I was wondering what compression settings you guys use for various sounds. For example kicks, pads, lead synths. I know every sound is different, but i'm sure there are guidlines to follow for specific sounds. I was tring to tweak a pad before and I wanted it too be really phat but it ended up having to much low end and it distorted alot. Can this be fixed with compression or eq?

distortion : your sound is too loud, decrease volume
too much low end : eq away some low end

i really cant see the point of using a compressor on a regular pad..
use unison and fine tuning and filters & efx and stuff to fatten it up

use it to make your percussion more snappier.
use it to decrease the peaks and increase the quiet moments in a line.
and as with about everything in producing training is the key, experience with settings there's no such a think like a predefined setting for a particular sound... cause 2 different kicks will prolly need 2 different settings
hope this helps

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Yeah dude there's no real point using a compressor on a pad, Your better off just eqing and or filtering it. As for kicks and percussion set the ratio to about 6:1 and have a short attack and release times so they snap. And as for synths its the same as pads no use for it.

But just experiment you will work it out.

Well, I gotta disagree with these answers - compressing a pad can make a good difference! It all depends on the pad :-) If, for example, your pad starts very quiet with low low-pass filter cutoff, and opens up slowly to reveal a massive sound, the early part of the pad will probably be too quiet in the mix if you don't compress the whole sound.

And that's the point of compression - if the difference between the loudest part of a sound and the quietest part is too much you need to add compression to reduce the dynamic range. Don't follow the rules, follow your ears :-)