Mixing Audio, 2nd Edition

16	Compressors

Perhaps the most misused and overused tool in mixing is the compressor – which is especially worrying considering how predominant compressors are in contemporary mixes. Compressors, to a large extent, define much of the sound of the contemporary mix. It is no secret that compressors can make sounds louder, bigger, punchier, richer and more powerful, and if they were kitchenware they would probably also make food tastier. Neither is it a secret that, since compressors were introduced per channel on analog consoles, the amount of compression in mixes has grown significantly – from transparent compression to evident compression to heavy compression to hypercompression to ultracompression, so that by the start of the new millennium ...