Dynamic Signal Processing - Posted on 2015-03-29 by Alexander Schug

When talking about Dynamic Signal Processing the first thing i think about is Compression. What a compressor does is limit the dynamic range of a signal. Knowing when and how to use a compressor will give you more control with the dynamic range of your mix. Usually vocals have compression on them so they can rest easily in the song. I notice a huge difference in my vocals cutting through my mixes soon as i add compression to them. It just gives this noticabe sharper quality and they stand out more. A compressor is suppose to tell the level of an incoming signal and also controlling that signal. You can use either Analog compressors or Digital compressor but a digital compressor only tries to mimic the sound of an Analog compressor so i beleive that Analog will give you that much more of a sharp effect on your sound. There are a few kinds of Analog compression. Optical, Variable Mu, and VCA. Optical compression works with a light source that intensifies as the amplitude of an incoming signal is increased and the amplifiers act based on what the light source says. Variable Mu uses vacuum tubes that are affected by controlled voltages which then are used to compress the signal. With VCA compression it is used with a inter-grated circuit gain control. VCA compressors are the most accurate because they are more linear. With Digital compressors there are thousands of different compressor/limiter plug ins you can use inside your DAW. There are more than just one kind of Dynamic Range Processor. There are Limiters, Expanders, Gates, Dessers, and so on. You can think of a Limiter as an intense compressor and it can limit the amplitude of the sound. With limiting you have a much higher ratio of compression. An expander is the exact opposite of a compressor. Gates attenuate sound below the threshold and generally increase dynamic range. Gates are good for reducing bleed in a track and also sidechaining. There are a few types of other compression technniques. Personally a real helpful technique is Multiband compression where you can manipulate different frequency(Bands/Ranges) and each range has its own parameters. Logic pro x Multipressor is so good for mastering. My mentor uses it on all his masters. In parallel compression the signal is split and compression can be applied to an identical signal in parallel path. One signal can be compressed and one can be uncompressed if you wanted. Serial compression is when the signal is sent through several compressors. One compressor is doing one job and another compressor is doing a seperate job. Side chain compression works by the compressor using the amplitude of another signal to trigger compression. If you know how and when to use the techniques you will acheive a very crispy mix.