## Dynamic Range Compressors affect the dynamic range of a track, which is the range of volume between its loudest and softest sounds. When a compressor is activated, it decreases the dynamic range of the track, resulting in more consistent volume levels throughout. ![[07. Audio Effects/Compression/_attachments/image.png]] You can manually automate the clip gain of a clip to arrive at consistent levels, but a compressor processes audio in order to make this an automatic process.  ![[Compressors and Dynamic Range.mp4]] Watch this video on dynamic range to better understand dynamic range.  ## Downwards versus Upwards Compression When we are evening out a signal, we can concentrate on making the softer sections louder in comparison to the louder sections, or we can concentrate on making the louder sections lower in volume relative to the softer sections. Both ways result in the same evening effect. To demonstrate, here is upwards compression. We isolate the loud audio from the soft audio based on an arbitrary level we decide, and we boost the quiet sounds to more closely match the level of the louder audio. ![[07. Audio Effects/Compression/_attachments/image-1.png]] Another way to level out a signal is by isolating the louder sounds and reducing their volume to match more closely with the softer sounds. This is known as downwards compression and is the most commonly used compression technique. ![[07. Audio Effects/Compression/_attachments/image-2.png]]