compression on kick snare/ or overheads

[xstatic]

why the hell dyou think he'd ask if he knew?

I believe that the point I was trying to make must have eluded you.

Compression on the way in should be done for tone shaping purposes. It does not need to be there for signal level. If the level is too hot, don't just compress it....Turn It Down!

Compression should not be used just because you have a compressor either. This is doubly true if you are putting the compressor in line before going to disk or tape.

My point was that the compressor should only come out in tracking when you know you need it for a certain purpose. The question asked leads me to believe that the original poster does not have a specific need or want, otherwise the question really would not need to be asked. This means that compression should wait until mixdown. That way if he/she had an error in judgement, than all is not lost. It's just basic recording technique.

 

[Bulls Hit]

If you want to tame the clips, just back off the preamps a bit. If you're recording in 24 bit, you can leave plenty of headroom and still track a nice strong signal. Leave the compression until you mix

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Compression on the way in should be done for tone shaping purposes. It does not need to be there for signal level. If the level is too hot, don't just compress it....Turn It Down!

My point was that the compressor should only come out in tracking when you know you need it for a certain purpose. The question asked leads me to believe that the original poster does not have a specific need or want, otherwise the question really would not need to be asked. This means that compression should wait until mixdown. That way if he/she had an error in judgement, than all is not lost. It's just basic recording technique.

Cheers and bravo on the second part of the above quote. The only answer to "which should I compress" is "the ones that need compression". Ones that don't need it should not get it.

I do, though, have a couple of technical disagreements with the first paragraph in the quote:

First, while there is no hard core right and wrong on this one, IMHO "tone shaping" via compression is something that, when feasable, should be left for the mixing stage. "Tone shaping" via compression is something that I want an "undo" path on, not something that I'm stuck with once I find that the shape doesn't match as I expected once I get it in the same room as all the other tracks.

Second, you're right when you say that compression shouldn't be used during tracking if the levels are simply too hot. If the gain is too high, turn it down, don't compress it. If the levels are too dynamic, however, then a compressor is the right and only tool for the job. Just using standard volume gain on something that's too dynamic is going to bury the quiet side of the dynamics down in low-res land near the floor. One needs to compress the overly-dynamic signal to be able to tame the volume without losing the quiet stuff.

This is, in fact probably the single most solid case I can think of for using compression during tracking. One wouldn't want to over-use it, of course. But in those instances where the average dynamic range of the raw signal approaches 40dB or more or has overly-strong transients that shoot 60 or 70dB or more up, some taming of those shrews would be a good idea before it hits the converters.

Other than that, leave the compressors on the sidline until the second quarter (tracking) .

IMHO etc.

G.

 

[xstatic]

I agree in many ways with you Glenn. Let me explain my reasoning a bit more though

First, I generally mix in the box. However, I also have a rack with a Distressor, 4 DBX 165a's, 3 Spectrasonics 610's and 2 Urei LA-4's. I do have the UAD-1 card, and those compressors are nice, but none of them seem to have that sound that the real hardware has. As a result, I like to use them on the way in. When I do, there are often plenty of mics on the source (drums guitars etc...) that I could fall back on should the compressed give me any troubles later.

I agree in some ways about compressing a signal for dynamics purposes when there are 40 db variations. However, I rarely record a track like that. I tend to ltake tracks like that and break them up into segments in order to hit the converters a little harder. I do like to record a good strong signal, but never if it means I have to add something that was not necessary. Thats what I love about DAW setups. I can take a singal vocal and break it up into 3 or 4 seperate tracks without worrying about spending 3 or 4 precious tracks on an analog tape machine. What I do love the plugion compressors for is how well they do dynamic changes without seeming to affect other aspects of the tone. They seem to be more invisible than most hardware comps (especially in the under $1k range), but at the same time seem to impart less character.

Some of my approach is constantly changing as well. I just added a Universal Audio 2192 converter/clock to my chain and now I feel like I can let things get a little lower down in the converters volume without as much loss of detail, graininess etc....

I guess in the end I just feel like most dynamic control can (or at least should) be done at the musicians end. Whether it be seperate tracks, or more careful playing.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

First, I generally mix in the box. However, I also have a rack with a Distressor, 4 DBX 165a's, 3 Spectrasonics 610's and 2 Urei LA-4's. I do have the UAD-1 card, and those compressors are nice, but none of them seem to have that sound that the real hardware has. As a result, I like to use them on the way in.

And I agree with that as well. This is pretty much what was behind my use of the phrase "when feasable" (and I wonder why my mother thinks I should be a lawyer ). Unless you have really top-shelf converters in both direcions, it's definitely often more feasible IMHO to take advantage of the good iron going in than it is to create big cross-domain signal chains loops to try and use the iron during mixing. This is especially true if you know the irom well enough to get it right (or at least close enough) the first time. No arguments there.

As far as the dynamics aspect of it, I'll admit that the really wild cases are not super-common. I'm referring mostly to things like location recording or performers (be it musician or vocalist) that, as you say, just does not have the control or the technique to make the TE's job easy . In such cases, where the dynamics are themselves dynamic within the performance and not easily broken into seperate takes, that's where I'm referring to using the press to get the small stuff out of the mud.

OK, it all makes sense now.

G.