That being said, I believe these plugins to be the best digital compressor plugin options today. I would expect the next person’s top 11 to be different from mine but hope there would be plenty of overlap. It should go without saying that any “top X” article is subject to bias. The top 11 best digital compressor plugins for digital audio workstations are: A compressor can be software or hardware and performs compression on an audio signal (digital or analog).įor more information on compression and compressors, check out my in-depth article The Complete Guide To Audio Compression & Compressors.
What is audio compression? Dynamic range compression is the process of reducing the dynamic range of an audio signal by attenuating the amplitude of the signal above a set threshold. In this article, we’ll consider what I believe to be the top 11 stand-out digital compressor plugins. Though some compressor plugins aim to emulate analog compressors and even specific hardware compressors, there are plenty of digital compressor options to choose from. So then it makes sense how there are so many compressor plugins on the market. Compression is considered to be one of the most important tools in the audio engineer’s toolbox.
Plugins are, therefore, invaluable assets for the modern audio engineer. We’re currently living in the age of digital audio, and in-the-box mixing within a digital audio workstation is commonplace.