Help With Compressor

[RD423]

I do mainly Rap and R & B vocals and I have a Joemeek VC6Q compressor with a AKG C 2000 mic running into a Tascam us 428 but my question is what is good settings to set the Compressor, Attack, Slope, and Release knobs to that way everything will come out the same loudness in other words I don't want one part of the vocal wave louder than the other

[tubesrawsom]

play with it till u get the sound u like
there are no defualt settings when using a compresser

[Paul Robison]

RD423,

Like tubesrawsom said, there are no "default settings" but here is a starting point:

attack: fast, all the way left
release: slow, all the way right
slope: highest setting
threshold: all the way right

That should be full compression.

Optical compressors are very sensitive to how hard they are driven. Crank the gain up as much as you can without causing distortion, and lower the output. You can smash the hell out of vocals and they will still sound pretty good. Use your ears!

Paul Robison

TFPro USA

[RD423]

Thanks I will try that

[Richard Monroe]

God, I wouldn't use a Joemeek that way, but that's just me. I agree with a fast attack and a slow release, as the Joemeek compressor is a bit on the slow side. I would choose more conservative, softer compression, especially when tracking, say 3:1 (probably 5:1 for rap) and a slope of about 3. The settings listed above are like using a gravestone for a lounge chair.-Richie

[Phosphene]

The compressor on my 737 is an opto-compressor, I believe. Besides being a bit slower than a "non-opto" (what are other types called?), what are the main differences in them. I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I figure I'd ask since it was mentioned.

To elaborate on what's been said about settings, the RNC manual actually says to start with all knobs at 12 o'clock and go from there. I think it's more of a listening thing. I believe that numbers on audio pieces dial are almost a security blanket thing. I first heard that from Fletcher, about using your ears instead of using numbers on a dial that may sway your judgemet. Yea, it's nice to know where you're at on the dial , but if all numbers were stripped, then we would be forced to develop our ears more. Now, I am nowhere near that point of critical listening skills, and I use my numbers, but I am trying to develop my ears.

To counter my above statements, reference points are nice too~!

BTW, slope is ratio?

[Ethan Winer]

RD,

> what is good settings to set the Compressor, Attack, Slope, and Release knobs <

I'm not familiar with that particular compressor, but you'll probably find my compression tutorial useful. It's 8th in the list on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

--Ethan

[biotek]

^^^ ETHAN!!!!! dood!! i found you on the web and i'm using your design for bass traps in my studio!!!! haha this is messed up!!

[Paul Robison]

Originally Posted by Richard Monroe

God, I wouldn't use a Joemeek that way, but that's just me. I agree with a fast attack and a slow release, as the Joemeek compressor is a bit on the slow side. I would choose more conservative, softer compression, especially when tracking, say 3:1 (probably 5:1 for rap) and a slope of about 3. The settings listed above are like using a gravestone for a lounge chair.-Richie

Holy Guacamole !!! I didn't mean to use a compressor set up like that. Those settings are FULL compression (a starting point). You should be able to hear the "effect". Then back off compression and slope until it starts sounding good. Going back and reading my post, I wasn't very clear.

[Phosphene]

you mean thats not good?

[Richard Monroe]

What you described is how to use the optocompressor as a limiter. I would work from the other direction. Start with the compression ratio at 1:1, the attack as high as possible, the release as fast as possible, and the threshold (slope) at maximum, and turn it on. Guess what? Even though the compressor (theoretically) is doing *nothing* at these settings, you will hear the effect of the optocompressor being used solely as a filter, in other words, a tone shaping device, rather than a dynamic control. If you do this with, say, an RNC, there will be virtually no change, but a Joemeek compressor is a whole different animal.
Then set the attack much faster, and the release longer. Set a moderate slope, say 3, and begin to increase compression. I think you will learn more by slowly squashing the signal than you will by starting with a signal that's already crushed out of existence. In tracking, compression is something I use when I have to. I have on many occasions, used the Joemeek compressor just as a filter, as I described in the beginning. The settings I gave you in my first post above are settings that have been found to be OK for tracking a dynamic vocalist.-Richie

[Phosphene]

Can you descibe how the Meek changed the sound?

[Richard Monroe]

It adds subtle distortion, not unlike a tube mic.-Richie