i got a "phase" noise when i use a compressor on aux1 and aux2 onmy mixer

[earworm]

ok, i've been wondering about this since a few months,

so i got a mixing desc with 3 auxiliaries, for the moment i only use
AUX 1 and AUX 2

i got aux1 send and aux2 send connected to the inputs of my compressor (tc electronic triple c stereo compressor)
and then i got the two outputs of the compressor routet to the aux1+2 INputs of my mixer

is this the correct connection ? i assume it is, i can put compression on each channel, but but but

i hear some sort of PHASE sound when i give me lots of aux-compression

for example,; i got my kickdrum on channel 1
now, do i only have to give it some AUX 1 (left channel of the compressor)
or do i also have to give it some of the AUX 2 (right channel of comp)

or don't i need to connect my mixer to the TWO inputs of my compressor ?
is one in and output enough ?


same question for "a stereo channel" , that is Two mono channels i mean,
so i can put some of AUX 1 on channel 1 and some of AUX 2 on channel 2 , right ?

but not AUX1 on channel 1 AND two ?

these things still are a bit unclear to me,
any comments are welcome !!

cheers,
earworm (trying to make my drumkit sound fat...)

[dirtythermos]

You want to use the compressor on the channel inserts, not the aux sends.

[TexRoadkill]

What you are hearing is probably the latency caused by the digital compressor. You don't notice it until you mix it in with the dry signal (like you are doing). The proper way to use a compressor is on the inserts like DT suggested. That way you completely replace the dry signal with the processed version. You will only be able to process one mono or stereo track at a time unless the Triple C is 'Dual Mono'.

[earworm]

ok thanx alot,
so right now i got five active channels: one drumkit

and i want a gate AND compression on each channel

so what should i give priority ? the compressor or the gate ?
i mean, i only got ONE insert on each channel,
so what i wanted to do is:

connect my gate to the insert of my channel, and then i put compression on an AUX................so i'm gonna look for another way to do it......

maybe its better to put the gate in the insert, and the connect the compressor directly to the gate , and let that signal go back to the insert,

so i got like TWO processors hanging on my insert,
or is this something f*cked up to do ?

and i assume you should first use the gate, and secondly comes the compressor;... thats what i think is logical...

[TexRoadkill]

Gate first like you said. It's also fine to chain the gate then compressor. When you are limited on hardware compressors you might try tracking with compression so you don't need so many channels of it when you have to mixdown. With an analog mix it's not unusual to need 8 or more channels of compression and gating.

[dirtythermos]

If you are short on compressors, you could try putting all the drums on a subgroup and inserting the compressor on the subgroup.

There are some caveats with this method, though. With several channels running into a compressed subgroup, changing the level of an individual channel is adding compression to that channel rather than volume.

[earworm]

great, did some tests today, and i'm starting to like the results,
so i got 4 mics (sm57's) connected to my 4 channel gate,
all that goes into 4 preamps of my mixer,
and then i got two compressors, and they are connected to the inserts of the channels

question about those compressors: one of them is a Mono compressor, fine,
the other one is a STEREO compressor, and not a dual mono one,

so i did this: i panned the kick to the left, snare to the right,
and thats how the signal also goes INTO the compressor and Goes out of it again ...

is that a fucked up thing to do , cause i assume the compression is set on one "stereo audio stream" , so if the left signal gets much louder, then the right signal will receive lots of (unnecessary) compression ?

it does sound kinda OK .. this is my temporary solution , i'm waiting for another dual-band compressor to arrive, then i'll be safe for a while

so;.... any comments on that "stereo compressing" thing i'm trying to do with two different mono channels ?

i know joemeek sais "if it sounds right, it is right",
but hell;... i just wanna know your 2 cents

[Farview]

Why do you need to compress this stuff in the first place? You are right, the stereo compressor will react the same on both channels, so when something gets loud on the right, it turns down both. That isn't a great situation for kick and snare. The other thing is that you will have a hard time with the threshold because of the way the signal is summed in the detector circuit.

And one more thing, you don't normally plug the mic into the gate, you plug the mic into the board, comeout of the insert, into the gate, out of the gate, into the compressor, out of the compressor, back to the insert.

don't put the compressors on the auxes any more.

[earworm]

farview, awesome man, you just anserewed a bunch of questions i had since a year or so ! i kept on messing and messing around, and now at least i kinda know how to deal with it .

and true, i shouldn't put compression on just everything,
right now i'm recording my tomms without compression and it works fine,
but i just can have a much better KICK sound with compression
i"m working real hard on my recording skills and i'm improving real fast thanx to you guys, i hope you all realize how important you are to me !!

naw...another thing about auxiliaries, so these 'things' are only meant for real FX like reverb and delay ? i used to use them as extra outputs, but i nomore do that since i finally got a mixer with busses and inserts
..so lets say that i wanna put some reverb on my Snare,
whats the best way to do it ?

turn the AUX send and AUX return 100% open,
and then give a little bit of reverb with my aux1 rotary fader on the snare-channel ? or should i put all the aux sends/returns and the aux1 'volume' to about 50% and never to the maximum amount ?

orrrrr.... is it even better to let the AUX return go to an extra channel so you can tweak the EQ of the wet reverb channel ? (sounds like a nice option but i'm affraid of phasing problems...)


and one additional question: whats the difference between the volume of the LINE inputs and the XLR inputs, i think i read that the XLR inputs are 6 db louder... but my memory is vague;.. or is there no real difference ?


regards,
earworm

[Farview]

Originally Posted by earworm

but i just can have a much better KICK sound with compression

You can still compress it later.

Originally Posted by earworm

..so lets say that i wanna put some reverb on my Snare,
whats the best way to do it ?

Put the aux send level (the one in the master section of the board) at 50% and turn the send on the channel up until you are getting a level on the reverbs meters. Remember, with a drum sound the transient (peak) level will be much higher than the meters say because the meters aren't (normally) fast enough to catch them. so -10 is fine. (if you see any red lights, back off)
Now take the aux return and turn it up until you hear as much reverb as you want. You can bring the reverb back into channels on the board if you want. You will only get phasing problems if you don't have the reverb mix at 100% wet. (you should set all fx going through the auxes this way)

Originally Posted by earworm

and one additional question: whats the difference between the volume of the LINE inputs and the XLR inputs, i think i read that the XLR inputs are 6 db louder... but my memory is vague;.. or is there no real difference ?

The difference is that the xlrs are hooked to the mic pre and the line ins are not. you should hook mics up xlr and line level stuff to the line input.

[earworm]

great,
talking to you is better than reading a book