Hearing Effects: Dynamics, Part 1 – Compressors

Missed the start of the series? Catch up here.

Compressors, limiters, single band, multi band, soft knee, hard knee, ratios, attack, release… on and on and on.

These terms sound more like medical tools/procedures used in gastrointestinal bypass surgeries!

Despite some of their more gruesome sounding names, these are all terms related to, and describing dynamics – and dynamics control in audio. Let’s define a few items of interest.

Core Definitions in Dynamics

“Dynamics” in its simplest and most functional definition means this:

Dynamics: An audio signal’s lowest and highest points (with regards to volume), and the subsequent and continuous raising and lowering of those points, with consideration to everything else in between.

or:

Dynamics: The proportion/relationship between the loudest and softest parts of that audio signal.

A simpler definition is this:
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