Compressor Question

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bajanboi

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I've been recording for about 6 months....

vocals never sounded the way i wanted them too untill today...the main thing i changed on my compressor (dbx160a) is the makeup gain. Online ive read that your supposed turn up the makeup gain incrementally based on how much gain reduction you have....well today i put the makeup gain at -5 and have a much better sound.

Does anyone else notice this?
 
I've read some posts here about some compressor settings, and have had the best luck, and sound with some makeup gain.

Seems to make the vocal much more like I thought it should sound. More full.
Ed
 
The makeupgain is just a way to boost level, or volume if you prefer that term. So all you did was raise the signal a few dB's. How would that give you a better sound? Louder, yes of course. But better? Nope, it's still the same.
 
Stefan, if I compress something properly, does it lower some of the high db stuff that I am trying to get rid of, and also boost the lower db stuff, to make the sound wave a bit more even, or am I really misunderstanding what I am doing? I've only used a compressor plugin on my pc, and haven't used it much, so am just experimenting with some stuff I've read about here on the board. I'm sure my interpretation of a better sound is the fact I've gotten rid of some of the uneveness in my singing, so am able to make it sit better in the mix. Could this be my interpretation?
Thanks.
Ed
 
When I played with compression I found the more I raised the threshold (or is that lowered?) and raised the compression ratio (for my voice I use 5:1) i found I had to increase the Gain to make up for a lower signal coming out of the compressor.

By raising the Threshold and reducing the ratio (to say 2:1) and i found there was more signal coming out so i didn't need to boost the makeup gain.

The main controls I'm not sure about are 'attack' and 'release'. Release never seems to make much difference on my experiements with my voice, and having too fast an attack always seems to make the voice sound 'false' somehow (like obviously compressed), so I tend to leave both alone set up at 12 o'clock the default setting.

But yes, makeup gain is just a volume booster to make up for lost volume due to the use of compression, that is as I understand it and I'm no expert.
 
Good answers in here, but here's mine:



The purpose of compression mainly came from the desire to control dynamic range. You only have so much dynamic range to work with in a song, so you tend to use the compressor to give each track it's own slot on the overall dynamic range of the song.

However, good compression is compression that can't be picked up by the average listener. You have to be careful not to squash a vocal when compressing. Unless you're on Trent's vibe (NIN) and want it as an effect.


usually a ratio from the 3-5:1 does just fine for vocals. The only thing you change is your threshhold. Make up gain really dosn't do anything magic. All it does is add in the signal level you took away when compressing. So if it's reducing by 6db, then you add about 5-6db back.
 
bajanboi said:
I've been recording for about 6 months....

vocals never sounded the way i wanted them too untill today...the main thing i changed on my compressor (dbx160a) is the makeup gain. Online ive read that your supposed turn up the makeup gain incrementally based on how much gain reduction you have....well today i put the makeup gain at -5 and have a much better sound.

Does anyone else notice this?
Click to expand...


Dude...

are you saying you used the makeup gain to Lower the volume?

If this is the case....
try flipping the button on the back of your dbx from +4 to -10.
 
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