compression on guitar

K

kenholz

New member
I'm having an issue when I add compression to my guitar, I get a swing in volume throughout the recording. It is not a steady level volume at all. I hear the volume lowering quite a bit on harder hits, and it just sounds all over the place. The original sounds smoother than after compression. I have a quick attack .1sec , and a slow release around 1 sec. ratio at 3:1 and threshold @ -20db
 
If it doesn't work do't use it or try a different compressor.
What compressor, what program, what guitar, what do you expect?
 
Your attack is too fast and your release is too slow.

Try a longer attack and shorter release.

Compressors are not just for controlling dynamic range. They can also be used to tailor the transient and sustain. It's a good idea to set a release that coincides with the beat of the music (a ms to bpm chart can help you find a good starting point) and then once you've got a few dB of gain reduction going, play with the attack until you get the bite you're looking for. Conversely, if you want less bite, find an attack setting that works for that.

Don't smash it, either. Cleaner guitars might require more gain reduction. Distorted guitars are naturally "compressed" because of the nature of circuit overload and therefore might require less.

I hardly ever compress guitars, anyway. I use compression on acoustic guitar quite a lot, though.

Greg_L already said it....you gotta know WHY you're compressing the guitar.

Cheers :)
 
Quick attack and long release ill give you that exact problem. The attack needs to be quick enough to catch all the stuff you want to control and the release has to be quick enough to recover by the time the next quiet part comes up.

If you want just volume smoothing, a medium attack and medium fast release would work better.
 
Quick attack and quick release will smash any of the loud parts, giving the perception that the louder hits are softer than the softer parts. Dynamics are a good thing.

You might want to back off on everything...longer attack, longer (smoother) release, higher threshold (so it's only grabbing the really loud parts), and ratio 2-3:1. Another thing I've done a few times that seems to work for me is compress once like I just described to get the loudest parts down...then a second time with a slightly lower threshold to grab some of the loud but less loud parts as well.

Most electric don't need much if any compression, acoustics usually only need a bit as well. but that's just my way of doing it...there are a million other great ways too.
 
I tend not to compress guitars that much. VERY rarely electric. I did a session a couple of months back for the guitar solo, mainly because the playing wasn't even in volume and compressing it evened it out. But never rhythm tracks. Haven't recorded enough acoustic, but even if I did compress it, it wouldn't be very hard.
 
I've found that forcing consistant guitar volume using compression makes it sound really shitty.

So, as far as dynamics go, practice keeping your levels consistant. Don't hit certain strings too hard, etc.

From there you can use a little compression. If you are recording distorted guitar, don't use any. Distortion IS compression. So you'll just end up with a fuzzy mess. Although multiband compressors on electric guitars can sometimes make them sound good, but as a general rule of thumb, i do like a 3.5:1 on cleans and maybe just a 1.5:1 on distortion.
 
+1 for not using compression on electrics.

If you look at the waveform of heavily distorted guitars you'll find they look very similar to a compressed track anyway - this is what distortion does.

I tend to use volume automation as much as possible with only very gentle compression to take care of anything else popping out
 
Great advice in this thread :)

another thing with compression on guitar set right the "thacka thacka" alternate picking slapping of the plectrum can be enhanced,i love the percussive tone from it :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top