compression standards

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oz_fenda

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Hi, I am soon to record a 4 piece band and understand that compression is a big part in todays recording. Although I don't own the best gear (I'm a student and can't afford better) I use a Behringer 1202FX mixer going into the line in of my onboard soundcard. I am using Adobe Audition 2.0 .
To cut to the chase, I have played around with compression a little on vocals, (there is a song in which the singer is relative quiet and then hits a sustained high soaring note resembling a yell/scream).
Do I compress the whole vocal track or just the loud dynamic bits?
Also (sorry to be a pain but I don't know where to start), are their any 'standard' compression ratio's for certain instruments etc, and at what levels should I compress? I'm not too sure on how to use the output gain. I'm assuming it is used to increase volume after a track is compressed? Is it standard procedure to use a at least a little bit of this gain?
Sorry again for the numerous noob questions, but from what I'v read compression can be a make or break factor on recordings and I don't want to ruin it.....
And the limiter? I thought that's what compression is supposed to do? I'm so confused right now :(
Thankyou so much in advance for any replies, I appreciate any help I can get.

Matt
 
I too, would like a link or something to a an introduction to compression.
 
You need to keep on playing with it, that's the only way you'll get it.

You shouldn't need to compress only a part of a track, when the level is below the threshold the material isn't being compressed anyway.

You're absolutely right about the output gain, that's why you''ll see it described as 'make-up gain' on some units. You're making up for any volume that's been lost due to compression.

Simply, limiting is compression with a very high threshold which is used for catching peaks in the audio rather than for dynamic 'shaping'.

Here's a decent article on compression:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/apr96/compression.html

There's even a table at the end with useful compressor settings but you must understand that these are only a rough guide, starting points if you will. There are really no magic settings for specific sources.

It's good to read up a bit and gain an understanding of the theoretical side of compression but you'll only really understand it if you spend a lot of time playing with compressors on different sources. You need to train your ears to an extent, when I first started learning about compression I couldn't even hear the effect (other than with very extreme settings).

It's a very useful tool if you're able to use it properly though.
 
thanks, great article......I really feel like i've learnt a whole lot!
thanks again, cheers!
 
Good read, Short, Sweet, and to the point, the way it ought to be.
 
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