1 software Compressor Bussed to all vocals?

[WIZDUM]

How do y'all feel about 1 compressor Bussed to all of the Vocal tracks in a mix (No Instruments)? Is it better to put an individual compressor on each vocal track's insert or does it matter at all?

 

[Ford Van]

How do y'all feel about 1 compressor Bussed to all of the Vocal tracks in a mix (No Instruments)? Is it better to put an individual compressor on each vocal track's insert or does it matter at all?

Two different things altogether. Each has a place in production.

 

[WIZDUM]

Two different things altogether. Each has a place in production.

Can you elaborate?

 

[danny.guitar]

You would think each vocal track would need different compression settings, but if they all sound good going through that compressor bus, then why not?

 

[xstatic]

Individual channel compression is used for shaping the dynamic and/or tone of an individual channel. Bussing them all to a group to be compressed at once is often referred to as "gluing" things together. It has a very different effect and when done properly can really help a group of channels sound more like 1 big sound rather than a conglomeration of seperate sounds. Sorry if that does not make sense, but I can not seem to put eloquent words right now with how it works.

 

[WIZDUM]

Thanks fellaz...guess I'll just try both...and whatever sounds best to me...

 

[Ford Van]

Thanks fellaz...guess I'll just try both...and whatever sounds best to me...

That was more or less what I was getting at.

 

[WIZDUM]

That was more or less what I was getting at.

Koole man....I was just wunderin if I shouldn't do it for some reason or another.

 

[Robert D]

Interesting, I've never compressed a sub bus of vocs. I'm guessing some compression on the individual vocals first might be called for, followed by group compression? I'll have to give that a try sometime.

 

[xstatic]

I would try that next time BEFORE you comp any individual vocals. You might be surprised at how cool it can be. Mostly though it will give you a good exaggerated feel for the difference between channel and buss compression and how it affects your final sound. This way you may have a better idea of how or when to use it to your maximum advantage

 

[WIZDUM]

Yeah...actually the reason I asked in the first place is because I did it on my last mix...sounded good and solid, actually better to me than individual compression inserts...but I was just wunderin if anyone else was doing it this way.

 

[peopleperson]

It'll save on your CPU as well. I like to comp grouped vocals based on the song sections, it helps to give them some seperation. Like verse vocals as opposed to bridge vocals or what have you.

 

[Gilliland]

Compression lowers the level of a signal on a moment-to-moment basis. So if you have, say, three vocalists bussed to one compressor, whenever any one of those vocalists becomes loud, all three of the voices will be lowered. That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

I generally find that compressing all of the vocals together works best if I've already compressed each of them individually. That tends to mitigate the undesirable aspects of this effect, preventing any one vocalist from drowning out the others.

I also find that compression is least visible when it is applied in layers anyway. Instead of setting one compressor for a 12 peak reduction, set two compressors for 6db each - using different ratios and thresholds so that the effect is less noticeable. I tend to use very low ratios anyway.

 

[brendandwyer]

I would try that next time BEFORE you comp any individual vocals. You might be surprised at how cool it can be. Mostly though it will give you a good exaggerated feel for the difference between channel and buss compression and how it affects your final sound. This way you may have a better idea of how or when to use it to your maximum advantage

i use a group compressor on vocals if i'm doing say an "ooo" part or "ahhh" part, where there might be three tracks yet they should sound as one.