What excactly does a compressor do to a sound, and can you recommend a good free compressor?

*cough*

look what i found!

"Compression basics
At a fundamental level, the function of a compressor is to decrease the dynamic range of a signal, that is to
reduce the difference between the quietest and the loudest sounds, the end result being to effectively make the
loud sounds quieter and the quiet sounds louder. The point of compressing a sound is to boost its average
loudness and to give it a more consistent level with less fluctuations, which translates to more presence, punch or
prominence in a mix.
Take a vocal, for example, where the performance may be inconsistent, with some phrases or words sounding
quieter than others. This wouldn't sit terribly well in a mix and would get swamped in places by other instruments.
If you compress the vocal, the quieter phrases will be brought up, the louder ones tamed, and the whole thing will
sit better and be consistently audible throughout the song. And it's not just individual sounds that can benefit from
compression; compressing a whole mix can make it sound louder and perhaps more exciting, and can help it to
stand out when played on the radio."

kthx

Here's a good free compressor http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-compressor.php

I never really tried the kjaerhus stuff until a few days ago and I have to admit it's nice stuff!

And for cool free ones, use the "quick effects link" at the top right corner of this page and download:

1) Classic Compressor
2) Endorphin
3) Blockfish

for example...

MDA_dynamics is a nice one, free too....

A compressor basically reduces the difference between the loudest and the quietest parts of the sound. That way the quieter parts become more audible.

You can download great free dynamic processors at www.digitalfishphones.com .

Start experimenting with internal presets on drum loops, because the effect will be more obvious than on single instruments.

more ?
H2O (VST Effect)
http://bram.smartelectronix.com/
there´s some kind of empathy with this guys
and with this
http://www.dehaupt.com/SynthEdit/dhcomp1.htm

Blockfish is actually my favorite, it's so nice and easy to use, I just didn't think of it because I've been toying with the Classic Compressor

Endorphin is sweet too, but IMO it's not the best one to use if you're trying to learn what they do and how to use one.

Branis wrote:

A compressor basically reduces the difference between the loudest and the quietest parts of the sound. That way the quieter parts become more audible.

A compressor does exactly like the word implies. It compresses the dynmaic range. Once the audio passes the given threshold, it REDUCES the volume, not increases the volume of the audio by whatever ratio is chosen. Now, you can use makeup gain to increase the volume up if you want to, and to bring up material that's at low volume as well. Most compressors also give you an attack and release time to adjust how long it takes for it to come up to full compression, and how long it's going to take to release the sound afterwards.

Devon

Many posts, thank you! I downloaded classic compressor, will test it in the evening.

Here's a good article what a compressor does:
http://www.audiocourses.com/article114.html