What's the point of mixing a compressed signal?

[frist44]

I've heard people talk about, say for example a stereo drum group, mixing in a compressed signal with the uncompressed stereo tracks. I know people do it with vox too.

What's the advantage of mixing the two, why wouldn't you just compress the tracks however much you want rather than leaving the uncompressed signal with a partially mixed compressed signal?

Thanks,
Brandon

[Shailat]

Sometimes you'll want a more controlled and bigger signal, as well as tighter but not over compressed. Think in layers.
You get an alive uncompressed dynamic signal with healthier freq content together with a layer of - big - controlled- tight.

[doulos]

this is so simple it hurts sometimes it represses the dynamics of the vocal without compromising feel as far as the drums thing goes its like this ever hear somone tell you to mic a guitar cone off axis and a lil off angle we dont know why but do it and listen it just sounds better so nah!

[Shailat]

Originally posted by doulos
its like this ever hear somone tell you to mic a guitar cone off axis and a lil off angle we dont know why

Off axis mic on a amp tends to "crystalize" the sound on a clean (no distortion) sound (ala funky) while still containing sharpness and attack. Better done with a condenser then a dynamic..

Now u know

[Gidge]

http://www.recordinginstitute.com/R2KREQ/excomp.htm

[Slackmaster2K]

Originally posted by doulos
this is so simple it hurts sometimes it represses the dynamics of the vocal without compromising feel as far as the drums thing goes its like this ever hear somone tell you to mic a guitar cone off axis and a lil off angle we dont know why but do it and listen it just sounds better so nah!

theres a little something called punctuation that makes it easier for others to understand what you are trying to convey to them it is after all just as much your responsibility to maintain your half of the communcation process dont you think well if not maybe you should think about it some more take for instance what i am saying to you at this very moment is it easy to understand are you enjoying it seriously are you do i sound well informed and educated if you say yes then you will be demonstrating your age or at the very least mental capacity i know it sounds harsh but really man you must try to see how your lack of punctuation and formatting is really damaging to your opinions themselves nobody since 1985 has thought that typing without punctuation is clever its like people who type in RaNdoM cAPitaLs a fad which ended before it even began for most of us theres even this one guy at another board that i wont even mention who types with an accent and frankly it just makes me want to strangle someone i realize by your post count and previous posts that you are hell bound determined to make your mark on us all by not using commas and periods and well i guess that is your choice but just think for a moment about how it seems to others not because the man is coming down on you or anything but simply because it is very hard to understand what you are trying to say its not that you dont know any words because obviously you are capable of spelling some of them its the other half of the language you are leaving out that is so frustrating it actually makes more work for the person who is trying to read your post i understand that you are trying to be an individual but your method results in self degredation and in the long run is helpful to no one and i know thats not what you want because you do try to help people ive read many of your replies and they are all pretty sound and i also know that you yourself know just how irritating the lack of punctuation is because you always keep your posts short to make up for it can you imagine if you had more to say what if somebody wants you to clarify something youd end up with something that looks a lot like this post i am writing to you which is obviously very difficult to read im sorry for being such a dick but ive been holding my tongue about this for some time now which doesnt make it any less dickish but still i felt the need to say it look we all just want to get along around here and learn things from eachother imagine if we all decided to stop punctuating how much would you learn well it would be about as much as we can learn from you if you continue to post in this manner here are some examples from other members who have responded to your posts example number one I think that you might be on to something here, but I don't quite understand what you wrote. Could you please say that in an other way example number two ehhhhhhhh which language was that example number three recent catastrophes have wiped out all capitalization and punctuation in alabama haha yeah it is kind of funny but at the same time an indication that you are not being heard the way you would probably like to be and if you dont want to be heard the fact that you enjoy posting in a public forum is a mental contridiction that should be addressed by a licensed psychotherapist there are really a lot of great new medications on the market today that can help people with chronic self hatred disorders haha well you must know i kid i kid you seem like an ok chap and i am just having a little bit of fun with you but seriously i do mean what i say so just think about it ok i promise that nobody will laugh if you start to use periods and commas in fact ive noticed in a few posts that you have been using question marks and on occasion the enter key hey man thats great just keep it up and we are all here to support you

Anyhow, thanks for listening man.

Slackmaster 2000

[moskus]

You need help!

Man, it took forever to read that bit. But then again that was your point, right?

[doulos]

My age or IQ has nothing to do with my inability to use proper grammar. The main fact is while everyone else was in school
studying English I was off to one electronic competition or another. I honest went through all of high school without taking a single lit course. which makes me look stupid IM sure but IM gonna try and send all my post through word pad and see if that
helps.

[doulos]

and btw slackmaster i just got done down loading your txt/mp3
tutorial on drum mic placment great stuff, but not enough of what i need. I'm having a heck of a time getting seperation from my kick and my bass, and i have a full cd worth to deal with do you by any chance know of any good articals strickly on that topic?

[TexRoadkill]

The first victom of heavy compression is usually clarity. That is because compression can kill the attack of a sound and take away the transients leaving you with a duller sound. When you mix in the original sound you can get the best of both worlds.

The best way to understand it is just to try it. Bring up your raw drums then gradually bring up the compressed submix and see how it thickens it up.