When compressor cleaned the guitar

How does that guitar sound so neat?

First off, get the signal as high as possible without clipping. It is true that with 24 bits recording, we can have enough headroom 10db lower than the ceiling, and still the signal will be fine. We can normalize it or increase the gain on the compressor or somehow raise the level if needed. Still, why not get it at the best level possible without clipping?

Compressor cleaned it well

Add the compressor as insert effect in the channel.

Reduce the threshold till you start seeing the red at the louder parts.

Keep a compression ratio of 4:1

Keep an attack of around 8ms, release around 30ms.

That is a good starting point.

The guitar tone has a clear starting point when you strike the string. Let that strike pass through uncompressed and clear. You can choose how much of the strike should pass through, when the compressor should start acting.

Keep the attack time as 8ms. Reduce and increase the attack and listen if the strike is passing through clear without getting subdued.

After 8ms the compression starts acting. All level above the threshold point will be reduced to a fraction of 1/4th. (4:1 ratio)

The release time will determine when the compressor action is off. Play with the release time also. You can increase or decrease the ratio and threshold also and see if you are getting a better result.

If the attack and release are too fast, rapid changes in gain will make the compressor action clearly audible rather than subtle.

Basically here we are trying to let the initial hit pass through, while letting the compressor to reduce the tail of the note. This way, the note is clearer and the reduced tail makes the mix less muddy.

Since the tail is compressed now, even if you raise the overall volume, the tail won't make the mix as muddy as when without compression. So if needed, with the compression in place, you can raise the overall volume of the guitar track without worrying about the tail muddying the mix.

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