how to do everything

For our final ‘How to do everything’ set of workshops, we’re looking at the moving subject of dynamics

Dynamics processors are used to modify sounds based on their signal level. There are a number of different types of processors including compressors, limiters, gate/ expanders, frequency dependent compressors and transient processors.

Some of these processors were originally designed to do very functional jobs. Limiters, for example, were used to prevent nasty signal level overloads, and gates were used to curtail signal and tape noise. However, over time it became clear that these tools had plenty of additional sonic benefits and could also be used in many creative ways.

Here we’re looking at two key dynamics processes — compression and gating. Our first compression walkthrough is a familiarisation tutorial that shows you what the controls do and how they affect your sound. We’ve used a couple of audio examples which are available from FileSilo, but you can use whichever source audio you like, and the more sounds you try, the more you’ll begin to understand how compression works.

In our second compression walkthrough, we dig deeper into using compression in an audible way. Here we’re using quite raw drum sounds, as they have good prominent transients that lend themselves to demonstration. Nevertheless, you can apply these techniques to any transient-heavy sounds you like.

Gating is a level-dependent process that is often used to reduce or remove unwanted noise when something isn’t playing. Gates are popular with electric guitarists as they help control amp noise and feedback. They were also used extensively when people recorded on noisy analogue tape. We cover gating in our third walkthrough. This section includes not only familiarisation with how gates work, but also the more advanced process of MIDI sidechaining. This turns the humble gate into a rather creative playable processor.