Do I need compression on these mixes?

[RPM]

Hi there; I have a home recording setup, but I don't have a compression program for final mixing on the PC. I have some songs on mp3.com (see link below...the songs that would be most in need of compression, if any, would be "For Heather..." and "All My Life"), and I was wondering if you felt that they would sound better if I had compressed the final mix. If so, what program would you recommend for PC? Thanks!

Rick M.
http://www.mp3.com/RickMarciniec

[Emeric]

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/147/rick_marciniec.html


Think it sounds fine. If anything, maybe a light compression on the vocals, maybe a touch of a de-esser. Although, I listened the lo-fi versions so it could be an encoder thing.

Nice songs.

[strmkr]

hey rpm,i really enjoyed your songs.i don't know what you are using to record on,but if you want some good compression and other neat tools,i highly reccomend sound forge.it has a cool 4 band multi band compressor in it that works pretty well,has de-esseng presets etc. for vocal tracks and some good normalisation options.i downloaded "for heather"(beautiful song)and converted it to a wave file.it sounded really good,though i thought your lead vocal could be just a pinch louder.i put it in sound forge and knocked some of the hard spikes off,widened the stereo image a little and normalised it to -16 db rms,which compressed the peaks a little and made it a little louder,but not a whole lot,the change was pretty gentle,which is what you want with your type of music.if you like,send me an email and give me your address and i'll send it back and see if you like it,or tell me to go get a day job and quit screwing up your music,lol....peace

[Edited by strmkr on 08-30-2000 at 13:22]

[RPM]

strmkr: Thanks for the compliment! I appreciate it. I'm going to get a cable modem pretty soon (couple days or so), and after that time I'll send you my email. I'd really like to hear what you've done with "For Heather". The compression step is one that I've left out of all of my mixes so far, and I'd like to see how much of a difference it makes. Thanks for doing that! Rick

Emeric: Thanks for the compliment! Rick

[strmkr]

i hope i have been able to make it better,hell,i may have made it worse,lol,.i just hope the mp3 conversion doesn't color it up too much.i really don't know a lot about mp3 encoders and which is the best etc. yet because i have been buried in cd production lately.i tried to keep the changes a subtle as possible because the music is very pure as it is.til next time.......peace