This article is for you, if you're unfamiliar with the princliples of using compression, or would like a reminder of how to approach this aspect of music recording. We'll touch on various settings - threshold, compression ratio, attack and release times, and of course, the knee, as well as where to place the unit in your signal paths.

Compressors are a type of signal processor used by recording engineers. They can be thought of as a kind of "automatic fader". They are used either to fix problems, for example, too great a dynamic range in the recording; or to enable creative mixing for example, by adding presence to the sound track.

The equalizer unit (EQ), is probably the most common signal processing tool used by sound recording engineers. But just what is a "signal processor"? What are they used for? - And how can they be used to solve mix problems, and aid recording creativity?