What does a compressor do? Will it help my quality?

[Canibus]

I currently got a usb interface which acts as my soundcard. The M-Audio Fast Track Pro. I also got the audio technica 2020. I just about got enough for the joe meek 3. what exactly does it do and will it help?

[Fieva]

The compressor basically can be used to set the amount of signal that goes into the recording. You can set it to only accept signal in between what you choose as a high or a low. This can greatly improve your quality in your vocals. The wider the range, the more amounts of signal you allow into your vocals.

[Canibus]

thanks for the help man. Would this help if im getting sounds from my room on my mic and would the joe meek be ideal

[Fieva]

Post a link of the joemeek. I use a behringer compressor in my room and it works for what I want it to do.

Looking to add a full rack of stuff as soon as I can so I might replace all my behringer stuff.

[tone_aot]

I had a behringer auto-com that i dumnly sold on ebay. I liked it but i needed cash kinda bad at the time. I miss it now. It had the best gate function that i've ever heard. The only thing, the quality coming through the compressor was not up to par with what i was hearing before the compressor compressed. All i needed was BETTER CABLES!!! Now i feel dumn and i will probably never get the same sound out of another auto-com. Is there any other hardware compressor that is pretty good with a good gate function?

[Fieva]

As far as hardware I ain't sellin shit...never know when you might wanna compare and contrast or just have backup hardware so you ain't assed out in a crucial moment.

[Canibus]

This is it
http://www.zzounds.com/item--JOETHREEQ
I heard it was good. Again, can this help with getting out noises from my room?(computer, fan)

[Fieva]

If it's that loud, I doubt it will kill it out of your mix. You might want to look at feedback reducers for that.

[Canibus]

Originally Posted by Fieva

If it's that loud, I doubt it will kill it out of your mix. You might want to look at feedback reducers for that.

well its not loud enough to even hear really when my vocals are over a beat but, itd be nice to get rid of it so i cant hear it just when im listening to my vocals by myself. I have the at2020. I was thinking of getting the Studio projects b1 with my money. I heard the sp b1 has low self noise. Is that the noise a mic picks up or the noise a mic makes?

[jibran]

FMR AUDIO RNC1773 is an excellent compressor for about two hundred bucks but it performs like something much more expensive.

[Canibus]

Can someone tell me what His Mids and Lows are and how they affect vocals? I googled it but I got results that werent what I was looking for

[Canibus]

also, if im looking for a mic that doesnt look pick up alot of room noise. whats the term i would be looking for on the spec sheet. would that be low self noise?

[e-dog]

What a compressor does, is, y'know how sound looks like a "wave" on the computer or whatever, a compressor takes the tall parts (amplitude) and squishes them down so that the small parts, in the center of the wave, appear bigger in comparisson. So, if you compress a song it will start to fill up the screen more.

It makes the quiet parts seem louder and the loud parts seem quieter.

This makes the whole song seem louder.

That's what a compressor does (but it also can mess up stuff).

Canibus: The better the mic the more room noise it will pick up. The best thing to do would be to quiet the room. If there's no way to make the room quieter, or move the vocals to another room that's quieter (use headphones) then a "dynamic" will pick up less room noise, but also sound quieter overall, and usually not as good.


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[e-dog]

Just looked at the Joe Meek ThreeQ...

Yeah, that looks good. It's not going to help with room noise though, it will make the signal cleaner and louder but will make the room seem louder too.

I think you're thinking of a "Gate"..
You can set it so that it turns off the sound when there's only room nosie, but then when something louder hits it, it turns on and lets ALL of the sound through... this can sound cheezy though if the backgraound beats or whatever aren't loud enough to cover the change from slient to room noise + vocal. I don't like 'em, I bought one, tested it, then never used it.

The Joe Meek doesn't have that though.

The Hi and Mid and Low is an "equalizer" which the Joe meek DOES have.

It's treble and bass controls, mid is in the middle.

Low makes the lows like the bass and drums sound louder... Hi makes the high-pitched stuff sound louder (like female vocals, hi-hats)... Mid will make different stuff in the middle sound louder (deep male voice, snare).

Hope that helps.

You REALLY should move you computer someplace else, or whaterver you're micing, making the room quiet is WAY better for your sound.

Before you buy the Joe Meek, make sure the type of outputs match up with the type of inputs on your Fast Trak...


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[Canibus]

Originally Posted by e-dog

What a compressor does, is, y'know how sound looks like a "wave" on the computer or whatever, a compressor takes the tall parts (amplitude) and squishes them down so that the small parts, in the center of the wave, appear bigger in comparisson. So, if you compress a song it will start to fill up the screen more.

It makes the quiet parts seem louder and the loud parts seem quieter.

This makes the whole song seem louder.

That's what a compressor does (but it also can mess up stuff).

Canibus: The better the mic the more room noise it will pick up. The best thing to do would be to quiet the room. If there's no way to make the room quieter, or move the vocals to another room that's quieter (use headphones) then a "dynamic" will pick up less room noise, but also sound quieter overall, and usually not as good.


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thanks for the info

[Canibus]

Originally Posted by e-dog

Just looked at the Joe Meek ThreeQ...

Yeah, that looks good. It's not going to help with room noise though, it will make the signal cleaner and louder but will make the room seem louder too.

I think you're thinking of a "Gate"..
You can set it so that it turns off the sound when there's only room nosie, but then when something louder hits it, it turns on and lets ALL of the sound through... this can sound cheezy though if the backgraound beats or whatever aren't loud enough to cover the change from slient to room noise + vocal. I don't like 'em, I bought one, tested it, then never used it.

The Joe Meek doesn't have that though.

The Hi and Mid and Low is an "equalizer" which the Joe meek DOES have.

It's treble and bass controls, mid is in the middle.

Low makes the lows like the bass and drums sound louder... Hi makes the high-pitched stuff sound louder (like female vocals, hi-hats)... Mid will make different stuff in the middle sound louder (deep male voice, snare).

Hope that helps.

You REALLY should move you computer someplace else, or whaterver you're micing, making the room quiet is WAY better for your sound.

Before you buy the Joe Meek, make sure the type of outputs match up with the type of inputs on your Fast Trak...


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thanks for dumbing it down for me. I think Im just going to get an extra long xlr cable so i can place my mic as far away from my pc as possible.

[Fieva]

Originally Posted by e-dog

What a compressor does, is, y'know how sound looks like a "wave" on the computer or whatever, a compressor takes the tall parts (amplitude) and squishes them down so that the small parts, in the center of the wave, appear bigger in comparisson. So, if you compress a song it will start to fill up the screen more.

It makes the quiet parts seem louder and the loud parts seem quieter.

This makes the whole song seem louder.

That's what a compressor does (but it also can mess up stuff).

Canibus: The better the mic the more room noise it will pick up. The best thing to do would be to quiet the room. If there's no way to make the room quieter, or move the vocals to another room that's quieter (use headphones) then a "dynamic" will pick up less room noise, but also sound quieter overall, and usually not as good.


.

You summed that up nicely.

[Change of POETS]

Wow, there's a ton of misinformation in this thread...

Come on folks, this is simple "recording 101" type of junk.

To eliminate the noise from your fan, or room ambience, you need a noise reduction tool. Cool Edit/Adobe Audition has one of the best I've ever used. You could also use a hardware Noise Gate but, due to ambient sound in your recording room, and frequency changes based on the vocals being tracked, it won't work nearly as well as you need.

A compressor processes the dynamics of the vocal. This is wrong:

It makes the quiet parts seem louder and the loud parts seem quieter.

This makes the whole song seem louder.

Can it make the whole song seem louder? Sure, based on your gain settings in the compressor, it can. A compressor does make the loud parts quieter, it doesn't make the low parts louder. It simply gives you some control over the dynamics of the vocal. This is usually to compensate for poor mic technique in singers. For Hip-Hop, it's to control the dynamics as Hip-Hop vocalists often place harsh emphasis on words, rhyme patterns, etc... Use of a compressor will bring those levels into a respectable range ensuring a more quality mix.

Will acompressor help your quality? No, not at all. It won't eliminate noise or room ambience, and it won't increase the quality of your signal chain. It's a tool to control dynamics of the signal being tracked.

Come on people... don't give out false information. If you don't know, just say you don't know. Don't try to explain something you're not familiar with.

[SecondHeartbeat]

Originally Posted by Canibus

thanks for dumbing it down for me. I think Im just going to get an extra long xlr cable so i can place my mic as far away from my pc as possible.

is it true that the longer cable you have, you tend to get signal loss?

[BeatsBuY]

e-dog & Change of POETS said it best earlier...

I'm going to give you the history of the compressor. When recording and tv was just starting with audio, they needed a way to keep the audio signal constant and at a good level. So, a person would sit near the volume knob and when they new the level would be low or high, he would turn it up or down. Years later, they made harware that would do it automatically. The "Compressor".

A compressor does just what it's title is, compresses the audio signal. You can set the "ratio", which means the amount of compression you want. And "threshold", means the point where you want the compressor to start compressing.

Try this to get an idea. Draw a line on a sheet of paper left to right. Next, draw a waveform in the center of the line left to right. Let's say the line is the "threshold". Right now, it compresses all of the audio signal from low to high. Now, draw a new line just at the highest peak of the waveform. Now, you moved your "threshold" to the highest peak. Which means the compessor will only activate when when the audio reaches that highest peak. Anything below that peak will not get compressed.

Now a compressor will not make your quality of your recording better. That all depends on the quality of your mic and preamp. A compressor will help you have more control of your audio signal and keep it at a constant level...

In terms of the room noise from your mic. I would not recommed noise reduction. First fix you problem. You want the cleanest signal recorded. Find a room without fans, computer and noise from your hardware. Also, windows are bad. The thing with noise reduction is it takes out frequencies like hiss. Now, it will mosly take out the hiss, but if the hiss is really loud, it will downgrade your audio signal you want to keep. Yes, it will clean it up some what. But, it takes time to do all that. You have to clean up each vocal you record. And then you are downgrading you signal. Always try to fix the problem from the start. It will save you time and upgrade your sound quality at the same time.

[Trumpspade]

Originally Posted by BeatsBuY

Now a compressor will not make your quality of your recording better. That all depends on the quality of your mic and preamp. A compressor will help you have more control of your audio signal and keep it at a constant level...

I must say that kind of summed it up!

[e-dog]

Originally Posted by SecondHeartbeat

is it true that the longer cable you have, you tend to get signal loss?

You will always get signal loss any time the signal goes ANY distance. BUT with cables the amount depends on the type.

For 1/4 inch MONO cables signal loss and noise can start at 12-15 feet.

If you're using a balanced output AND input (XLR, TRS) you can use VERY VERY long cables without any NOTICABLE noise or signal loss.

It depends on a lot of different stuff, but that's the general rule.

XLR cables (if balalnced) 25-30 feet shouldn't really be a problem, in most cases.

To be safe, I usually keep my mono 1/4 cbles at less than 10ft and my XLRs at less than 20ft. But in certain situations, depending on the equipment and signal, XLRs can be 100s of feet long.

Also, the quality of the cable can make a big difference, cheap store brand cables usually aren't any good.


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[BeatsBuY]

Yes, XLR is the way to go...

[tone_aot]

You explained it really good Beatsbuy. Compression can be hard to fully grasp when you first start messing with it. After using it and experimenting, you will find what you do like and what you don't like. I really miss my compressor. I know everybody hates behringer, but i had a behringer auto-com mdx 1400. I really liked being able to jack up the input and slap the gate and enhancer on. When i did that, it sounded loud and extremely dry. I could get a really good sound out of the unit but i switched cables and didn't realize that. All i had to do is just use the other cables. I want that fmr rnc. It's too high for me tho. If i could just find another mdx 1400, i'd be happy. They're discontinued tho. Dumn move on my part.

[BeatsBuY]

You could try getting a used mdx 1400 on craiglist...