I need compressor/limiter advice - PLEASE

  • Thread starter Thread starter eichler
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eichler

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I recently set up a home studio with Cakewalk 9 where I am recording a variety of music that includes real instruments and vocals. As such, I am finding the need for a good compressor/limiter.

I have not been involved with recording for the past 20 years so I am out of touch with the latest and greatest equipment.
I am looking for good performance at a reasonable price.

Any and all recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
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Someone at the Guitar Center recomended Waves Renaissance. Any thoughts?
 
Are you looking for software plug-in's or outboard compression devices!!??
 
MISTERQCUE -

My immediate problem is that I need to compress tracks that are already recorded in Cakewalk. It seems to me that a plug-in might be more flexible than an piece of outboard gear as I will be able to use it on several tracks at a time with unique settings for each. Am I not correct about this?
 
Yeah, you can run several of these plug ins side by side and on different tracks. the renaisance compressor actually has a nice sound (im not really up for computer compressors..except the drawmer on the D8B/ProTools...mmmm).

the disadvantge is, when you're running a sequencer like Cakewalk or Cubase or logic, you have to have quite a few windows open, i.e. your mixer to see your levels, the arrangment window, and any SMPTE windows (if you need it) and whatever else. this makes it hard for you to see exactly what is going on with your compressors during a track. i dont know about anyone else, but i feel safe when i can see a hardware unit's gain reduction LED's flashing around. i know exactly what it's doing.

if you're on a budget, get the plug in, then you can use it on a few channels. id reccomend a nice hardware unit for vocals.


-Romesh
 
I would go with the waves renaissance 1 & 2 compressors (the new vox that just came out in the ren 2 package is beautiful). Using a compressor plug in gives you more flexibility than an outboard compressor. I assume youre mixing down on your hard disk and keeping everything internal. That being the case you will need good compression on your mixdown as well as on your tracks. Waves compression is nothing short of miraculous and is my secret weapon of choice more often than not. When waves says "warm" they give you warm and when they say "smooth" they give you smooth. You can get the waves renaissance package for around $200- it comes with EQ and reverb. The EQ is also great, the reverb is average.
 
JuSumPilgrim said:
Using a compressor plug in gives you more flexibility than an outboard compressor.


well, i dont know about tonal flexilibity......
Click to expand...
 
Whats tonal flexibility? I have found waves compression to be more flexible than many outboard compressors and totally not digital sounding. The renaissance compressor has 3 parameters (ARC/manual, opto/electro, and warm/smooth) which effect the sound differently depending on the settings in addition to the standard threshold/gain/compression ratios. The renaissance compressor is a huge exception to the staleness of digital compression. Its like night and day. Additionally, putting compression on after you get the signal onto your drive allows you to go back and rework the compression on the track should you choose to, as opposed to being stuck with it if you compress before it hits your hard drive. The same with every other effect.
 
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