In music production, dynamic range compression is one of the most commonly used processes. It enables you to reduce the volume of loud sounds, thus making the quieter sounds seem louder. This is especially useful for mixes where you wish to bring a certain sound forward, like a kick drum, a guitar, or even the vocals. Compression is also useful during the early stages of production; like EQing, this process can help you polish individual audio or MIDI tracks.

Of course, in order to properly compress your music, you need the right tools. Thankfully, most digital audio workstations come with compression plugins, some of which are really powerful. But in time, as you get more proficient at working with the tool, you may start to feel like you need a more advanced plugin.

Voxengo Crunchessor is a tool specifically designed to fill that need by offering you a slightly different sound, one that’s reminiscent of the warm analog compression. You can easily tune the plugin by adjusting the knobs for drive, attack, and release, and you can also select a mode and style, in order to add some “color” to your compression. Voxengo Crunchessor also comes with plenty of presets and a key filter mode editor that offers you additional control over the process.