Transcription of the video above
Okay, let’s talk about compressor ratio and let’s imagine that instead of pitch, this is level. Now, let’s say we took our compressor and we set a threshold at 12 dB. Now imagine if you will that each one of these frets is 1 dB over the threshold.
3 dB, 5 dB, 7 dB, 9 dB. With a ratio of 3 to 1, the compressor is going to turn it down by 2 dB. It will only be 1 dB over the threshold.
At 5 to 1, 1 dB. Or at 7 to 1, a note of this level will be turned down 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 dB. Your takeaway here is that below the threshold, nothing’s happening.
And above the threshold, the higher the ratio, the more it’s being pushed towards the limit of this threshold. A low ratio will do very little, whereas a higher and higher ratio will increasingly push the output of the compressor closer and closer to this threshold. So to answer the question of 4 to 1 ratio when 12 dB over the threshold, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, will result in 3 dB over the threshold or 9 dB of gain reduction.
Hope that helps.
