Compression confusion. .

[franiel]

Compression confusion. .

i'm using music studio 7 to do most of my bands recording and whatever. The program has a compressor, refered to as dynamics. It looks like a normal rack mounted piece of equipment. It has the usual controls; Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, and Gain. The trouble is there are no markings on around the nobs to say what level of ratio, or whatever. I may be trying to compress some vocals 5:1 (for example), but have to use guesswork when trying to do so.

I'm actually trying to compress the final mix but i am not sure what settings to apply. (Also i know some people dissaprove of compressing at that stage but, yes i'd like advice to try it out. At the moment i'm a bit lost on the compressor. . .)

 

[ryanlikestorock]

I think you're lucky not to have the numbers marked on the knobs. This forces you to set the compressor with your ears and not with your eyes. So many times, I'll set to a particular number because it's there.

Try pushing every knob to its extremes, then rolling back 'til it sounds normal. See how that works.

 

[LRosario]

Always with your ears, never with your eyes...

You adjust something only when it sounds right, not when it looks right. One setting won't usually work the same everytime.


Light compression is alright, but not usually nessessary since it will be compressed through other mediums.

 

[boingoman]

Light compression is alright, but not usually nessessary since it will be compressed through other mediums.

Uhhh, I agree with the first part of your post, but this part seems to make no sense. What does "compressed through other mediums" mean?

 

[LRosario]

Lets say you have a song ready for mass production, you have to consider a few general truths:

For radio play, songs are further compressed because of the nature of that medium. It'll just end up sounding bad.

So if your song is heavily compressed, it may sound fine as is, but won't be presentable in a professional manner for other mediums.


Example:

When we work on music to be used for movies, which may end up on DVD, or on some television program; it ends up further compressed to meet the requirements of the medium it's passing through.