It occurred to me that those of you who are trying to grasp / hear the concept of attack and release in your varied compressors but it's not quite clicking with you. Find a very simple free synth. Be sure it has an ADSR. Attack Decay Sustain Release Turn off all the LFO, Modulation, etc.. Most have presets and you can just use some of them. The ADSR will either be 4 faders or 4 knobs. A word of warning. Put a LIMITER after it. It's possible you could turn a knob and some of the resonant filters can really get away from you. Just so you don't blow out your ears or speakers. Ok, so load synth. Then load a preset. All you need are the most simple sounds. A bell, a chirp, a drum. Watch the ADSR changes. Don't be too concerned with the D S settings. If you load a patch with a low A then play the note and listen. It will have a fast attack like a snare drum. If it also has a low R as well it might sound like a click. Now raise the A and the sound might change from a snare to sounding like a fade in to only the ring of the snare. Just experiment with the A and R controls. You will easily hear the change in the shape and time of the sound. This is basically the same thing a compressor A R does. The problem is you may not hear what your compressor is doing in context of what you are listening to. The synth will at least let your ears / brain understand what you are supposed to be comprehending about the compressor. After that try changing the D and S controls. An analogy might be that they sort of tie into the knee and release as well. But the A R will certainly let you hear what you may have not been understanding because you couldn't really hear what the compressor was doing, especially transparent ones. All you need is the most simple synth you can find that has ADSR. Even the free ones are way more than necessary so no need to spend any money.

Here is a short video from my ProTools certification mentor. It has some great insight on gain staging. Hope it is helpful to someone. https://youtu.be/1PvmDJyQPTI

Currently I am working on the Final Mix assignment on MP101. I am trying the "Foundation"- method. I watched the instruction video several times and I get my Snare to -5 Db TP en the VU-meter around 0. Then I set the Kick to peak -5 Db TP. As soon as I combine them, my peak occasionally jumps to -2.2 Db TP when there's a fill on the snare (end of the chorus). I cannot seem to get them together at -5 TP. Or should I just focus an that fill? Can this be because of a build-up of frequencies? I tried EQ-ing things, that does not seem to get the job done. Any recommendations/tips? Or should I just wait the the Foundation-method and finish MP101 first? Thanks in advance!

Hey guys - would love your thoughts on this. A guy on Facebook named "John M Stickel" is saying he wants to offer my a sync licensing opportunity for an indie game for my track "Mad World". I've asked for more information and he claims he's an independent contractor and said: "If you’re interested, just send your full name, phone number, email, and mailing address for the agreement draft. Totally optional, nothing is locked in without your approval." To which I said I need more information about the offer and his company before sending over personal contact and he claims that "Once I have those details, I’ll send over the agreement for your review." Like... this is weird, right?

What DAWs is everyone using and why did you choose that particular one or more? Mine is Steinberg Nuendo 4.3. I also just got FL Studio.