Yeah, it really depends on usecase you think about. If you speak about compession effecting something like an electronic kickdrum then yeah, you can draw automation instead of it. (When speaking about clean non-saturating compressors) ... but the advantage of compressor is that on stuff with "unpredictable" and/or quick transients (real drums, vocals, pianos, synths with a lot of modulation etc...) it will do the trick for you automatically.
So theoretically you could draw "compression-like" automation over a master channel or finished track, but it would take you weeks or months to do it. Compressor will do that for you instantly.
i don't think that holds true, because a compressor affects only the part of the signal above the treshold. Volume automation will change the volume of everything playing at that time, thus having a different effect.
Nope. You've essentially described waveshaping. If it was "bending" the signal as you say, you'd hear pretty nasty harmonics being added to the signal.
But as Axis said, then you have "character" compressors with saturation curves. Those add a tiny bit of harmonics. Those you can't replace by automation. But clean compressor you theoretically can.
Maybe i didn't explain myself properly enough, but I'm fairly sure what I'm trying to say is not wrong (Atleast, i don't see how it could be) Feel free to point out any errors in my explanation though because I'm really curious to hear if its correct or not haha.
Lets say we have a kick and a bass playing and only the kick's transient plays above the threshold. The bass volume is unaltered because its below the threshold. However, a part of the kick that is above the treshhold is turned down. However, if you automate the mastervolume and turn down the volume at the moment where the kick's transient plays, you will also automatically turn down the volume of the rest of the instruments (in this case the bass).
So a different effect will be achieved by the volume automation vs. compression?
Sorry for the jungle of quotes. On phone.
The kick will force the compressor to lower the volume, and the volume will come back up, depending on the compressors release time.
So yeah, for something simple like this, automation is fine.
Myself I prefer vol envelope plugins to do that, and if I'm working with something other than 4/4 club music, I'll use midi notes to trigger the pattern reset, and automation to change to different curves.
Bit of a hassle, but saves a lot of cpu, and you can get the perfect curve, stupidly easy
