How to use compression?
- Thread starter olsian
- Start date
Hey olsian - I dl'd your tune and I'll try to review it later today.
On your compression question... There are a ton of good articles that teach the mechanics of each parameter and what they do. Google and read some of them. After that, the best thing you can do is practice using it. It's a bit like teaching someone how to ride a bike over the internet - you can only make so much progress reading stuff.
Having said that, here is how I might start out practicing... I remember for me it was tough to understand how the attack and release parameters affected different sound sources. For example: compressing a snare drum and compressing a vocal are usually really different things. The snare drum has a quick attack and decay, whereas a vocal has a comparative slower attack and decay. The attack and release settings will likely impact those sound sources in very different ways. Just an example.
My point is: practice - and practice on different types of sounds.
On your compression question... There are a ton of good articles that teach the mechanics of each parameter and what they do. Google and read some of them. After that, the best thing you can do is practice using it. It's a bit like teaching someone how to ride a bike over the internet - you can only make so much progress reading stuff.
Having said that, here is how I might start out practicing... I remember for me it was tough to understand how the attack and release parameters affected different sound sources. For example: compressing a snare drum and compressing a vocal are usually really different things. The snare drum has a quick attack and decay, whereas a vocal has a comparative slower attack and decay. The attack and release settings will likely impact those sound sources in very different ways. Just an example.
My point is: practice - and practice on different types of sounds.
I thought your singing was good. The vocal recording was ok. I assume the rest was midi?
The only thing that stuck out to me was that the vocal was having a little trouble sitting with the synths. They're both taking up a lot of space in the 200hz - 1Khz range.
The patch for the solo synth was a bit cheap sounding.
The only thing that stuck out to me was that the vocal was having a little trouble sitting with the synths. They're both taking up a lot of space in the 200hz - 1Khz range.
The patch for the solo synth was a bit cheap sounding.
This is a good point. I heard it as things occupying the same frequency range. But I think this is more likely the culprit. Everything is trying to be the center of attention.
GONZO-X
Well-known member
A GOOD WAY to use compression,
is incrementally.
meaning, a little here, a little there..
there's two ways of looking at compression.
1, 'going in', meaning, applying compression of the source before it goes into your daw.
this means outboard compression.
2, 'after the fact', which means that something that has already been converted from an analog signal to a wav file, gets compression.
after the fact.
compression can be used as signal level control,
or used for 'color' of the sound itself.
it can be used to gently shape a signal,
or beat the ever loving daylight out of it.
and everything in between.
no one can teach you how to get good at telling the difference, or exactly how to use it for every kind of signal you will ever grab,
but there are tons of 'guides' to help you along.
when you talk about overall song level,
you are getting into another area of mixing, and that has to do with how you sum your tracks at your mixer,
and whether you process them to get more gain out of the overall level or not.
as a beginner, i just would not even worry about that, until you get the basics down first,
and with theses kinds of questions, it's obvious you are just getting started.
MASTERING......
the next question.
is incrementally.
meaning, a little here, a little there..
there's two ways of looking at compression.
1, 'going in', meaning, applying compression of the source before it goes into your daw.
this means outboard compression.
2, 'after the fact', which means that something that has already been converted from an analog signal to a wav file, gets compression.
after the fact.
compression can be used as signal level control,
or used for 'color' of the sound itself.
it can be used to gently shape a signal,
or beat the ever loving daylight out of it.
and everything in between.
no one can teach you how to get good at telling the difference, or exactly how to use it for every kind of signal you will ever grab,
but there are tons of 'guides' to help you along.
when you talk about overall song level,
you are getting into another area of mixing, and that has to do with how you sum your tracks at your mixer,
and whether you process them to get more gain out of the overall level or not.
as a beginner, i just would not even worry about that, until you get the basics down first,
and with theses kinds of questions, it's obvious you are just getting started.
MASTERING......
the next question.