A crushed copy sits under the dry part. Bring its fader up slowly until yours has the same weight under the hits as the reference.
Drag a fader, or drag up and down on a pot. Arrow keys move the focused control one step; hold Shift while dragging for small moves.
These comparisons are practice. Your first attempt keeps its score.
Five songs a level. An average of 80 passes.
New York compression, by ear.
Parallel compression keeps the dry part as it is and blends a heavily crushed copy in under it: the dry keeps the punch, the crushed copy brings up the density and the sustain. Bring its fader up until yours sits like the reference.
How it works
- Play the reference, then switch to Yours (keys 1 and 2, or B to flip).
- Bring the crushed copy up from off, compare again, and check when they sound the same. From level 4, set how hard it’s crushed too.
- After a check, open Help me hear it: your attempt, the difference doubled, and the correction.
What to listen for
Listen under the hits, not to them. The more of the crushed copy, the thicker and denser the part gets while the dry keeps the crack. A little goes a long way. Push it too far and the whole part sounds smashed.
How it’s scored
Your first check scores out of 100. The blend is scored by how much of it is the crushed copy, in points out of 100, so a move sounds the same size anywhere on the fader. On levels 4 and 5, where the crush and the blend trade off, it scores how close yours sounds: the measured difference from the reference. An average of 80 over five songs passes.
Levels
Levels 1 to 3 set the crushed copy’s fader, within 30, 23 and 18 points of its share of the blend, with the copy crushed by 20 dB. Levels 4 and 5 set how hard it’s crushed as well, and pass when the difference from the reference sits 22, then 23.5 dB under it. The copy runs at 20:1 with a 0.3 ms attack and an 80 ms release. It’s part of Mix Chops Pro, every level.
Use headphones or good speakers. Every setting plays at the same loudness, so louder is never the difference.
Compressed or DryHow MuchAttackRatioMatch the CompressorShape the HitParallel BlendAll compression exercisesLearn: What does a compressor do?