sound. So compression is more of a vital part of music than it may seem.

[Mushroomhead18nc]

and most people do compress the hell out of their drum tracks.. its used most Id say for the kick drum.. compression is something that helps make an instrument stand out or cut through the mix without just raising the volume and then having it clip and become distorted.. that pretty much sums it up a little