Lets talk about compression.

Distortion IS good.

Distortion IS bad.

Distortion IS what you make it. Good or Bad.

This back and forth cracks me up. Who doesn't dig "back in black" or a favorite EVH solo. TONS of distortion there. LOTS of distortion on classic tape based Zep recordings.

At the same time, there are some FANTASTIC direct to disc 2 track recordings from the same era that are so clean they are jaw dropingly stunning.

There's room in the world for both. No?

What's up with all the "absolutes"?? The only absolute I believe in is that there is no room for absolutes in ANY creative occupation.....

I seem to remember the advent of modular digital multi-tracks prompting much greater desire for comps and limiters to allow hotter recording in a 16 bit world, as well as somewhat mimic the smush of tape on drums. I gotta think if digital had actually delivered all it promised in 1985 then we might not have gotten accustomed to the band-aid effect so many wanted in 1995.

As has been said, if you have a good enough source, all these otherwise fun color boxes (pre's or comps) can seem to just get in the way, and you want the cleanest possible signal path. In my world of recording 'talent' in the styx, the color frequently masks AND enhances substandard 'talent' and equipment, soft focus if you will.

It all depends on the type of music; also been said already.   The right type of music and the right ancient preamp, the preamp can be the compression without needing another, but most people don't want to go there.

Close mics on drums, bass, and vocals usually get light compression on the way in here. Most acoustic guitars too, rarely ever an electric. Usually set conservatively enough that more can be added later if desired or needed, nearly nothing to a few dB. Usually dbx/THAT RMS type with higher crest factor and less effect on transients. Rarely anything over 3:1-4:1. Sometimes (frequently) the talent plays 3 times louder on the real take, or on the 2nd song after the levels were initially set. The conservative settings mean the overload might translate into 6dB or so on any levels varying the most wildly; usually still OK unless it's a tom you were hoping to gate later.

Fitting into this logic is the awareness that the talent will likely change dynamic drastically with no warning, and no matter how often they practice or play gigs, they are still amateurs in that the concept of playing a song more than once in a row is somewhat foreign, so a good many first takes will have the best feel, subsequent takes going into the toilet in regards to energy, excitement, intimacy, and engagement. I'll probably have to do some comping from various multitrack takes, so you can't really adjust signal path settings without potentially sacrificing the ability to do that comping. At least not without pulling a lot of time consuming 'fix tricks', which I know, but are not in the budget.

A real powerhouse singer might start pushing and hit the comp 10+dB, so the comp has to be one that'll still sound ok at that level of push. Many don't. If the vocal is going to need so much, it may sound better being hit lightly multiple times than all at once.

I've done a ton of corporate event and sports press broadcast work too, which is all about manual riding of the spoken word, frequently not knowing who is going to speak out of a group of 6-10, feedback not far away. You develop a technique out of necessity, and it's hard to describe outside of noting that different people have varying speaking patterns and dynamics. You hear enough of them and see what the vocal rides are like, you start noticing the people who sound 'pre-compressed' in open air; they get on mic and you don't have to touch a thing. They just cut through with what sounds like perfect frequency response (on ANY mic) and unvarying dynamic range that can just sit at unity for a half hour in front of a crowd. Those people with those voices are the ones they used to hire for radio and TV because they were born 'pre-conditioned'. Many of the great singers fall into this category. Singers are sometimes easy to ride, but back to aforementioned talent, usually can't be looked directly at without making them overly self-conscious. They are easier to ride too when you actually get preproduction, or lyric sheets, or more than 2 takes...otherwise it's likely it's already over and under budget before you really learn the parts.

I don't think there is a lack of talent but I do think there is a serious lack of stage experience and attention paid to the sound of instruments and "touch" compared with the '60s and '70s. Technology has made developing super chops less necessary. I also think the lack of paying work for musicians relative to the past has kept a lot of very talented people from taking a music career seriously. When I started my career in the mid '60s most of us were under 20-25 years old!

25 is now about the age you might be expected to leave an internship....maybe.....

I don't worry that much about rules but I prefer honest music making to clichés. I've done a lot of work with really abstract electronic music that sounds like what it is but would much rather hear a funky upright piano than piano samples.

but you are still alive ... what went wrong

After reading this thread, I think there's a dissonance  between compression and fader riding, which are not mutually exclusive.

So, I give you (a) a quote from Michael Brauer, (b)  one of his typical routing methods, and a song he mixed to ponder. He's a master imo, because he has a flexible approach to compression. It's not a hammer, unless he wants it to be. It's a feather if he wants it to be, or not. It's not good or bad. It's a tool among all his other tools.

Quote: "Use movement. I move faders a lot. There has to be movement. I don’t know quite how you do movement with a little mouse, but I didn’t grow up with a mouse. A lot of people have D-Commands with faders. How you do it, I don’t care.

What I care about is that there’s movement in the song. Don’t compress one sound and leave it that way for the entire record, because bands don’t do that onstage — they move around. So make the mix move. Listen to most of my mixes: They’re rarely static."

-Michael Brauer

This is an incredibly informative thread. Many different views on the topic, and even more fascinating, quite great variety of philosophies, tips, strategies and approaches in a very condensed form.
Thanks alot, guys!

You'd get the phase differences which reflect differences in frequency response between various parallel elements, but that's all. Minimal.