A mono compressor with a built-in dry/wet mix, for evening out a performance, adding punch to drums or blending in a squashed parallel copy. It reacts to peaks with no lookahead, so it adds no latency.
Controls
- Threshold is the level above which Squeeze starts working. Anything quieter is left alone, so a threshold above your peaks does nothing.
- Ratio is how much of every decibel over the threshold survives: at 4:1, 4 dB over becomes 1 dB over. 1:1 does nothing; from about 10:1 up it behaves like a limiter.
- Knee sets how gradually compression begins around the threshold, from a hard corner to a wide, gentle curve.
- Attack and Release set how quickly Squeeze clamps down on a peak and how quickly it lets go.
- Mix blends the compressed signal with your dry signal, for parallel compression without a separate send.
The curve on the panel shows how the settings shape loud and quiet levels. It is drawn from Threshold, Ratio and Knee, not measured from the signal, and there is no live gain-reduction meter.
Getting started
Compression is easiest to hear on material with clear attacks, such as a muted guitar part or a drum loop. Try Gentle Leveller to even out a performance, Punch to let transients through before the compressor catches them, Parallel Crush to blend a squashed copy under the dry signal, Pump for audible breathing against the beat, or Brick Limit to stop peaks outright.
Squeeze adds no makeup gain, so the compressed signal comes out quieter; use Mix or the next module's level to balance it.
