always compression?

  • Thread starter Thread starter laiben
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laiben

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why always compression?

compression while recording, compression on mixing,
compression on the whole mix while mastering.....


when is the compression needed?

I know compression while recording maybe needed
because we sing some words loud and some words soft,
we pick the guitar strings without uniform force.....

but why compression is needed in mixing and mastering if I already compress my song/tracks when recording?

thx
 
The rule I go by is "compress when needed". The hard part is determining when its needed, and what settings to use.

A reason to compress the final mix would be to make the overall mix louder. Just like when you sing some tones are louder than others so you may compress to get a more level performance, well when you mix, some sounds can jump out the same way. I find that when I mix, even if I where to over compress individual tracks, different sounds and their frequencies combining at certain points in the song causes peaks in my mix. So If I think its needed, I compress the overall mix to get a more level performance. I try to look at how I'm eq'ing before I look to compress.
 
laiben said:
why always compression?
Click to expand...
It's NEVER "always compression." It's ALWAYS "compress only when needed" (as eclips1 pointed out.)


when is the compression needed?
Click to expand...
Only when there are dynamics that you want to keep under control... if a track's level is too inconsistent and it doesn't behave in the mix, you compress the track as little as needed to tame the peaks.

On a mix, since you were being minimalist on any track compression, it is conceivable that there are some uncontrolled dynamics that you still want to tame, so you apply a *small* amount of compression to level it a little.

See some excellent articles here --->
http://www.Geocities.com/Shailat2000/

Bruce
 
Voxvendor hates mix compression.... (Although succumbs to peer pressure and does it for his clients):)
Just compress whats needed.....(pretty much same as Bruce said)
 
True...A technique I picked up, is to heavily compress my kick drum( like 10:1 ratio, threshold set to taste) using a slow attack w/ a fast release. This really puts a punch in my kick, or any fast attacking instrument I want to punch harder.
 
Tekker said:
You can also use compression as an effect
Click to expand...
True, but from the tone of the original post, it doesn't sound like he was even at the stage of thinking about compression as an effect....

I think once you learn how (and when!) to use compression to tame dynamics, only then can you think about compression-abuse for effect!

:)

Bruce
 
Hi,

Thx eclips1 does answer my question. I understand
what compression does but I don't realise that combine the tracks will create some peaks even individual tracks are compressed. eclips1's post told me how stupid I was.

I've only try to use compression as an effect on my guitar. I have a Boss CS-1 ( 20 years old...), the guitar
sound come out of it is very... unnatural! With dist/OD
the sound is okay but very dull with clear guitar sound.

Thanks all of you~
 
May be a matter of learning to adjust the parameters on the compressor...Playing with distortion/OD gives a natural compression so it may got be needed then, unless you are going for a sustain type effect.....
 
There are just two knobs on my Boss CS-1 and it is easy
to try all the settings from it. None suit my taste, maybe
compressor with guitar just not my cup of tea. Or maybe
my Boss sounds so bad...
 
Ok, so its as simple as turning off the compressor when playing clean...one thing to keep in mind is to ask yourself why you are putting a particular effect in your sound chain....when you step on that distortion pedal, you know why....you know the sound you are after and you get it....ask yourself what it is about your clean sound that you need the compressor....if it is to even out your playing for recording, give it a crack without it..take the compressor completely out...that "dull" sound you are describing may be the "squashed" sound of overcompression...
 
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