Quote:
Originally Posted by Judders
I agree that the "automated fader" analogy is not really a great one, even though it is the most common one you see in educational material.
I think of compressors more as ADSR envelope control... though I guess as an analogy that isn't helpful to beginners who don't know what that is.
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It seems that people use that explanation because that's how it was explained to them once, even though (if they have relevant experience to be explaining it) they've almost definitely been using them for other purposes for years.
I think it's hard to explain and isn't easy to hear at first like EQ, reverb etc. where the effect is immediate and obvious.
I've seen quite a lot of intellectualising and trying to think about it theoretically from people who have only recently started using it; I think that's because it's not as obvious to hear at first.
But after years of using it, the sound becomes very familiar and it's easy to know when it's desired but still not easy to explain.