Listening to a difference signal and trying to draw any subjective conclusions is never ever a good approach. What if one had a threshold control and the other had an input level control? Or one offered an adjustable knee and the other didn't? A null test would have indicated that a difference existed, but would it have been obvious what that difference was?Īnother caveat is that compressor settings would be critical for comparing two plugins.įor example, a compressor that offered an effectively instantaneous attack time would be more prone to artifacts than another that only went down to 10ms, so any valid comparison would require them to both be set to the same attack time.Īnd setting up two different compressors identically could prove difficult. Turns out it was the shape of the release curve that varied from one unit to the next, due to component tolerances. There would, however, still be much about the compressor's behavior that such a test would not reveal.įor example, I have an article here (sorry, no link: unfortunately I did not note where I originally found it) explaining why different hardware 1176 units sound different from one another. Such a test could also reveal distortion and aliasing, at least if they were actually audible in isolation. But does not mean we can't get our best digital plugins to do the same. Expensive analog compressors have a smooth rubber band like action. Take turns inserting each of your compressors and limiters into the second track and hear with clarity the vast differences between them. Then the compressor becomes the finishing touch to your production instead of the first stage of accidental destruction. When it bounces along with the energy and the vibe of the track. Try to get the movement to compliment the rhythm of the source.
You play with the controls to find the most elastic setting where the sound rushes towards you and away with a spring in its step. Then fine tune for better results in the null state. You can use this test to also setup a compressor in mastering as you normally would then do the null test to see how it effecting your audio. It is a great test to do on demo versions before you invest in some expensive compressor plugin. You can smooth this by changing release time (200 ms or more) If it jumps all over the place it is bad. Instead of smooth or quick ramping levels you might hear the swell made of jittery steps. If you use this same compressor plugin on 6 individual tracks than these things multiply as well. These strange noises, thumps or distortion are being added by the workings of this compressor and will appear in your mix. Any clicks farts or noises generated by this particular unit are not a byproduct of the compression itself. You should not hear and clicks that are not part of the music. If this is the case then try advancing the second track a few ms or so and see if that improves it.Įach time the compressor grabs hold of the sound and reduces its gain the source will jump into view. A small delay in the plugin will prevent a complete null. (eg high threshold low ratio etc but still inserted and operating) Check for null. Perhaps first set the compressor so it is not doing anything. Invert the phase of the second track and adjust volumes for a complete null. A single instrument or a punchy complex dynamic uncompressed mix is also good. To eliminate any confusion the idea is to eliminate the music leaving behind only the volume shaping the compressor is performing.įind the right source. While the music is present and it is constantly moving up and down it can be hard to hear the volume changes that are attributed purely to your compressor. This test exposes the inaccuracies and strange anomalies in bad compressor designs. There is the dynamaic movement of the compressor and artifacts that are also created. Music compression is all about the shape of its movement. This is a test that will find out which compressors are best for use in our productions. And why is it that some might impress us and others not so much. We all have a collection of digital plugin compressors.
It is in this latest issue of Audio Technology written by Mike Stavrou a well known engineer here in Australia.
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