Compression- what am I listening for?

[Sennheisersucks]

I know compression can help a recording sound more cohesive(or I've been told so) but what am I listening for to know whether I've overdone it or not? I'll be honest when I say I don't know a whole lot about what I'm doing, but I'm trying to learn all I can so any info on proper ways to use compression is appreciated. Right now what's at my disposal is Waves C1, if that helps anyone give me specific advice.

 

[Massive Master]

Once you notice it, it's probably too much.

I'd say that the best thing to do is to experiment with some fairly extreme settings so you know what it's doing when it's "really working" so you can better appreciate what it's doing when it's barely working.

 

[Dogman]

I'm fairly new at using compression, and doing like the Master says, using way too much to experiment, really helps. You can kill your sound, or make it nasty, and you know how. Then just back stuff off, and see what happens. Easiest way to learn. I tried using settinge I read about other people using, and they're great starting points, but learning what the numbers mean and do really does make the picture more clear.

 

[altiris]

Hey im new to compression too. Can overdoing make it sound like your in a bathroom? I guess hes asking what a to listen for. Whow can you tell if its the compression or eq or somthing else?

 

[Mikeeley]

compression is a form of dynamics processing. Compressors, noise gates, limiting, ect. are other types.
To learn how to use compression you have to fully understand what it is. Read this tutorial/guide on compression from ComputerMusic.co.uk it will teach you everything you ever needed to know about how incredible dynamics processing can be.

http://www.computermusic.co.uk/tutorial/dynamics/1.asp

 

[apl]

Here's another useful article.

 

[Dogman]

Hey im new to compression too. Can overdoing make it sound like your in a bathroom? I guess hes asking what a to listen for. Whow can you tell if its the compression or eq or somthing else?

I've never had compression make it sound like I was in the bathroom, but I have made it sound like it was recorded far away, on a really cheap tape deck. The way you'd know it was compression, was to listen to it uncompressed, and then only apply the compressor, and like Massive Master said, play around, and use some hard compression, or slow/fast attack and release times, just to see what it does. I think he was saying, there is no hard, fast rules for compression. Each song, and each track, will need to be treated differently. I'm a bad vocalist, so it takes me many tries to get something decent.
Ed

p.s. I have made it sound like shit, and that's close to bathroom, right?

 

[mattamatta]

Overly compressing somethign could make it sound like a bathroom if it had a bathroom-ey sounding room sound to it.

The reason such a thing might happen is that the quiet room sound, that wasn't as obvious before, is brought out by the compression -making the quiet parts louder and the loud parts quieter, relatively.

With enough compression even the quietest parts would be as loud as the loud parts, and so the room sound really will come out a lot more.

That could be good or bad, depending on the song, and on your room.

It's pretty common to "Squash the hell out of" a room mic on a drumset. Sometimes it's even done with intentionaly nasty sounding compressors, as it can be kinda cool of a sound.

 

[Sennheisersucks]

Thankyou

I've been reading/posting on this board for a week or so and I've been learning so much that I've been opening up my old cakewalk files just to remix things and see if I really am learning right. I guess the best way to describe my situation is that I have "swiss cheese knowledge" and you guys are filling in a lot of holes and that just makes things connect that I didn't see before. I'm glad that people are willing to share information that can both speed things up and increase the quality of my music and my understanding of exactly what it is I'm doing. I've told the guys I make music with how awesome this site is, but they don't care. It's "Whatever, Ryan. Push the buttons." I thought I could be a recording engineer, but I'm just a button pusher. Oh, and I went through all of my comp presets, as suggested, but while looking at wave samples(bass drum, high hat, guitar) they were supposed to enhance the best under a "spectrum analysis". I just found this and it shows me what's happening to the sound and the fog rolled out on this subject as soon as I started screwing with obviously bad settings. I could hear how unclear things were. What I understand is that when you overcompress things get muddy, but when you do it right you have a fuller sound and you can ease the volume. You guys give some good advice.