Manual compression ??

[cjacek]

Hi again,

I recorded a few things on my cassette multitracker, with voice on a seperate channel, which jumps in and out of the mix. I'm wondering if "riding" the vocal fader, to achieve compression, is a viable way of controlling the dynamic range without the use of an automatic compressor ? How effective can be the manual compression ? Thank you.---Daniel

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

It's called "riding the gain" - and it's what engineer's used to do before racks of gear happened!

It works very well, but takes practice -- you have to know the material well-enough so that you can properly anticipate the changes to make it seamless.

 

[scottboyher]

Isn't tape a natural compressor?

 

[TexRoadkill]

Isn't tape a natural compressor?

Only if you really push the levels and casette doesn't have as much headroom as a good reel to reel.

Using a compressor is exactly the same as riding the levels. It just does it faster and more accurately than humanly possibly.

 

[cjacek]

Ok, thanks

Daniel

 

[Sky Blue Lou]

It's called "riding the gain" - and it's what engineer's used to do before racks of gear happened!

How long until this qualifies as an endangered art?

 

[Richard Monroe]

It's not endangered. Not only do I ride the faders, I'm also a human gate!-Richie