Compressor for Live Recording

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Woody Blake

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Greetings, all. I'm hoping for some suggestions about compressors suitable for my live recording situation - both on the use of compressors and which ones are best for what I need. I record my 5-piece acoustic Latin jazz band (grand piano, sax/flute, vocals, hand percussion, electric bass) at home in my living room through a Mackie mixing board direct to a Tascam CD recorder. Two things I'd like to do is protect against overloads of the CD (top priority), and add some unifying warmth and ambience to the group sound. I imagine I'd be compressing the whole mix rather than individual channels.

Based on what I've read from previous threads here, the compressors that stand out are the RNC, the ART tube VLA, and the Behringer composer (tube version?).

The idea of tube circuits to add warmth sounds appealing, but I have no experience with these devices. Users of them please comment. Thanks.
 
Have you checked out The FatMan by HHB. I think it goes for around 450.00 US.It's a stereo tube compressor with some nice presets as well as manual control.Seems to add alot of warmth.

Good Luck
 
I use the ART Pro VLA but I've never used it to compress a room of musicians with it(only two people at a time) It's a hybrid, the output amplification stage is tube and the gain stage is opto-electrical cell. All compressors color the signal depending on the quality, compressor type, and how much compression you apply. VCA type, and Variable-Mu, Opto, FET. They all have their uses but I don't have enough experience to recommend one for your needs. If you can find a really knowledgable salesman/engineer in your city, ask them for some advice. The local guy at the music superstore doesn't have a clue many times. Sometimes they do but that's rare in my experiences. The February Electronic Musician magazine has a great article on compressors.

The ART 212 Pro VLA is pretty easy to use but the manual could be even better. It sounds great, much better quality than other tube equipment I've used, but it also costs more. About $500 new. You probably wouldn't compress much with a live group but just use it to limit. Ratio of 10:1 I'm happy with it. I think tube stuff goes great with digital recording.
 
Assuming you just want to protect from "overs" and not necessarily to squash all the dynamic range out of your sound,rather than compress the entire mix,put the compressor on an aux send and only compress those channels that give you problems with wide variations in the signal level (probably vocals and woodwinds).
I know you want your CDs as hot as possible,but its not a crime to take advantage of all that headroom and avoid crowding 0 dB at the master bus.As you have understood,the results of an over completely spoil the take.

Tom
 
Compressor/limiter

On the compressor topic, especially the Fatman by HHB... i have seen that advertised in mags and think it can do this... here's my problem:

I'm recording a rock song that has lots of vocal inflections, and i need something that stops my voice from peaking out the WAV I'm recording into Samplitude 2496. Will a compressor/limiter allow me to sing at whatever level i need to without peaking?

- Railer
 
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