compression...arg

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guitarfrk99

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i am pretty new at recording...that is iv only had my system for a short while but i v been reading about it for quite some time...i figured i knew enough that once i got my multitrack it would be all fun and games...anyway i decided to have a live recording session with my band. i went pretty smoothly and we were able to capture our original sound with not too many probs..so i decided to mix the song down and put it on a cd and give it to a freind to try and get a gig schelduled...to make a long story short during the mix (if you could even say that...remeber we went through mixers so i could not do really anything to any particular instrument other than the drums which were bused to 2 tracks on my rec and vocals which were recorded after) so i decided that putting some compression on the tracks wouldnt hurt..maybe tighten things up a bit. well i guess i did not know enough about compression because i completly ruined the song. the compresser boosted any low hums from any of the instruments to an annoying buzz, and screwed up the drums completly. the cymbals would "ring" for a split second but were then faded and the floor tom sounded a bit like a trash can. i guess i put too much on or something...i need help...give me sometips/guidlines for compression
thanks a lot (sry about the long post)
 
COmpression is a very very important at the same time dangerous processing, so take a little care when you are using it. Basically the two main stuff you have to worry about in compression is Threshold and ratio. Threshold is the point you fix in the amplitude of the audio signal from where you need the compression to kick in. Lets say the highest amplitude of your wave is -3db, if you set the threshold to -20db, anything above -20db will be processed (compressed) and anything below would remain unchanged. Now considering the "above" threshold part.....we need to know how much we are going to process. This is where we use a ratio. If you use 1:3 ratio anything above threshold will be compressed to three times smaller amplitude. Same with different ratios. So now you can go ahead and do trial and error settings to figure out which ones sound nicer and cleaner. There are so many articles about compression in this very same forum, please do a search and reaad them all.
 
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