New to Compression...Opinions/Ideas??

T

TheMajorMiller

New member
I posted last week about compressors, thanks to everyone that responded. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. I ended up buying a used Symetrix dual compressor (400 series I believe??). My next question is usage...

I was mainly looking into compression for drum recording. Here's where your opinions come into play...

Should I use the compressor on the overheads, which already sound damn good in my opinion, or should I use them on the kick and snare mics, both of which, without eq'ing, pick up a significant about of bleed from the rest of the kit...???

I know, given my description it would seem to be obvious as to how I should utilize my new gear, but I'm always open to suggestions.

Thanks again, everyone.

P.S. - Is anyone gonna be at the TapeOp conference this year??
 
Well sir,
I run comp on kick n snare only. Never felt the need to comp my OH's but you may. And on the bleed...What I do, is, after the track is recorded, I go into the kick track and edit out everything that's not a kick. Same thing on the snare. Just remember to leave a little room at the end of each beat to keep your decay.
Course, you could just use a gate... :D

Just my 2 c.................
 
well, as a rule of thumb, you put compressors on every instrument that has ALOT of bass in it,
like kick, bass, snare, vocals

i don't compress overheads,
but i got compressors on every other part of my drumkit,

tell me, you like that symetrix machine? i'm trying to find a "not too expensive" 502 (dual channel version of 501) just to see what it sounds like,

i've used DBX166, 166a, 166XL, joemeek vc8, symetrix 528, tc electronic triple c, behringer autocom(puke :mad: ) and a samson scom (boo) on Kick and snare (all budget machines),
and None of them sounded as impressive as the DBX163x compressor!
you wanna hear a comp work? wow, get one of those old'n'cheap machines, i love them ! only TWO buttons per channel so nothing's easier to use,
i highly recommend getting a pair of those!

now, what i wonder is, these 163x rock on kick and snare,
in general md421's rock on toms, but what compressor is impressive on toms (together with md421s) ? isn't there some sort of standard that lots and lots of people use for toms? i'm selling a few of my machines to get me a little upgrade,just wonder what i could get...maybe its time to test my first RNC then...
 
you said that you already had significant bleed. compression generally tends to bring bleed up in a track, and take the main instrument back. be careful!!
 
I use light compression at time to help tame snare drum if its too loud and inconsistant. I dont mind having the bleed necessarily but if its not consistant it just sounds like crap. So a light 2:1 just getting the snare attacks usually helps a bit on that. Its just hard to get it to not effect cymbals so much.

Danny
 
ill use comps on my overheads only if i use no tom mics. it can bring out the toms and make the whole kit feel more even. gotta be carefull though, attack and release take some practice to keep the cymbals from pumping. in regards to the bleed... who cares if you get snare/kick/toms ni your oh. that oh bleed is what makes the drums suond like a whole, single instrument. get all the mics on a drumset to work together to paint a proper image of the drums, drummer and room. start isolating every part too much and often youll get a sterile and unenergetic drum sound.
 
If the playing is inconistant and thats why he need compression on kick and snare its also going to show up in overheads if theirs alot of bleed in it. It sound extremely weird to me when the close mic is kept down while an inconsistant blast of snare drum comes out in the overheads. It doesnt just change volume but also tone characteristics.

But yes on the other hand compression on the overheads will also bring a little more presence to the bleed. But thats why i said use it lightly and try to just snag the peaks of the snare. Usually snare is louder than the cymbals (which is too loud anyway in my opinion) so a soft compression really helps it fit in with the close mic a little better.

Danny
 
I may be more thick skulled than most, but it took getting that UAD-1 card for me to really start understanding how compression works. The 1176 simulation is pretty great. I can hear it working. The goal is to get it set so that it's doing it's thing, without the listener being able to tell there's a compressor working (audible pumping, etc.) For some reason, this one just seems so much more simple to use than the Waves compressors for example (I'm not Waves bashing here - if you like, then good for you).

So, my point: it really took a lot of messing around with various compressors before I found one that I like and understand. It's all about hearing what it's doing, and tweaking the knobs so that the compression "curve" yields a natural result. Takes lots of experimentation. It helps to think of the challenge as a game at first.
 
a good way of heaing your comps and comparing them while keeping the original track clean is to use the buss inserts. bring a track of vox over to all your busses and insert a diff comp on each bus. you can then listen how all the comps color the original and find the one that sounds best. ill also do this alot as a side chain when mixing down, blending the colored comp tone in with the original. alot of times this can smooth many things out yet retain the the true dynamic of the source.

and id like to agree that when your really hearing the comp, theres a good chance your over using it and coudl end up doing some really wierd pumping or breathing. this is why i tend to comp only in mixdown. keeps me from getting in trouble.
 
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