I love compression. Too much?

[blkdog7]

I find that I am adding compression to every track I record. It just makes the tracks come alive after I do. Is this wrong? Should I not be adding compression to every vocal, bass, guitar, and drum (loop) track?

Am I totally doing this wrong?

[cusebassman]

I think it follows the old axiom that what sounds good is good - no matter how you got there.

Of course, "good" is very subjective - if you think it sounds great but 20 other people say "There's this weird pumping sound" or "Man - there's too much compression on this!", then maybe you did, indeed, use too much.

Post your stuff in the MP3 Clinic - they'll tear it to pieces, and definitely let you know

[mixsit]

Originally Posted by blkdog7

...Am I totally doing this wrong?

Not if your doing it right.

[lucky13]

There are two major issues with using too much compression. First, compression raises your noise floor, so when you use a lot of compression on a lot of different tracks, you're also adding a lot of noise to your mix. The other downfall of using too much compression is that it takes away all of your dynamic range. I like a song that has room to breathe, and move within the mix, too much compression can kill that and make the soft parts of a song just as loud as the louder parts, and I think that that difference adds a lot of character to a song.

Here's a youtube video that shows you this so you can hear what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

Also, here's a really good article on the downfalls of overcompression........

http://spectrum.ieee.org/aug07/5429

I haven't heard any of your songs, so I don't know if your overcompressing, but watch the video and read the article and you'll be able to tell......cusebassman hit it on the head when he said if it sounds good it is good, that's the golden rule of recording.

[blkdog7]

Originally Posted by cusebassman

I think it follows the old axiom that what sounds good is good - no matter how you got there.

Of course, "good" is very subjective - if you think it sounds great but 20 other people say "There's this weird pumping sound" or "Man - there's too much compression on this!", then maybe you did, indeed, use too much.

Post your stuff in the MP3 Clinic - they'll tear it to pieces, and definitely let you know

Here's a recent song (rough mix) that has compression on nearly all the tracks (about 24 tracks). Pumping??

http://zerocommit.com/files/music/8-...ss_8-27-07.mp3

and here are two more:

http://zerocommit.com/files/music/8-...lt_8-27-07.mp3
http://zerocommit.com/files/music/8-...ut_8-27-07.mp3

[mixsit]

When I click on these it loads a new page but no mp3 or player. Is that problem on my end?

[blkdog7]

Originally Posted by mixsit

When I click on these it loads a new page but no mp3 or player. Is that problem on my end?

Those are direct links to the mp3 files. Perhaps try right clicking on the links and doing a "Save As" and then play them in your mp3 player on your computer.

[MessianicDreams]

Not quite sure why this is in the PT forum...




But basically if you and other people think it sounds great, then you;re doing it right. I use compression on most tracks too, mostly for fairly transparent dynamics taming, other times to shape the envelope of the sound quite dramatically...


but hey, if it sounds good who gives a shit how you did it?

[blkdog7]

Originally Posted by MessianicDreams

Not quite sure why this is in the PT forum...




But basically if you and other people think it sounds great, then you;re doing it right. I use compression on most tracks too, mostly for fairly transparent dynamics taming, other times to shape the envelope of the sound quite dramatically...


but hey, if it sounds good who gives a shit how you did it?

It's in the Pro Tools form cause I am doing this in PRO TOOLS. :P

[MessianicDreams]

Originally Posted by blkdog7

It's in the Pro Tools form cause I am doing this in PRO TOOLS. :P

Fair enough




But compression IS compression, whether PT, Cubase or whatever...





But i'm just raggin' on ya

[ssscientist]

Originally Posted by blkdog7

Here's a recent song (rough mix) that has compression on nearly all the tracks (about 24 tracks). Pumping??

Sounds solid to me.

But I'm a compression fan too.

That 'bringing up the noise floor' thing someone mentioned is pretty much a thing of the past. Analog systems had enough inherent noise that if you raised it on every track pretty soon you had a problem, but not in the digital age.

Your mix doesn't sound like the way I would attack the same tracks but it is a valid approach and I don't hear any noise or distracting levels of pumping.

That 'if it sounds good it is good' phrase has been attributed to British producer Joe Meek, and is one of the recording bromides that is very hard to disagree with. And your tracks sound good.


.

I'll echo what the scientist said.

[charger]

They sound good to me. That first track, what is that percussion instrument beating out eight notes, a triangle? That kind of annoys me after a while. But everything else sounds good. I'm not hearing overcompression. Some mix issues, maybe a little much bass, maybe it gets a little muddled in the chorus, but nothing egregious that I would blame on compression.

BTW since it's a PT forum, whats compressors are you using?

[blkdog7]

Originally Posted by charger

They sound good to me. That first track, what is that percussion instrument beating out eight notes, a triangle? That kind of annoys me after a while. But everything else sounds good. I'm not hearing overcompression. Some mix issues, maybe a little much bass, maybe it gets a little muddled in the chorus, but nothing egregious that I would blame on compression.

BTW since it's a PT forum, whats compressors are you using?

I'm using the compressor that came with my Mbox 2. I forget the name of it. It's one of the generic Digidesign ones. It's like D-something.

[mojew]

I didn't read any of the other responses so maybe someone has already touched on this. As long as you aren't overdoing it with the actual amount of compression and know what you're doing as far as attack and release, I think its fine to compress everything as long as you think it sounds good.

I run sonar and I have an instance on VC64 vintage channel on EVERY track and most of my busses. All my track channels are comping at least a little (sometimes a lot!) and usually the busses just have a tiny bit of compression to clean things up a bit.