how much comp/gate to use on recording?

C

coolsoundman

New member
I wrote in about how to mic up a guitar and trumpet for a mariachi ensemble. I did a test run with the group by recording some guide tracks for them to use. I used my comp/lim/gate rack and it seemed to work pretty good. how much or how would I set it up for isolation when the musicians are almost close to each other? I think i had my threshhold set at -30 db and playback sounded really good. any suggestions?
 
I'm gonna record probably starting out with four violinist. And I'll be using one mic per couple. So I'm thinking that will be like two channels. I think I'll do the same for the guitars and the accoustic bass. I just thought that using the gate would help with the isolation or some type of bleed. Please correct me if I'm doing it wrong.
 
coolsoundman said:
I'm gonna record probably starting out with four violinist. And I'll be using one mic per couple. So I'm thinking that will be like two channels. I think I'll do the same for the guitars and the accoustic bass. I just thought that using the gate would help with the isolation or some type of bleed. Please correct me if I'm doing it wrong.
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The thing to understand about gates is that they do nothing at all while your primary instrument exceeds the threshold. In other words, any bleed you have from the other instruments will still be there while the primary instrument is playing; all the gate does is mute the channel when the total signal drops below the threshold.

Is this a live performance in front of an audience? If not, I'd do what I could instead to position the players and the (hopefully cardioid) microphones to mazimize natural rejection and minimize bleed, perhaps adding some strategically-placed gobos to add isolation where needed most.

If it is live, you may not have as much flexibility there, but it sounds like you're using mostly acoustic instruments, so if you stick to the 3:1 rule or better where possible, and embrace a natural live stereo pickup where not possible, you should be pretty OK.

G.
 
the mics that I want to use are condensors, they're the ones that I use for my drum overheads. I'm just using two of them and well, I know that I would expect bleed, but I feel confused about using the compress. The room isn't really big, but how far apart should I have them? The room is like 15 - 20 feet long. And I'll be using headphones for them to hear.
 
I'd definitely not compress overheads on the way in (if at all). And most definitely positively not listen to them through headphones (except to make sure they're on). You can't hear phase relationships with cans on your ears. Gates on toms, maybe. On overheads? Never heard of it.

Spacing? Up to you. 3 feet, 20 feet - Depends on what you're looking for.
 
What you really want is physical isolation. Separate the players, use gobos, and consider the pickup pattern of the microphones. If they are cardioid, then the pick up much less from the rear so place the rear toward the instrument you don't want to hear.

As Glen said, if you have significant bleed gating can actually make things worse. Sometimes it's better to just 'let it bleed'. For example, sometimes I record rehearsals very roughly with a live vocal mic that picks up everything in the room. If you gate it then when the vocals start, the gate opens and the drum sound changes radically because all the drum room going into that mic is now in the mix and loud because it's a lead vocal. Better to just deal with it or maybe expand (lite form of gating) just a little.
 
More compression = more bleed.
coolsoundman said:
..I know that I would expect bleed, but I feel confused about using the compress.
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That's generally a real good sign post for not doing it. Compression (or any processing or that mater) should be for a specific reason and dialed in for it's best result. At tracking time one of our jobs is to do least harm. When in any doubt this usually means simplly 'staying out of the way', and keeping your options open. Less is more.
 
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