Similarly, the release time can define how long it takes for the active compressor to return to
its standby state after the signal level has fallen below the threshold level.
The right settings for attack and release time strongly depend on both the current purpose of
the compression and the kind of instrument that you are working on!
Side-Chain Input
Every compressor uses a detector to decide when to kick in. This detector listens to a control
signal and activates the compressor when needed.
Usually, the detector listens to the input signal itself and activates the compressor whenever
the level of the input signal exceeds the selected threshold.
A side-chain input, on the contrary, allows you to feed the detector with another signal (e.g. an-
other track in your mix). In this setup, compression is applied according to the level of the oth-
er signal. This greatly widens the versatility of your compressor.
Typically the side-chain input is fed by the bass drum track as a control signal to trigger
the compressor on the bass guitar track. Another example is the “auto talk over” feature
found on several mixers, which automatically attenuates the level of the music as soon as
you talk into the microphone.
Parallel Compression
Sometimes you may want to keep the original signal and blend it with the compressed signal.
Setting up a signal path for parallel compression can help retain some of the sonic characteris-
tics of your original instrument (mainly the transients) when a signal is heavily compressed and
in need of some top-end sparkle.
1.1.3 What Is a Bus Compressor?
A bus compressor is nothing else than a compressor meant to be used on a bus (also called
“group” or “subgroup” on some devices) — in other terms, on a group of channels. For exam-
ple, this can be the case when mixing drums, where you will want to apply processing on the
whole group of drum channels. Furthermore, applying a soft compression (i.e. with a low ratio)
to the overall mix helps you “glue” all instruments together and constitutes an essential part of
any pre-mastering or mastering task. Since most mixes are done in stereo, bus compression
has to be done in stereo, too.
Welcome to SOLID BUS COMP
What Is a Compressor?
Solid Bus Comp - Manual - 7
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