Waves Renaissance Compressor - Help!

jimmybupbup

New member
Please help! I'm wondering if anyone out there can supply some general settings/advice regarding the Waves Renaissance Compressor?

I'm recording songs in ProTools 6.0 consisting mainly of plucky electric guitars, bass, and drumloop tracks. Everything sounds great through my monitors and headphones, but when I burn it on cd and play it in the car, the drums sound awful (way too bass-y) and the general level of everything is still too low. (Even though the levels are totally peaking in ProTools). I realize now that it's a compression issue, but I can't hear any difference when adjusting the various controls on the compressor, and it all sounds great to begin with at that stage (before I take it to the car), so I'm not sure where to begin.

Any general advice regarding:
1. How much room I should allow for Compressor-Gain in the final mix?
2. General Renaissance Compressor settings for a drumloop track, bass track, guitar track, etc? (and final mix track)
3. Anything else you can offer to enlighten a frustrated beginner about getting a more professional sound?

Any feedback will be GREATLY appreciated!!!!!
Thank you!
 
the Rcomp should have some good presets for you to start with.. choose a preset and just bring up the gain lever until the light flickers back and forth from red to orange. It shouldn't clip because of the limiter, and it should make the levels more than loud enough..

some of the other things you mentioned could be either monitor issues or something your doing in P.T.

I know nothing about pro tools, but I have a few waves effects that I use in sonar.. Mainly just to make my mixes louder and some e.q. stuff for music that was recorded on a stand alone..
 
a mix that's too bassy isn't a compression issue at all. it's an overall mix balance issue.
it tells us that your monitoring chain or room is likely lacking severely in bass response.
 
i know... i was just responding to the other part of the question, since i figured you had the levels covered :)


p.s. - look into hard limiting for a loud mix, rather than compression.
 
Worry about getting it to sound good before you worry about getting it loud, don't even bother to try to get it as loud as recent commercial releases because you cant, at least not without severely degrading your sound.
 
yeah, I did sound like a prick.. sorry..



They say the Rcomp has an 'L1 style limiter.' You can push it a bit without hearing any side effects or clipping.. Of course if you have the L1 or L2, that will get you a loud mix without any side effects.. (for the most part)
 
No presets found

Thanks! I'm not finding any presets within my RComp! Do I have to load them from somewhere else? (I have the Renaissance Native Collection - R-Compressor, EQ, and R-Verb) Shouldn't they just be there?
 
hmmm.. I have the Renaissance collection and all the effects have presets.. here's a few of them in the Rcomp..

Drums - type ARC - Attack 4.0 - Release 199 - Ratio 4.01 Don't mess with the threshold until you figure stuff out a bit, but raise the gain until the light blinks between red and orange. As mentioned, this won't fix for your bass problems, but it will make things louder, and shouldn't clip due to the limiter...

electric guitar - Attack 20.0 - Release 20.0 - ratio 4.01

bass guitar - type Manual/smooth - attack 50.1 - Release 50.2 - Ratio 4.01

vocal - attack 5.02 - release 50.2 - Ratio 2.49

these are just a few.. maybe check out the Waves site for something to download, or even call them.. I have.

I'll type out more later if you can't find anything, or check the manual that came with it.


once again though, this will only make your mixes louder, not better.. In fact, it's quite possible you can make them worse.. If the tracking was bad, it will show even more if it's loud as hell..


BTW, I don't know much so I can't answer any questions.. I just responded because I have the Rcomp.. (renaissance collection and the native power pack)
 
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