Limiter/Compressor WHILE Recording?

[Gtoboy]

I'm not sure it's the mic, Bass amps tend to compress though.

I'm not saying a mic is going to compress the signal, just the act of micing up a cab means you are going to have to set the mic somewhere and the levels someway that you get a fairly complete representation without distortion of the mic diaphragm. This usual acceptable level should end up dynamic but with slightly more tamed peaks, not limited, just a practically created limitation. Lets face it, the best way to mic a cab is to move the mic around and get the best source going in.

And all mics have limitations of some kind.

 

[raybbj]

Yes, I compress on the way in for Bass, mic'd guitar amp, acoustic guitars, vocals, aux percussion, etc. I prefer using outboard gear for this rather than in the box.

 

[rob aylestone]

None of my bass amps compress the signal unless I want them to, and normally, I don’t, at any volume. We’re all individuals. I’m rather proud that as a bass player since childhood a long time ago, I don’t own a single pedal for bass.

 

[Bootleg Recording]

How do people typically apply limiting and/or compression while tracking? In this day and age where most folks record into an interface, I'm unsure how to do it. Would you have to have a separate preamp feeding a hardware compressor/limiter, which THEN feeds the recording interface?

Thanks!

You can certainly use a limiter or compressor while tracking, there are no 'rules' to this. I'd just make sure you have no more than about 3-6 dB of gain reduction at best, otherwise it'll start to sound very noticeable and maybe even squashed. Just insert one of those plugins on your track and try it. No seperate hardware needed. Which DAW are you on? All of them come stock with compressors and limiters, etc.

 

[easlern]

I often compress, eq, etc while tracking, to me it feels easier to mix in the end. And it’s nice being able to monitor a processed vocal with no/low latency.

You could just go mic->pre-amp->compressor->interface. You want a pre-amp first so the signal is line-level for the rest of the chain. Your interface (virtually all of them) has pre-amps built in, so you may not have had to think about it before. So if you’re looking to go out of the box you’ll need to invest in at least a couple pieces. (There are some exceptions that others mentioned above.)

 

[CoolCat]

Todd Rundgren many many years ago was /is a bit of a "wizard" and always embraced technology.
He made an entire album ARENA off a interface only, with a U87 vocal mic and whatever plugins and podfarms.... which was the first time I heard of anyone doing that.
His very long career has him in the big name studios earlier years, and decades upon decades of making and producing other bands using the Holy Grail gear that now costs a zillion dollars and still wont guarantee you wont need some plugins added later.

Ive been comparing a KT2A hardware on and off and on playbacks, with little compression...the kind you can see but cant hear, seems un-needed when there are really good plugins like Klanghelm or stock compressors. Im just not really hearing any big difference. I do hear some added noise floor due to adding more gear in the loop. When I do crank up the compressor on vocal or acousticguitar I can hear the squash and at the time it sounds good, but later it often sounds muddy. I also dont need a outboard limiter to prevent spikes hitting +0db, because I track -18 to -12 with -6db spikes/peaks and being DAW there isnt tape hiss to worry about from the empty tape space that offers hssssing whitenoise like crap.

like Bootleg said....too much you get the squash FX, but as I add , too little and its why even have it in the loop? to add noise floor?