compression? when? why?

[gitrokr]

ok-so lets say, im going to do a drum track, and i know im going to need compression on the bass and snare, and everything else, but yea. do you record through, lets say an rnc or any compressor, then from the compressor into the DAW/soundcard. or-do you juz record in to the daw, then when mixing, send the signal back through the compressor and in again?

 

[Massive Master]

A general rule would be that if you're tracking with a compressor, use it more as a peak limiter. That way, if you need to compress during the mix, you have a clean, dynamic signal to work with (only with somewhat flattened peaks). If you run with more "traditional" settings, you're pretty much stuck with it, as going that route twice almost always ends up with pumping and otherwise weird artifacts.

So, unless you have a specific reason for it, save it for the mixdown.

 

[gitrokr]

and at mixdown, i would send the signal to the compressor from a channel out, then from the compressor to the channel in???

thanks