Compressor?

[dansted]

Is a compressor only for vocals or should it also be used for guitar, drums, bass etc?

There are so many compressors on the net, it's hard to choose one, so what should I look for in a compressor? Which is the best on the market in the price range of about 350$ ?

 

[Mart[1001]]

No...you use a compressor for any instrument depending on wether it needs compressing or not. You also use a compressor on the entire mix, again, depending on wether you need to or not.

My advice is, forget buying a compressor until you know and understand what it is and how to use it. Only then will you know in you own mind what you want from a compressor and only then, should you start looking to buy.

Untill then...you should consider downloading a free vst compressor and learning the art of compression. There are loads of free ones available but here is a link of 5 decent ones.
http://www.spacenoah.com/musicsoftware/bestfreevstaudiocompressors.htm

I recommend the blockfish, the pc-2 and the reacomp but my favourite from that list is the modern compressor, mostly because it looks and feels like an hardware compressor which I feel can help when learning. It has the general layout of a real compressor and it doesn't sound too bad either.

Hope this helps...

Mart.

 

[Cobi-Wan]

I would recommend searching the mixing forums for a thread explaining how compression works and what its uses are, then you might be able to get a better idea of what you want/need for your own specific recording purposes.

 

[witzendoz]

Is a compressor only for vocals or should it also be used for guitar, drums, bass etc?


If you are asking this question you are not ready to use or buy a compressor yet. Read books, magazines and posts on this fourm, and when you know what it is you want and what it is used for then you will know what to buy.

A compressor in the wrong hands will screw the sound up just like the when graphic equalizers where put into hi fi systems for joe public to use.

Cheers

Alan