Dealing with Compression induced Low-Mid/Mud.

Chris Johnson's newish compressor "PureSquish" is the best digital compressor I've used for avoiding this problem. It also has a "bloom" slider that allows you to side chain lows as desired.

Really, I can't rave about this one enough. I'm new to the Airwindows world, but am absolutely in love with this plug in. Works on tracks or on the two, and I use it both places.

Free demo of course, like all his stuff.

MJH

It's a lot more common than you may think... and tasteful use of compression is nowhere near as common as it should be.

I have little taste.

I don't think the pros think like "oh what compressor has the least amount of low end build up" or anything like that. From what I've gathered most of the pros just go for the tone of a certain compressor or the effect it creates.

One thing I've noticed about my own mixes when I A/B them with pro mixes is how much less low end the pro mixes have than my own. Over the years I've constantly had to cut back how much low end I put in anything.

You'll read something from a noob on GS like "I put 40hz and 60hz because I wanted more low end" but from a pro you'll read something like "I cut everything below 80hz".

Because of this, I'm doing a lot more cutting of low end stuff and I think my mixes are doing a ton better. I've been hacking off bass at 80hz, kick at 60hz, guitars at 150hz, vocals at 80hz, etc. Right away things have become tighter.

Now you're asking, "what does this have to do with mud in the 125-200hz region?". Well, Right away the compressors weren't reacting nearly as much to low frequencies that didn't do much other than add excessive boominess. Because the compressors aren't compressing so hard, they aren't bringing up so much low-mids end after makeup gain.

Somehow things still sounded full and heavy, but with more definition.

I attribute this to the psychoacoustic effect of the attack/knee of the compression rather than actual low frequencies. The eardrum and small bones of the ear act like a compressor at higher dB's, so emulating that effect with a slow attack but audible compression knee seems to trick our brains into thinking it's louder (and therefore more exciting) than it is.

The SSL bus compressor has this "spank" kinda sound to it, which is probably why it's so popular in rock n' roll mixes.

Also, another thing I've gathered from interviews with pros, is that they don't seem to be afraid to EQ ruthlessly. I rarely see "I only use cutting EQ" or "I try not to use EQ at all" or anything. Seems that I see a lot more of "I turn knobs until it sounds good" stuff from the pros.

First thought is are you using a monitor that's masking the problem? You have to hear it to solve the problem!
Second is to listen for it building as you build the mix, Distortion and mud are the hardest to cure and find, Even uhber low distortion drivers like ATC or Volt have almost as much distortion in this region as a distortion pedal !

I dunno. I've seen lots of "in the studio" vids with accomplished mixers who say something like "I put a little EQ on this" and when the camera pans to that channel they have like 9dB of boost on that EQ band!

I still have to wonder if some of these mixers say one thing and then do something else.. I've always suspected it.

In regard to bass guitar, I almost always find a resonant peak somewhere in the 100-200hz range. I typically hunt for it with narrow boost and snuff it about 3-6dB with narrow cut before compression. Couple this with a cut below 80hz-ish and I've not had nearly as much trouble with bass guitar as I have been having in the past.

See I find I have have to do very little EQ on a bass track if it's cut well from the start with a good signal chain...and I'm tailoring the mix to leave a space for the bass to sit. But still...a little EQ will still probably happen by the end.

Me too. I was reading from the old magazine "Recording Engineer and Producer" and the engineer for an En Vogue record says on their album he boosted vocals with a GML  EQ +9dB at 16k, +3 at 10k, +2 at 1.2k, +2 at 200 and +2 at 80. He says he uses narrow Q's, but +9dB is + 9 dB! He goes on saying "no wonder I use a deeser". No shit. And yeah, they were tracking to tape-with a Tfunk ELA M 250 no less-, but all you have to do is listen to pop vocals-which are even brighter than they were when En Vogue was around- and you know they're boosting the shit out of vocal EQ's.

+!!

Honestly automation or even manual fader riding makes a HUGE difference section to section in a song when you're getting to the final mix/master. 

whilst not a pro. ;-)

I use that mud point on the compressors as a signal to back off. it's program dependent.

another thing I've noticed with layering instruments is the mud keeps creeping in. even if I high pass each channel on say guitars by the time I've run 3-4 tracks to the buss it can also do with some further HP. concerned with too much filtering, in more recent times I've been just strapping a hp across the buss. like a 10band stereo eq or some other piece of gear with a hp filter.

one comp I've noticed that doesn't introduce mud is the purple action.

Much of the music I do requires making a zone for a male singer from 150 to 275. So, I am thinning the instruments in that area and flattering the singer there.