

Įach compressor here is designed for a specific use. To apply a compressor (or any other effect) to an entire audio track at once, refer to our post on using the Audio Track Mixer in Premiere. Premiere comes with a few different compressors and presets built in. This helps achieve a more professional sounding mix in commercials, interviews, and other forms of video. However, decreasing the dynamic range on a voice can make it smoother and more balanced. The human voice naturally has different inflection points and variances in volume across sentences, which is perfectly normal. While audio engineers are usually compressing a singer’s vocals, video editors commonly use a compressor on voice-overs and dialogue.Ĭompressing raw voice-overs helps even out the entirety of the audio clip by raising up the softer words and lowering the louder words. When Should A Compressor Be Used?Ĭompressing audio has numerous use cases in post-production. With compression, the soft parts get louder while the loud parts get softer at a configurable ratio and speed. This means a more even and steady mix will probably be the best choice.Īn audio compressor works by smushing, or compressing, the peaks and valleys closer together. Contrarily, a video meant for the web or social media will probably be played back on laptop or phone speakers. Audiences will be able to hear the quiet whispers and be accepting of extremely loud parts. A feature film intended for theaters with superior audio playback should have a very wide dynamic range. ĭynamic range should be taken into consideration when determining where the video or film will end up being viewed. These extreme peaks and valleys, or dynamics, are represented visually by the waveform. In audio, the dynamic range measures the difference between the loudest part of a piece of audio and the lowest. To understand compression, you first have to understand dynamic range. For video editors who handle voice-overs, production audio, or even rough mixing, knowing how to use a compressor will come in handy all the time. However, it definitely isn’t the easiest to learn. Besides EQ, compression might be the most ubiquitous term in the audio world.
