compression?

  • Thread starter Thread starter patlang12
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patlang12

patlang12

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I am mixing a friends demo. I am still a newbie and I am kind of confused on what settings to use on compression. What I am trying to do is just get the signals similar. For example on one song the drummer is pretty inconsistent when he hits his snare drum. I am trying to make all the levels similar so I can find a way to mix in the snare drum. Also I am trying to do the same thing with the bass drum. Does anybody have any settings that they could give me as a starting point? That would be a big help.
 
How are you doing this? I mean, on pc, or on other gear? If pc, what program, and plugins? I've had good luck with certain plugins evening things out. Let me know how you are doing this, and I will try and help a bit if possible.
Ed
 
It is on pc. I am using acid pro 4. I am using the compression plugin that came with it.
 
ok thanks, I will try to get my way through that. Anybody else have any suggetions were to start because I have to get this demo done asap.
 
Go here, and check out some of the plugins they have.
http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/win95/PLUGINS_VST/

I've used the buzzcomp bundle, and they seem to work pretty well. Also, you might try the Classic compressor. These are freebies, and have some presets that work well, and are easy to tweak from there. I can't tell you any particular settings to use, but try some of the presets, and see if you can fine tune from there.

Hope this helps you out.

Ed
 
patlang12 said:
Anybody else have any suggetions were to start because I have to get this demo done asap.
Click to expand...

Well, if you're in a hurry ... and ya don't know what you're doing ...

hmmm. I'd say just use a mastering-type peak limiter. Something transparent like a Waves' L-1 or L-2. You can get a lot of squashing done with one of those before you get any weird pumping or artifacts.

And they're pretty simple for a newb to figure out. If you can't get a hold of one of those, then it's all guesswork and experimentation. Just do your best for now, and don't expect wonders. It takes a while for most people to get the hang of this stuff. Especially compresson on drums. You can't reasonably expect someone to explain or walk you through something like that over the internet. :D Ain't happenin.'
 
You might soon realize that a compressor can't fix your recording. Everything about the performance is still going to be a part of the performance, no matter what you do to it.

Set a compressor to tame the peaks of both the snare and kick tracks. If you think you have a 6db difference between the hard and soft hits, set up the compressor to reduce the hardest hits by 5-6 db and see how that sounds. If you're dealing with a greater difference than 6db, you might be in trouble. You don't want a compressor working too hard.
 
I wish I could go back and rerecord the drums, but I can't because the drummer is in Italy so I have to do the best I can with the tracks I have.
 
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