¶ Uses for Compression
Hey , steve , here and in this video we're going to be talking about the importance of compression , especially when you're using clean tones or cleaner sounds , and this would certainly go with acoustic guitar as well , which is why you find people using them on acoustics . So , first of all , what is compression ?
Well , basically , what compression does is it tries to take the really low volumes or the really high volumes and it tries to kind of squeeze them together , so everything is kind of a similar volume . So the reason why I like compression I don't use compression a lot on my distorted tones , although many people do .
There's a lot of , you know , like to my understanding , like George Lynch from Dokken was big into that . There's a lot of players that do that . Because I play a lot of hard rock stuff and things like that . I just I haven't really explored that , but where I do use it a lot is on my cleaner tones .
So I thought that's what we would talk about today , just kind of show you how this works a little bit . So let's say I was on a clean sound , okay , just like that , okay . So I'm going to start with the compression off and I'm just going to play a little bit .
So let's say I was doing some strumming , and when I'm strumming I don't really need it , okay . So I'm not one to turn on compression and leave it all the time . But again you talk to somebody else and they would say that they turn it on and leave it on all the time . So everybody's different this way . But let's just keep going here .
So as I'm playing , let's say I'm going to do some single note picking stuff , so I'm going to do something . Now there's a lot of dynamic in there . The only thing is that it might feel like some of it is just too quiet . So if I turn on the compression , I have a pedal here . So if I turn on the compression , I have a pedal here .
So if I turn on the compression , you're going to notice that it starts evening it out . Now I don't have the compression set so hard that everything sounds exactly equal , but what it does is it takes those quiet notes and it pushes them up . So here's with it off , here's with it on .
So what it tends to do , in my mind anyway , is it makes it all a little bit easier because I don't have to utilize the dynamic as much . The output , the volume , is being stabilized , a little more balanced and feels more balanced to me as well as a player . So now what I'm going to do is I'm going to move to a crunch channel .
So this is more of like a you know , whatever it might be Steve Ray Vaughn-ish kind of thing . I'm using my Synergy amp for this and I'm using the BEBB Friedman for this stuff . So this was the clean , and now I'm on what would be the the rock channel , although I have the distortion backed off .
Now that's with the compression off and that would be perfectly fine with me . But I want to show you so I can get a little more relaxed in my playing , and it's going to push those notes up a little bit and then when I attack a bit more it's going to pull it back just a little bit .
So again , it just makes it easier , especially I find when you know if I'm recording or if I'm playing live , it kind of just makes a nice balance . And again , my compression isn't set so aggressively that there's no dynamic at all , although you can set it that way . I just like to have a little bit .
And again , I'm not going to go into settings and things like that . We can talk more about that some other time , but I just want you to know the importance of it and when you would use it Now if I head over to the distortion channel . So now I'm using the Bogner Ubershaw module , which I absolutely love . Now I'm going to turn off the reverb
¶ Compression settings affect sound dynamics in amplifiers.
here . Now for something like that I don't really see a need for a compressor . But if I turn it on notice again it's going to kind of try and level that out , okay , and you might find that that really helps with your playing because you can relax a little bit . But again , that's a personal preference thing .
I'm really not noticing that big of a difference because I'm I'm being more aggressive and it's it's more stable the way I'm playing , when I'm playing more of that kind of stuff anyway , but everybody's different . So I just wanted to show you kind of what it does and how I would use it Now if I was playing acoustic which I don't have with me right now .
But if I was playing acoustic it would be the same principle , like if I was doing some strumming and stuff , I probably wouldn't have it on , but if I was doing finger picking and stuff , it would be really nice to have on there .
Very nice , as a matter of fact , to kind of stabilize the notes that I'm playing , in case you know , maybe as I'm picking I'm not getting enough of the stability between the finger strengths that I'm doing . It could stabilize that a lot and make it a little more even . So , anyway , hopefully that helps you a little bit .
Take care , stay positive and I'll talk to you soon .