Sanity Check - Using Compressors

DM60

DM60

Well-known member
Just a quick check and get some feedback.

When I am mixing, I usually get the high volume out through manipulation of the source file (non-destructive editing) either with envelope control, or splitting the file and reducing the high volume source.

Once I have that track volume pretty set (first pass), then I put a compressor on the channel and do light compression, 6dB knee, attack/release according to the source per track.

When completed, then I compress at the master with soft knee, slow attach and release.

My question is, does this sound like the use of too much compression?

Just looking for different views and approaches.
 
my answer might be boring but if it sounds good to you, its killer, if it sounds shit then its probly shit
 
shouldn't you be asking yourself does the track need compression? instead of just automatically compressing it, there are cases where no compression is better
 
DM60 said:
Just a quick check and get some feedback.

When I am mixing, I usually get the high volume out through manipulation of the source file (non-destructive editing) either with envelope control, or splitting the file and reducing the high volume source.

Once I have that track volume pretty set (first pass), then I put a compressor on the channel and do light compression, 6dB knee, attack/release according to the source per track.

When completed, then I compress at the master with soft knee, slow attach and release.

My question is, does this sound like the use of too much compression?

Just looking for different views and approaches.
Click to expand...

I think that one thing stands out that fits at least in witrh my approach- and that's the pre compression gain prep.
Interestingly the furter I've gone more automation, in place of compresion.

I hardly ever prefer 'soft knee. Just another way of hearing things..
 
DM60 said:
When I am mixing, I usually get the high volume out through manipulation of the source file (non-destructive editing) either with envelope control, or splitting the file and reducing the high volume source.
Click to expand...

I do exactly the same.

I try to use as little compression as possible in my recordings. Usually use it on bass tracks and vocals but for vocals I prefer the method above.
 
One one hand, that be a good healty question..
On the other, kind'a funny in this day of declawed san simoen Rock/Pop ;)
 
Mr Clean said:
I do exactly the same.

I try to use as little compression as possible in my recordings. Usually use it on bass tracks and vocals but for vocals I prefer the method above.
Click to expand...

Thanks, glad to know what others are doing.
 
DM60 said:
Just a quick check and get some feedback.

When I am mixing, I usually get the high volume out through manipulation of the source file (non-destructive editing) either with envelope control, or splitting the file and reducing the high volume source.

Once I have that track volume pretty set (first pass), then I put a compressor on the channel and do light compression, 6dB knee, attack/release according to the source per track.

When completed, then I compress at the master with soft knee, slow attach and release.

My question is, does this sound like the use of too much compression?

Just looking for different views and approaches.
Click to expand...


I do basically the same. I tend to use the presets in REA COMP for the vocals, after automating, mainly because I don't get the whole knee/attack/release and how it affects the sound when used sparingly. I will also use REA COMP for acoustic guitars, and for bass if I was playing sloppy volume-wise.
 
I tend to use compression for the sound of the compression, rather than dynamics control.

There are also some things that I never seem to compress, distorted electric guitar, for example.

I have done the same thing you do, but I usually start with the compressor, then if something is hitting it too hard or not hard enough, I edit the dynamics of the track to make it work. Basically the opposite of the way you do it.

For vocals, I tend toward soft knee, for most other things I usually go with hard knee compression.

My gauge for "too much compression" is when the gain reduction never gets to zero and/or when something just becomes 'lifeless' sounding.
 
I love compression, the trick is to use it without noticing it in the playback, except as an improvement.

Alan.
 
Too much compression: hearing things you do not want to hear; hearing "pumping"--you'll know it when you hear it.

If the question relates to using compression at several stages, ie input, multitrack, output it's not a problem unless you overcompress in the individual cases. On tracks I use compression simply to tame the peaks, even out vocals. I might have compression on anywhere from 4-8 tracks out of 16-20. Then my master hits another compressor, not heavy, then hits the limiter.
 
DM, it really depends on the source material. Like you, I sometimes automate and add some compression to smooth things, and sometimes the track gets zilch. Sometimes compression is used to give the track more/less life (presence), or to bring up/bury an element that isn't/shouldn't be cutting through in the mix. Let your ears be your guide, and as someone pointed out - you don't have to compress anything. EQ can be a great tool to get around compressing.

There's a lot of good tutorials out there on compression methods, and you'll note there's isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.
 
Pinky said:
DM, it really depends on the source material. Like you, I sometimes automate and add some compression to smooth things, and sometimes the track gets zilch. Sometimes compression is used to give the track more/less life (presence), or to bring up/bury an element that isn't/shouldn't be cutting through in the mix. Let your ears be your guide, and as someone pointed out - you don't have to compress anything. EQ can be a great tool to get around compressing.

There's a lot of good tutorials out there on compression methods, and you'll note there's isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Yea I try to go with my ears, but making sure I wasn't fighting myself, removing one thing only to add it back it some other way.
 
DM60 said:
Just a quick check and get some feedback.

When I am mixing, I usually get the high volume out through manipulation of the source file (non-destructive editing) either with envelope control, or splitting the file and reducing the high volume source.

Once I have that track volume pretty set (first pass), then I put a compressor on the channel and do light compression, 6dB knee, attack/release according to the source per track.

When completed, then I compress at the master with soft knee, slow attach and release.

My question is, does this sound like the use of too much compression?

Just looking for different views and approaches.
Click to expand...

My point of view about this is like Chris Lord-Alge's, you can't have too much compression in a mix, only good or bad compression. Mix engineers have their personal views on how to best apply compression in a mix. The way I do it is in parallel all the way, meaning that on all sound sources in the mix I have one version always without compression anywhere at all actually (which also is the input to a lot of effects on the track), so it goes out in its original dynamic form straight out to the ears of the listener, not even going through a limiter on the mix bus. But beyond this I then in parallel do envelope optimization, two stage compression, side chaining, frequency band compression, frequency band side chaining and so on. So in my case I like to dial in the compression dry - wet ratio on each sound source using volume faders, also because I want to be able to easily automate it in different ways. BUT, this is not my only focus. A lot of my focus goes into ensuring I can put more Voltage RMS out in this way, without having a lot of distortion within that signal. So I am of the opinion that this is something you achieve mostly from efficient A/D, D/A, monitoring, meaning I want lots of clean good power into my production and out of my production and then within that find high voltage electric resonance frequencies matched towards the frequencies of the audio. So in my mixing philosophy I'm very focused into the power factor and how efficiently I'm really working with it. That in turn means I can add more "good" compression and less "bad" compression. I took this direction when I found out that there is a healing effect when the body receives high voltages. The thing about dBu is that it sits on a cumulative curvature, so a lot happens when you design your studio towards that.
 
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