Conceptualising the Effect of Dynamic Range Compression in Popular Music Production

This paper explores the way sound engineers talk about and make sense of dynamic range compression in popular music production. Although compression is used in virtually all modern popular music recordings, the effect is hardly ever mentioned in musicological analyses of popular music recordings. One of the reasons is likely the lack of an adequate terminology to articulate the impact of compression on the perception of recorded music. Sound engineers, on the other hand, have a very elaborate, often metaphorical, language to describe what audio effects do to the mix, yet only few scholars have studied the language of sound engineers. This paper is based on a survey of metaphorical expressions in interviews with sound engineers talking about how they mix. A significant finding in this survey was that the effect of compression was often articulated in terms of experiences that involve forceful interaction. This interaction is characterized through expressions such as: the sound was “pulled back” in the mix; the compressor was “holding down” the sound; and the vocals were “pushed up front”. Using Lakoff and Johnson’s work on cognitive linguistic theory as a guide, this paper suggests that sound engineers’ use of metaphors offer a way to better understand the structure and manifestation of recorded sound and the impact of recording technology on the listening experience.