Rivensbitch's simple guide to how to set up a compressor and find a good setting.
Solo the track you're compressing and on your compressor set the following:
Threshold - all the way up (usually to 0 or +3,+6,+12 etc).
Attack - 100ms
Release - 30ms
Ratio - 2:1
Turn any side chaining or de-essing off. Turn off any makeup gain. Any setting other than the four above should be disable so that it doesn't affect the signal, some compressors have other weird knobs but these are the main four.
Now set your meter to view gain reduction (GR). Slowly bring the threshold down until you start to see the gain be reduced. You might bring it down as far as -30, but usually you wont go below -45. Once you have -3db to -9db of gain reduction going on, start increasing or decreasing the attack and LISTEN to how it affects the sound. In general quicker (smaller number) attack will squish your sound and make it dull, and slower (larger number) attack will beef up the sound and make it sound "louder". What you want to do is find the sweet spot where you're controlling some of the initial sound but not squishing it.
Next adjust the release. LISTEN TO HOW IT AFFECTS YOUR SOUND. Shorter (smaller number) release will sound more natural, longer (bigger number) release will create "pumping". This isn't necessarily bad depending on what you're compressing (overheads can sound great when pumped slightly), use your ears. In general I stay away from anything past 60ms.
Now adjust your ratio. Try cranking it all the way up and easing it down, try it at the other extreme. If you crank it up and the signal becomes quiet, try adjusting the makeup gain at the same time to keep the volume constant. The key is to use your ears and find a setting that makes the instrument sound more alive. If you've gone too far the instrument will sound weaker and less punchy.
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