Good/Bad Compressor Tone

[lcjones]

Alright, I'm totally about the conversation here. I know squat but believe me when I say my intentions are pure in getting the best/most out of the gear I have. I've got a ton of questions but I need to formulate them. I'll just do one for now.

I've read, re-read and about to read everything again. I don't yet understand what all has been said and of course the pieces of equipment mentioned are way over my head.... at the moment I didn't know what an LA2A was! Thanks guys.

The first thing I did was go start looking up distressors. OK then, step back two and punt. That's out of my league for now.

Super, you said you try to get your mix "before" it goes "in" and have to EQ things to fix it. This is exactly what I want to be able to do. Again, this is for me and my music. The reason I want to do and learn things this way is I feel the music itself (and me) doesn't get bogged down with a boatload of plugins that become unwieldy. And frankly, I think it sounds better. I know plugins can do many wonderful things, that's just not where I want to go.

My question then, re: the way you mix, and if I'm asking the question correctly, are you configuring all your compression, EQ, effects prior to actually recording? I understand that different tracks, instruments, vocals are all going to require their own bit of configuring and tweaking. So, do you do test recordings for configuring your hardware with a musician before you start on a particular track?

Thanks again guys for all of this information and advice.

LC

PS: I did listen to "Green Magic". Loved it!

 

[Supercreep]

My question then, re: the way you mix, and if I'm asking the question correctly, are you configuring all your compression, EQ, effects prior to actually recording? I understand that different tracks, instruments, vocals are all going to require their own bit of configuring and tweaking. So, do you do test recordings for configuring your hardware with a musician before you start on a particular track?

It's pretty much just EQ, and I try and stay away from it altogether. I have to imagine the song when it's complete so that the parts that go in all fit together in the right way. If what I need is a thin sound, I'll record a thin sound. If what I need is a fat bottomy sound, I'll try and record that.

EQ just for the sake of it just seems wrong to me.

I try to get my guitars sounding how I want them to sound, including effects, and then record that. So I'm not scooping this and boosting that and cutting this, and instead I'm recording bits and pieces and trying to leave room for things to breathe. I add stuff as I go and try to get a pretty "flat fader" baseline to start mixing with.

Other effects, like compressors and timed delays and reverbs, when you're not sure they are going to work like you thought, are better for me to add later since I record in a single room and it's convenient to audition them while mixing. Sometimes I still have to EQ, but then it's because I fucked up. And on that note, I do definitely recommend that you audition sounds before you commit to them. That is how you are going to learn what works and why.

I'm just a dilettante and a hobbyist and there's scads of people here that get better sounds than I do. I don't want to come off like I think I know what I'm talking about or have amazing gear or anything - just a few years ago I was lurking here too, and using SM-58s for overheads. I've got a few key pieces that do lots of heavy lifting.

Once you get your hands on some gear you can experiment with you'll get the hang of it quickly. The trick is getting something that can make musical sounds when you tweak on it.

Careful of the cheap stuff. Buy cheap, buy twice. There's good stuff out there on a budget, though, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you put together a collection of tools that work for you.

 

[acidrock]

Read up on UADs and give them serious consideration.Their compressor emulations are as good if not better than anything out there. You won't have to commit until mixdown time plus you can get multiple instances.

 

[PMST]

Those starter settings are not my own words, that's from notes I've collected from god knows where. If I would write on bass fx, I would add that phaser, and sometimes even distortion (which I tend to like), and sometimes even bad distortion could be employed successfully with basses. But I've often, very often, read - and found out for myself - that reverb seldom is an ideal solution for basses - it's so easy to "mud up" the lower freq range of a song. You mentioned that you put reverb on everything, and therefore basses should have it too. Aren't you now talking about that general subtle mastering reverb that the entire mix can benefit from? Or you might be talking about very, *very* short reverb on the bass track itself, possibly, I don't know.

yes, I was talking about a short reverb on bass. and if you apply a high pass filter, you get easily rid of the mud...