Creative Ways to Use Compression Tips for Musicians and Producers with Pouya Hamidi

My name is Pouya Hamidi. I'm a composer and a sound engineer. And yeah, I have composed since I was eight years old, when I first started playing the piano. I came to Canada when I was 12 years old.

Right now, at the moment, half of my work is composing, and half of my work is sound engineering—working with artists to realize their vision and album, capturing their sound in different genres.

I also lead an ensemble called Ladom Ensemble, which is a combination of piano, cello, percussion, and accordion. We have toured across Canada, and we perform my compositions in addition to other composers as well.

Compression is a very interesting topic. It's actually one of the hardest things to understand in terms of audio production. It took me years to really get a sense of what it is. But on a basic level, it controls the dynamics in sound. If you look at the waveform, it's like playing kind of soft, and then it gets really loud and then soft. So I use the compressor to kind of automatically, without me going on the fader and pushing my finger or using the mouse, control it automatically.

This is a song called Ambient Song that I wrote for a dance group. You'll hear this cello where, if I don't put a compressor, the sound gets really loud and then really soft on one specific note. But then I put a compressor, and you'll hear that it’s more compact. When you're listening as a whole with all the other instruments, you hear all the notes better. Then you can raise the volume up. So that's the first way I use compression creatively—just to control the dynamics.

Another way you can use compression is to add color, timbre, or tone. Not just control the dynamics, but add distortion or different colors to the sound. I gave an example where I'm really making the compressor work hard. It’s compressing really fast and adding a lot of color. A lot of compressors have a breaking point. When you get to that breaking point, they add certain colors and tones. Sometimes we use that to our advantage. Instead of it being clinical or digital, when you use compression creatively for distortion, it gives it an organic sound.

Another way I use compression is what they call “gluing the mix.” That means you put a compressor on the entire mix bus or the final fader in your audio program. Whatever sounds come through, the compressor reacts to that. It kind of squishes everything in a way that makes it feel cohesive—not out of place. That’s gluing the mix. Usually, you do about three to four dB of compression.

Another technique I use is called side chaining. Side chaining is where you feed a signal from another track into a track’s compressor. When the compressor sees that signal, it ducks the sound, making room for the other sound. In this example, a kick drum is being fed into the snare. The snare is playing constant eighth notes. Whenever the kick comes in, the snare volume goes down, and when the kick goes away, the snare comes back up. You could do this by hand, but it would take a long time. So you can set up parameters to do it automatically. It’s a very cool and creative effect.

When you're first starting to learn compressors, don't be discouraged if you don't hear a difference when you see the compressor working. It's one of the more subtle audio processes. What I encourage people to do is play around and push the compressor more than you would actually use. Push it, and then try to see what it does to the sound. The bypass button is very important. Use bypass and make sure you hear the difference.

Always make sure the volume is the same when bypassed and when the compressor is on. If the volumes are different, your ear might think something sounds better or worse, but it could just be a volume change. That’s another tip when you're starting out.

Another tip is that there are so many types of compressors out there—it can be overwhelming, even for me. If you're starting out, just begin with your stock compressor that comes with your digital audio workstation. You can get so much done with that. But don’t use a compressor just because someone else did. Use it because you think it will help you achieve the sound you're after.

In the studio, there are magical moments I call “happy accidents,” where you’re in the flow, trying different presets or experimenting with compressor shapes or types. And you get surprised—like, “Wow, this sounds amazing!” Even if you don’t understand what’s happening under the hood, it’s totally fine. Nobody will question why you picked a setting. If it sounds good and adds the tone and color you like, you’re all good.

You can find out more about my music at my website: pouyahamidi.com. There you’ll find a list of my compositions, my work with Ladom Ensemble, my electronic project, and albums I’ve engineered. That’s kind of the central hub.

You can also follow me on Instagram at Pouya Music and Sound, and on Facebook—just type my name and it should come up.