i have come to a conclusion

  • Thread starter Thread starter floz26
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floz26

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i will never be able to figure out how to use a compressor, so, i am going to send all my tracks through the compressor when mixing down onto my computer. can someone please give me the best settings for threshhold, ratio, attack, release, and output, for this really really dumb decision. thanks, maybe one day i will find out how to truly use one, but that is definitely not today
 
I can't tell if this is trolling or just honest to God stupidity.
 
that wornt work well man. if you really can't figure it out, just record into your computer raw and use a software compressor. Pick a preset and fiddle with the settings until you find something you like. What compressor do you have?
 
Do you fully understand what a compressor does? If you do, then you should know how to use one. They're really not that hard. I'll give it to you that I can barely tell when they're working and I probably use WAY too much compression, but that's the learning curve to it (just like reverb).
 
I just saw your other thread, man. Don't expect to get this shit down over night. I've been working on stuff for over a year and a half and I still suck.
 
You are better off not using one than using one poorly. Just get the signal into the computer uncompressed, then start messing with it.
 
What Farview said. If you don't know how to use a compressor, don't use one at all. Or at least until you have a clue as to how to do it. Compression is not something that you can just get settings for off a message board. The compressor interacts with your music, you have to be able to hear what it's doing in order to adjust it properly.

I'd suggest that you buy a couple books on the mixing audio and get familiar with the concepts that way. Apply what you learn from the book, and experiment with that.

Compression is one of those things that takes some time to get the hang of. Like years to really get to know it.
 
Outlaws said:
I can't tell if this is trolling or just honest to God stupidity.
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his post was just inexperience.....yours, though, was stupid............
 
Actually, I thought it was quite helpful.

The guy flat-out said "I don't know how to use a compressor." Then in the same breath he says something to the effect of: " . . . but I'm going to use one on every mix." :D

Someone who uses that kind of logic needs to be put in his place. For his own good. :D You just don't want people going through life with that kind of thought process. It's not healthy. Imagine if he had said he didn't know how to hold a paint brush, but he was planning on re-painting his home. What if he planned on taking up hunting, but didn't know anything about guns or gun safety? I can just see it now: "I know zilch about guns, but I plan on owning and using lots of them." Can you imagine?

I'm sure it hurt Outlaws more than it hurt Floz, who was a great sport about it. Spare the rod -- spoil the child, I say. Sometimes ya gotta' use a little tough love to get through to these kids. I wish people had been that way with me when I started out -- it wouldn't have taken me nearly as long to learn some of the things I had to learn. Kids these days . . . I tell ya.
 
chessrock said:
It's not healthy. Imagine if he had said he didn't know how to hold a paint brush, but he was planning on re-painting his home. What if he planned on taking up hunting, but didn't know how anything about guns or gun safety?QUOTE]

yeah that's me too
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Well, I suppose you could call me a hypocrite.

I have what appears to be a serious fly problem in my recording space. I have no idea where they all came from . . . but usually about this time of year, they just start springing up out of nowwhere and before you know it -- freakin' flies all over hell's half-acre.

Now I don't know anything about poisons or fly paper or strips or anything like that. But I do know how to use a rolled-up magazine. I hate to get fly guts all over my old Tapeops, but I suppose I can part with an old "Sound-on-Sound" that has some lame review on a bunch of sound cards or whatever.

Anyway, I plan on killing as many flies as possible . . . using whatever means I have at my disposal, because they are driving me nuts. And I don't care if I don't know what I'm doing.

So there goes my theory. Call me a flip-flopper. I say if you gotta' get it done, then get it done, by gosh.
 
Chessrock, it's quite possible the flies have been laying eggs. So when they seem to come from nowhere they are actually just hatching. A lot of people don't realize that when files come into your house they are often laying eggs if they are around too long. That's just another reason to kill them as quickly as possible.

As far as flyswatting with TapeOp, I too would never desecrate my copies of TapeOp that way. Besides the fact that it would be a violation of a great magazine, no way do I want to touch anything or put anything near my face that has had dead flies all over it. Yuck. I use a standard issue flyswatter, much easier to get the little buggers that way too!
 
chessrock said:
Well, I suppose you could call me a hypocrite.

I have what appears to be a serious fly problem in my recording space. I have no idea where they all came from . . . but usually about this time of year, they just start springing up out of nowwhere and before you know it -- freakin' flies all over hell's half-acre.

Now I don't know anything about poisons or fly paper or strips or anything like that. But I do know how to use a rolled-up magazine. I hate to get fly guts all over my old Tapeops, but I suppose I can part with an old "Sound-on-Sound" that has some lame review on a bunch of sound cards or whatever.

Anyway, I plan on killing as many flies as possible . . . using whatever means I have at my disposal, because they are driving me nuts. And I don't care if I don't know what I'm doing.

So there goes my theory. Call me a flip-flopper. I say if you gotta' get it done, then get it done, by gosh.
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IMHO LDC mics make better fly-swatters than SDCs. It also depends on what pre-amp you are using too. If you are indeed squishing flies, at this point in time, then the post is relevent to compressors in an odd kind'a way.I recommend at least 10:1 ratio with a very fast attack.
 
Btw, to the original poster and topic, here is my response on a similar topic in the Mic forum. The topic was on the issue of when compression is too much (particularly for the voice). It turns out that the original poster could hear/perceive what the compression was doing to the vocals. Here's my answer.

At https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=129034

"Great replies so far. I've found the most critical areas of compression are the attack and release settings. Many people (including myself a while ago) mess up stuff with bad settings on the attack and release, even more than ratios that are too high.

If you want a really nice test to understand what compression is doing start with a bass (either an electric or a keyboard/sampled electric bass) patch it through to the compressor. Start with a ratio of maybe 4:1 or 6:1. Start bringing down the threshhold till you're getting about 6 to 10 dbs of gain reduction on the meter. It doesn't matter what the attack and release settings are now.

Now, start playing with either the attack or release settings (one at a time). I bet you will notice the most with the release settings. At higher release settings you should notice the sound thickening up bit. It's kind of hard to descibe, but it feels like the envelop of the sound is ending longer/slower. Notice at lower release settings, the effect of the compression ends quicker and the envelop faster. use the bypass switch and you'll notice at faster release times the compressor is actually changing the sound to be more percussive than the original. At a certain point, pumping will occur because it will sound like the compressor can't keep up with the sound (because it's leaving the sound earlier than the sound is sustaining).

Try this and also play with the attack. Think of the attack as when (in time) the compressor engages. At slower attack times, not much of the sound is passing through the compressor. Faster times, the compressor starts up a faster with the sound. Compare faster attack times with slower attack times, you'll notice a dulling of the high frequencies at lower (faster) attack times. Focus on the high end of the bass when doing the comparison of the faster and slower attack times. I've found electric bass is a more useful sound for learning compression. Once you learn on this, you'll better understand what compression is doing on the voice."

There are other helpful responses on compression as well.
 
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