On the modern days of audio mixing, the digital tools that engineers use in order to shape the recorded sound are called Plugins. Plugins can emulate the behaviour of vintage analogue pieces of gear or simply act as clean/linear digital signal processors, performing tasks such as equalization, compression, limiting, expansion, gating, time-domain effects, etc. Ableton Live comes with a variety of proprietary plugins (effects) that can help the user mix a music production completely “in-the-box”.
One of the most used inserts that come with Ableton Live is the GLUE COMPRESSOR, which can be defined as a device that resembles the stereo compressors included on vintage analog boards that were typically used to “glue” the overall mixes coming out of the boards before getting printed to the master tape.
Andrew Simper, the architect of both the Glue and the new EQ Eight filters, in an interview, said this about this amazing compressor:
Melda – MCompressor. 8-channel surround processing. MCompressor is a. The Glue is an analog-modeled compressor plug-in based on the classic 80's British big console buss compressor, with some additional features. It uses the same quality algorithms used in circuit simulation packages, but optimised for real time use. It's quick and easy to use and has an uncluttered interface.
Andrew Simper
¨I could never understand why producers were so into their compressors. From my point of view, they raved about them and focused on them way too much considering what they actually did for your sound – which for me was mostly make things sound worse. I could never get any compressor I tried, either digital or cheap analog, to sound any good, so I largely didn’t use them in my productions at all. I figured I just wasn’t smart enough to work them out and that I would need to do some production course or something to be able to use them properly. Wrong, oh so wrong. I was blaming me and not the tools, but in this case, it really was the tools. On a good analog compressor, it really doesn’t matter which setting you dial in, everything sounds good, just different styles of good. The Glue is me bringing this tone to the digital domain, it is a model of a classic big console bus compressor, transparent, smooth, and wonderfully full sounding. Lots of people that use it have commented they didn’t need to EQ as much anymore since things were sounding brighter and fuller already just by using The Glue. This is a workhorse plugin, so the interface is all business and the control set is minimal, so when designing the user interface I wanted to reflect this, I wanted it to melt into the background as much as possible so that people using it would be concentrating on what they hear without distraction.¨When Is Glue Compressor Used?
In principle, this type of compressor is used more to act on a mix of different tracks in a group or in the master, because the «audio glue» effect is a way of using compression as «glue» from multiple sources. This does not mean that this compression cannot be applied to an individual track.
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The Glue Compressor has its standard compressor controls such as: Attack, Release, Ratio, Threshold, and Gain Make-up, but it has other parameters that make it a better standard Ableton’s Compressor option. The Dry / Wet control allows you to choose the amount of compression to dial in what means parallel compression is easily achievable. This works well on the drums but can be used on other instruments as well. With this technique, you can use a strong compression setting to give the track power without crushing any of the transients in it.
As an example we are going to use a whole extreme compression configuration. Check in the following settings:
- Attack: -3
- Post: -6
- Ration: 10
- Theshold: about -25 dB
- Markup: about 7 dB
The above settings will apply a heavy dose of compression to the audio to the point where it begins to lose the original dynamics. There will be a fairly significant amount of gain reduction, around 5 dB. Start by removing the Dry / Wet to put some of the original audio files on the right track for the New York-style parallel compression effect. This plug-in is an analog emulation, so if you are driving it is very difficult to add a good saturation effect for the audio. Try doing this to add a little color and warmth to the slopes. Increase makeup gain for a more saturated sound. But be careful with those levels and make sure the audio doesn’t clip!
How Glue Compressor Is Used?
Glue compressor includes the common parameters of a compressor, Threshold to activate compression, Ratio to adjust input levels vs. audio output, Attack so that compression reaches its maximum level quickly or relaxed, Release adjusts the time it ends. from processing the signal to “start over” to compressing (includes an Auto Release button that acts dynamically depending on the dynamic range of the signal) a Makeup knob to raise the signal once it is compressed and adjust Dry / Wet to indicate how much compression rate do we want (or use it as parallel compression).
In addition to these parameters, Glue Compressor includes the Soft clip button to attenuate the high peaks of the signal, although it may not offer a transparent result if the peaks are very high or if the Oversampling mode is used. Another parameter is the Range parameter, which adjusts how much compression can occur (similar to dry / wet) although this has an emulation effect with respect to the real SSL compressor if the values are at maximum. bringing this knob to 0dB there is no compression.
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This compressor also includes Sidechain mode, so that an external signal activates compression, as well as the Oversampling option by right-clicking on the device bar.
This compressor also includes Sidechain mode, so that an external signal activates compression, as well as the Oversampling option by right-clicking on the device bar.
Glue Compressor Side Chain
The glue compressor is also included with a side chain section. Click the arrow on the left to see the side chain. You have the choice of using an external source as a side chain input or via the EQ side chain. With the EQ section you have a choice of 6 different types of filters. From there you can check the EQ and Q for the filter type. The side chain works great to create pumping effects.
On a low-added track add the Glue compressor. Next, set up a kick as an external source for the compressor. From the menu audio select the kick track. In the gain parameter, dial in a setting of around 12 dB. This causes a significant gain drop on the bass when a kick hit is detected. Using the Dry / Wet controls you can choose which part of the external signal from the compressor it will detect.
Glue Compressor As A Limiter
The glue compressor has a very fast attack mode. It can be configured all the way down to -0.1 ms. By default, the plug-in sets the Clip mode to Soft to apply -0.5 dB smooth clipping giving an analog-like smooth clipping effect. If you disable and apply very little attack, you can use the compressor as a hard limiter. Glue Compressor comes with a handful of presets that are a useful guide for limiting purposes. Insert the glue compressor into the main track and select the default domain that is strong. This preset has a very little attack with an automatic release and a high ratio of 10. Turn off soft clamp to make the cutout hard. This way the audio will not peak above 0 dB. It will start increasing makeup and this will increase the overall volume of the song, but I can’t cut it. I have compared this to the limiter and have much better results with the glue compressor, plus it adds a desired colourant to the audio sound.
Glue Compressor Range Dial
Range control is a real nifty inclusion. With this, you can limit the range of compression that is applied to the audio signal. Start dropping the Range amount and you will see a guide on the gain reduction meter to which the range is applied. Use the same compression settings as in step 2. Dropping the range of approximately 5 dB limits the compression range from 0-5 meters in gain reduction. This is really useful for the approach where compression and adaptation of the amount of compression applied.
Glue Compressor Touch
Another application that you should Implement to feel the Glue Compressor Touch
The easiest way to get a feel for what an impact the Glue Compressor device can have is to add it on the main output just before a limiter and leave all the settings at their default. Next up remove all compression from your kick and snare drums and mix them slightly too loud. To make things easier to hear for this example adjust the Threshold till you get the needle peaking at around 10 dB compression, then adjust the Makeup till the limiter is just in action. Whenever there is a kick or snare hit the rest of the mix should be pulled down in volume to give room to them, and as a result movement and interest will be added, as well as the rest of the elements being glued together more coherently. Now 10 dB is a lot of compression on the main output, but it was good to exaggerate the effect, usually, you want somewhere from 2 to 6 dB unless you are deliberately going for a lot of movement.
The Glue Compressor Free Download
Conclusion
The Glue Compressor is a great addition to live 9s arsenal of effects. You can add SSL-style bus emulation to your tracks or use it as a limiting disk on your main output. It adds warmth and colour to your missing sound with Ableton’s standard compressor, and it should make a positive difference in your mixes. Try it out in your next production!
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Cytomic was founded by Andrew and Emma Simper in 2007. We've been making boutique audio plugins ever since. Our software can create, change and enhance audio to help you write your best music. We model classic analog processing circuits, bringing their exact sounds to the digital world. Instead of carrying large, heavy, fragile, expensive pieces of gear around, you can have all their gorgeous sounds right there, in your computer. We use the same high quality algorithms used in circuit simulators, optimised to run fast, in real time.
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