Individual track compression/limiting

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aaroncomp

aaroncomp

1-20-2009
I apologize if this is a redundant question, but I couldn't find my answer while searching...

When mixing, do you compress and/or limit all of the individual tracks, some of them, the same ones every time (e.g. the kick drum, vocals, etc.), or let the situation/song dictate this decision every time before compressing/limiting the mixdown track? Thanks in advance. :)
 
The song really dictates this sort of thing. However, if you are doing an album of similar songs, you will find that the same(ish) processing will work for most of the tracks.
 
So are there any standard (i realize nothing is absolute) thoughts like, to never compress the distortion guitar tracks, etc, etc? Also, to elaborate on my initial question...is compression AND limiting done on individual tracks? :cool:
 
To answer your question, yes. Compression and limiting, either one or both, are used on individual tracks. I tend to compress the snare drum and bass guitar and limit the kick. I also compress individual vocal tracks (a little, depending) and also compress the vocal buss. Sometimes I will even compress a reverb channel.
There really is no standard that applies to every instrument in every style of music. The idea is to get all the sounds working together. If I am working on a metal tune, I tend to limit the drums to make them 'harder' sounding against the gigantic wall of guitars. But, If the song has a middle section that is just acoustic guitars, the drums would be way too much for that section, so I would have to back off a bit.
 
aaroncomp said:
So are there any standard (i realize nothing is absolute) thoughts like, to never compress the distortion guitar tracks, etc, etc? Also, to elaborate on my initial question...is compression AND limiting done on individual tracks? :cool:
Click to expand...

I generally compress in sub groups it seems to "glue" things together better.

Tracks that i'll almost always compress individually are, kick, snare and bass mults. Sometimes I'll compress the main melody but I've gotten away from that a Bit recently, I'll just save the compression for the sub group.
 
You could slap on the same presets on on your instruments. Yet I think each song heavily dictates that. I really takes good judgment to know when and if you could do that sorta thing.

But I found that mixing each song individually, regardless of the previous songs, gives you a more diverse album. Plus doing that you tend to focus on each song individually and democratically.

Kind of like a teacher who teaches a single student over an entire class.
 
I usually compress everything :cool:

... or at least the plug in will be in the chain. Compression to me sounds more musical in small increments, i.e. two chained right after another. Compression can be used too add color, not just for taming dynamics. Carefull attention to the attack and release settings can change things dramatically. Put a moderate compression setting on a drum sub mix and play with the attack and release while listening. it will give you a good idea about what you can do with htose parameters.
A lot of times I'll put a compressor on the master buss, with the threshold way down, probably as low as the setting will go, and have the ratio be miniscule like 1 to 1.1 or 1 to 1.2. attack and release vary depending on the material. Adds just a little bit of the color of the compressor, which can be a good thing.
 
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