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Post by tonycamphd on Dec 1, 2015 22:35:49 GMT -6
IMO compressors are the single most powerful tools an AE has at hand, the reason i ask "why do you use compression?", is I noticed while reading some threads over the purple site, that most people know of virtually no use beyond squashing things down and making them louder, so i'm curious as to why/how, and for what purposes people here at this vastly superior forum  use their compressors? Please describe with more than a 2 word answer, i look forward to learning some new tricks? One thing i know for sure, there is definitely way more than a single answer to this question. btw, stick a fork in me, i will add something to this tmmrw, i figured i'd try to get it going tonight 8) |
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Post by Johnkenn on Dec 1, 2015 22:42:49 GMT -6
I really love the ability to bring the room up in something like a drum bus. Or a snare - using an 1176 with a slow attack and using the release to control the sustain...getting the perfect boing or thwack...powerful tools. On a vocal - adding color and heft and harmonics...or for the tried and true ole leveling of the signal.
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Post by mulmany on Dec 1, 2015 22:53:02 GMT -6
I use compression for leveling in the brute force way, but also for transient shaping. For instance, had a bass part with to much hand mute thump/clack... fast attack, fast release, pulling 15db-20db through 1176 plug then ran it through La2a plug for consistency. Worked well enough... for a quick turn around tracking and delivery. Would have rather retracked but there was no time or budget.
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Post by EmRR on Dec 2, 2015 9:24:35 GMT -6
Most uses boil down to thickening, leveling, AGC, or any combo at some level. Through enough of those things one may arrive at a 'special effect'. Slow attacks that heighten transients would file under AGC. I know guys who keep a large stack of vintage comps for their 'tone', and actually don't compress with them at all. That just strikes me as excess, and they gotta be mixing guys who never track as the right preamps or line amps would fix that. Then there are the voice grade compressors and talkback limiters that destroy response while flattening, more special effect use, also cold be arrived at with a suitable chain of bandpass filtering, overdrive (limiting) and compression. A really good transparent compressor can almost qualify as a dynamic EQ at extreme settings, tucking transients and thus harmonics into a different place without affecting overall sonics in an obvious way. Dynamic EQ: I see that referred to a cheating every now and then, but you gotta know how to set up compression to drive one, and they take a lot longer to set correctly.
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Post by svart on Dec 2, 2015 9:37:27 GMT -6
Adding dynamics.
Taking away dynamics.
Grit, growl.
Adding roundness.
I'm at the point where I have specific compressors I used for specific sounds, not necessarily related to their compression. Take my 2254 for example, it adds a little of the sparkle to the top and a little bump in the bottom, even when not compressing, so I use it almost exclusively on drums. The roundness of the attack/decay only adds more "drums" to the drums, if you know what I mean!
The LA2A adds a little grit to vocals, and when pushed, it can thin out a muddy midrange, even aside from the compression characteristics.
The SSL-G gets used on the master bus, slowest attack, fastest release to add some pump to make the mix feel dynamic, but without being terribly dynamic. it's more about the interaction rather than the actual dynamics.
Really the only place I use compression to reduce dynamics is on the overheads. 1176s, fast attack, release tuned to the cymbal decay to make it smooth. This just brings up the ambiance a bit to make the drums sound bigger.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Dec 2, 2015 10:03:01 GMT -6
Working at home in my living room is a challenge in many ways. Without compression, my tracks would sound much weaker and more "demo". That said, I'm not highly skilled at engineering like some of the cats here are. So, for a long time, the UAD LA2A saved my butt, I was printing too hot because I was still thinking analogue when recording digital, (man, that's been hard to let go.). The LA2A thickened vocals, (my mic was a little thin, and controlled some of the peaks).
Over time I began looking around and trying some new things. First, I found UAD's Ampex ATR-102 indispensable. It's not a compressor of course, but I often use it like one, adding just enough signal to get a little push in there. Then I use the Slate VBC plug. Now that's a different thing. I use that as a tone shifter. Just pop it on Glue mix HD, and voila, some lively energy, I then dial back how much of it in the blend knob. In a way, that's my tone machine for faux mastering, the other compressors are for peak management and low level detail.
More time passed and I added the Warm Audio WA76. I use that on direct bass to tighten it up some, and for now, a little on vocals. I've seen posts where people use an LA2A AND an 1176, but I think I'd rather just have a Sta Level or an LA2 some day on the vocal input.
My signal chain now is Dizengoff D4 preamp > WA76 > Warm EQP-1A. I mention that because the D4 and the EQP-1A use tubes, so there's some natural compression, I also just switched to the new version of the Blackspade UM-17B, and it has a bit more natural compression than the previous model, so I need even less processing now, if any, when recording vocals. I'm just breaking it in, so I don't know how that will be 100 hours from now.
I've seen some master engineers do some amazing things with compression, and I'd love to have a great engineer help me out there. When I finally get an LA2A or a Sta Level, i'll ask one of my serious engineer friends to come by and give me a hand.
Good post Tony.
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Post by mobeach on Dec 2, 2015 10:25:02 GMT -6
I use it to strengthen weak tracks and bring them up to the same level as everything else, however, I'm working on using Melodyne to achieve the same result.
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Post by tonycamphd on Dec 2, 2015 10:31:33 GMT -6
cool, specifically, one way i like to use compression is for a subtle compacting, thickening, tightening effect by setting just a low enough threshold to keep "it" in compression all of the time, fastest attack, slowest release within musical/noise floor reason, but using a very light ratio, i prefer to use a very transparent compressor with lots of control parameters for this, it's the only type of compression i'll even consider during tracking (i don't even like doing that to be honest), then i move down the line to my next compressing task in series during mixdown.
the FC526 appears to be almost the perfect tracking comp for this, I'm thinking especially with the new input/output mod?
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Post by Ward on Dec 2, 2015 10:36:28 GMT -6
I use compression for leveling in the brute force way, but also for transient shaping. For instance, had a bass part with to much hand mute thump/clack... fast attack, fast release, pulling 15db-20db through 1176 plug then ran it through La2a plug for consistency. Worked well enough... for a quick turn around tracking and delivery. Would have rather retracked but there was no time or budget. An excellent approach and one I take for vocals as well, but in reverse order. I dunno why, but it has always worked better for me to hit an LA2a or CL1b (and now the SA2a as well) to round out the program material by GR of 2-4db and then hit an 1176 to knock out any peaks that get past the optical. Working at home in my living room is a challenge in many ways. Without compression, my tracks would sound much weaker and more "demo". Another guy hits the nail on the head!! Compression is the thing that makes a recording some more 'pro' , more 'studio' and more like 'a real record'. Remember early in your careers when you couldn't figure out exactly what was missing in your work and why someone else's in a bigger studio sounded so much 'realer'? Compression was the missing link. And now we know. |
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Post by EmRR on Dec 2, 2015 10:41:52 GMT -6
When using comps to increase leading transients dynamic range relative to average content through slow attack times, overall dynamic range outside of that leading edge is still being reduced, more an AGC effect, pumping up or down depending on content. The end result can look like more overall range, but the middle of that range is brought down relative to the bottom of that overall range. Crest factor is increased, overall dynamics usually lessened. Taking a straight line and making it zigzag in tempo.
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Post by ericn on Dec 2, 2015 10:50:07 GMT -6
Compression is all about control and house keeping, can't ride every fader and can't ride consistently and fast enough, but a compressor can.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 2, 2015 11:51:11 GMT -6
I'm compressing for a few basic reasons.
Control levels/dynamics: my small studio (in my house) sees a lot of acts that are more attitude than finesse. If I have a singer screaming his face off and nailing the performance, I'm not about to say "lets conjure all of that magic again but this time more consistently and with better mic technique." Low ratio compression on the way in with automation on the track and more compression on the buss it feeds into. Also, I'm compressing a lot of busses for an overall level squeeze as stuff adds to (or drops out of) the arrangement. It's not the most glamorous way of using a compressor but the increase in usability of good performances is fantastic.
Transient manipulation: Do I want to pull the transients out further above the body of the sound? Do I want to push the transients down into the body of the sound? The answer to both is yes. When? Well, that's for the music and the sources to decide.
Sustain manipulation: A lot of times I think about 2-buss compression and background vocals this way. Vocals need to be thick and sustaining so I'm knocking down the front and timing the release to maximize the sustain. 2-buss compression is typically a combination of transient accentuation plus sustain maximization.
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Post by dandeurloo on Dec 2, 2015 16:19:32 GMT -6
I compress because I saw a EDM guy on youtube doing it. It's awesome.
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Post by chasmanian on Dec 2, 2015 18:35:43 GMT -6
- love of tone. I somehow have it in my head, that it will turn my vocal into instant Frank Sinatra.
- catch the peaks. not too good at catching them sometimes though. I like the less is more approach when tracking, and sometimes less is not enough.
- I'm fascinated and slightly obsessed with tricky mysterious things. if they are really hard to figure out, I'm even more interested. if its impossible, well then count me in. I want to solve the mystery.
I read a lot about compression on a certain purple site who's name shall nor be mentioned in polite company, back a few years ago.
if there's a subject that many people are obsessed with it, my vote is for compression.
also found it fascinating, when forum members who are professionals, have been doing it for years, and are really good at their jobs, and now teach, say things like: "for the first 5 years, I didn't understand how it worked".
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Post by Ward on Dec 3, 2015 9:09:59 GMT -6
I compress because I saw a EDM guy on youtube doing it. It's awesome. Was that "How to music really good"? That guy is awesome. |
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Post by formatcyes on Dec 3, 2015 14:04:58 GMT -6
What's a compressor?  ? |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2015 14:39:48 GMT -6
By application
Kick/Snare - usually to sharpen attacks, for levelling I use the drum leveller and I'm blown away by it
Rooms - Distortion, blow them up. All that normal jazz
Bass - Levelling it out with a 2a, never really need to tame peaks in my work
Guitars - Distorted I'm just squeezing them, usually looking to get some hair on them, half the time I won't compress it at all
Vocals - Bring low level detail forward, I love what happens to the tone of the vocal when it's compressed with a 76
Mix - Glue
To me what I love about compression is that you can bring stuff up to the front. Not just loud, for loud I can use the volume knob.
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Post by NoFilterChuck on Dec 3, 2015 16:05:57 GMT -6
I compress because I saw a EDM guy on youtube doing it. It's awesome. This so needs to be on a T-Shirt. |
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Post by Guitar on Dec 4, 2015 8:54:12 GMT -6
Tone, muscle, loudness, motion, attack, control depending on the source or the compressor in question. The previous posts have covered the specifics pretty well already so I won't repeat. I also use limiters and tape simulation like some others have mentioned for similar effects.
To me it's 'the sound of music.' At least popular music. This stuff is meant to be blasted on home stereos at raging parties and in the car with 70 dB of road noise. So not only do you want a more narrow dynamic range, but also the attitude of the audio fighting against the gain reduction mechanisms. There are other genres I'm interested in but less experienced with where I feel like there would be a lot less compression going on, call it quiet room music.
But it's also fun to pretend to be Andy Wallace and go easy on the channel compression, and get your sound going mostly on the 2 buss dynamics. I guess I will say specifically that master bus compression is my most favorite type of compression and I have several stereo compressors devoted specifically to this task that I choose between. I feel more creative working there, and channel compression to me feels a little more utilitarian most of the time.
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Post by jazznoise on Dec 4, 2015 17:31:52 GMT -6
Almost exclusively for dynamic range control, to push instruments with lower RMS over more sustaining ones - like voice vs. electric guitar.
I rarely compress Overheads or Room mics, as if I recorded them they should have the balance I want. If I'm doing an effect, I might squish a mic, but I get tired of that sound pretty fast.
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use their compressors? Please describe with more than a 2 word answer, i look forward to learning some new tricks? One thing i know for sure, there is definitely way more than a single answer to this question.
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