How to use a glue compressor
Every mix requires different glue compression settings, but you can use the following settings as a starting point:
- Attack: 10 ms
- Release: 0.1 s
- Ratio: 4:1
- Threshold: 0 dB
To dial-in settings that fit your mix, start by dropping the threshold level so that you see 3-4 dB of gain reduction being applied on your gain reduction meter. If you want the bus to sound less “pokey” and “snappy,” reduce the attack time. Attack times longer than 15-20 ms won’t usually provide the glue you want, but feel free to experiment.
A fast release time will lead to a clear, transparent sound at the risk of top-end distortion. If you hear unwanted distortion or want to make the compression more noticeable and musical, boost the release time.
At this point, you should readjust the threshold level to fine-tune the amount of compression applied. A ratio of 4:1 might be too intense for certain buses, but it’s often a good choice for your drum bus and more aggressive stereo buses. Drop the ratio to 2:1 if finding an appropriate threshold level at 4:1 proves challenging.