Stacking compressors, new to me

bluesfordan

Member
don't remember where I saw it, some video somewhere. using two compressors on same track. first one to trim about 3db of gain reduction, second one about the same. keep from over squishing if tried to do all the reduction in a single step.

it may be old hat to some but it is a revelation to me. I'm going back to some old tracks of mine and playing around with the concept. I've got several flavors of compressors to play with now, did ever so much last night to see if there was anything to it and I will be revisiting this again.

don't know why i resisted plugins for so long, some people just learn slow I guess.:o
 
I thought a compressor was something you needed to run air tools? No, but really, I wish somebody would tell me why I would want all these effects in the path of my signal? Keep it as raw as possible.
 
Came across this one. He's doing gain automation rides -dipping hot spots as well as lifts, into a comp, eq, vocal rider, eq, de-ess, vocal rider again, comp again..
YouTube
For the music I see the combination gain rides (pre compression) compression, then fader automation (post compressor) is usually plenty.
The more the gain rides do the less is relied on the compressor.
 
This is a lot more popular than you think. Most of the higher-end producers I know use it on a wide variety of voices. Sometimes on an instrument but mostly voices. I use it all the time.
 
Stompanoogie - If you're happy with how it sounds in the end, then just go right ahead on. Don't try to say it's a better way to do things, though. Different folks need and want different sounds.
 
I've got a pair of acoustic guitars tracks that one of the tracks there is this loud (for lack of a better word) strum that needs to be knocked down. Just that one strum. I know how to apply the compressor to the whole track but how do you isolate one spot for some extra treatment? I'm using Garage band on OSX 10.12.6
 
I often use 2 compressors on a vocal track especially a very dynamic singer, 1st one setup with a high ratio but only acting on the extreme peaks, the second riding the track with a softer ratio. The first compressor is there to stop the second compressor being smashed by the peaks and letting the whole thing sound more musical.

Alan.
 
I thought a compressor was something you needed to run air tools? No, but really, I wish somebody would tell me why I would want all these effects in the path of my signal? Keep it as raw as possible.

On the way in when recording yes, during mixing? Well yes, exactly as every mix engineer in the world would do.

Alan.
 
Stompanoogie - If you're happy with how it sounds in the end, then just go right ahead on. Don't try to say it's a better way to do things, though. Different folks need and want different sounds.

Amen to that!

Lately I've been using multiple compressors. I love playing around with the attack and release knob just to alter the tones for fun. You can really put things in odd places with combinations of different compressors.
 
I've got a pair of acoustic guitars tracks that one of the tracks there is this loud (for lack of a better word) strum that needs to be knocked down. Just that one strum. I know how to apply the compressor to the whole track but how do you isolate one spot for some extra treatment? I'm using Garage band on OSX 10.12.6
Automate the gain- before it even hits the compressor, may take care of most of it.
Or a combination of that and automation on the threshold, and on the track fader.
Between the three you have various combinations that sound different. (i.e, for the same final level, letting it hit the compressor hard is different than pulling the precompression gain down.
 
For one strum on an acoustic track, I would just cut before and after the strum, turn the strum down, and then crossfade the two cuts.

Putting a compressor on the whole track to catch one strum is a bit much.
 
Automation is not as easy if you record and mix in analog. :eatpopcorn:

Alan.

I still have my Artist's tape and fine tip felt pens fader 'automation kit' you can borrow. :)

Interesting I just tossed -finally, about a hundred pages of mixer template plot 'recall sheets documenting every mix knob eq compressor ect from back when'. ..Along with about eight cu/ft ADAT and 1/4" eight track tape reels.
 
I still have my Artist's tape and fine tip felt pens fader 'automation kit' you can borrow. :)

Interesting I just tossed -finally, about a hundred pages of mixer template plot 'recall sheets documenting every mix knob eq compressor ect from back when'. ..Along with about eight cu/ft ADAT and 1/4" eight track tape reels.

Actually I do cheat a bit, I have volume and mute automation, but not total recall (was that a film LOL) only recall of volume and mute (via 720K floppy discs :facepalm: why do I do this to myself). I used to have plot sheets, but when digital photos came along I take a digital photo of the eq, pan, aux's etc, and a photo of the outboard and patching, can recall a mix in about 30 mins. However it is still not as easy to volume automate as software.

I still rather compress in a good way rather then going through the track volume automating, I find the results sound different, not better just different. I do automate if there is a outrageous volume difference problem.

Alan.
 
You don't even have to automate. Just cut the waveform before and after and manually turn it down.

Why not just automate rather then ending up with a whole lot of short cut up wav files? Almost all software these days has volume automation.

Alan.
 
I suppose it depends on the daw or the situation. Sometimes one way works better.

In Cubase you can draw lines for gain within each cut section as if it were automation without actually having automation on the track. It more precise for me that way in most cases. But then there are other times...
 
I suppose it depends on the daw or the situation. Sometimes one way works better.

In Cubase you can draw lines for gain within each cut section as if it were automation without actually having automation on the track. It more precise for me that way in most cases. But then there are other times...
This sounds like it would be the same as 'clip automation in Sonar(? Basically gain control (pre track insert) per clip.
If the whole track is one 'clip, there can be two continuous layers of automation (clip' and 'track fader). They're separate if you split the track or it's made of a series of clip gains.
What I like about clip automation (w/o splitting) is doing gain rides, slopes, easing into or across big spikes where (I think) wouldn't necessarily good places to have a split -or gain jump'.
 
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