one distressor, kick or snare?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lo-Fi Mike
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Lo-Fi Mike

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here is the senereo:

i have one EL8 Distressor, but i want to give it to the kick & the snare. is there a way to do this, or will i have to wait till i can afford another one?

i think i hear someone saying it was possible, I'm just not sure how.

thanks for all your help.
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-----mike----- :)
 
If you mean during tracking, you would have to buss them together, which I would not recommend. Otherwise, during mix you could send the kick through and then the snare through. Personally, I do not care for Distressors much on kick or snare, but snare definately seems to play nicer with a Distressor than kick does... at least for me...
 
How about track one ( like the snare) to tape, or whatever, then the kick process while mixing.
 
My tip would be to always avoid any processing prior to recording the signal. Once the raw signal has been recorded, you can, in your case due to lack of additional outboard gear, send the recorded kick through the Diss. and back to another track to record. Then during the mixdown, you can use it on the snare, meanwhile, you still have that original track to work with!
 
I'd have to agree with waiting and using it on any tracks you want after getting the tracks down.
 
If you are not sure of something, then I would wait until post to process it. If however you have a good grasp of what you want and some experience, then go for it, just don't do anything too crazy. Most experienced engineers have no problem EQ'ing and comping at the tracking stage. They do however have the most important tools... experience and vision.
 
brodgind said:
My tip would be to always avoid any processing prior to recording the signal. Once the raw signal has been recorded, you can, in your case due to lack of additional outboard gear, send the recorded kick through the Diss. and back to another track to record. Then during the mixdown, you can use it on the snare, meanwhile, you still have that original track to work with!
Click to expand...

No offense, but I think this is a very silly comment. Again, I dont mean any offense but this seems to be the mindset of so many people. "Oh god, never commit". Thats crazy.I mean a compressor is not that tuff. If you are in doubt, try a few test settings while getting levels. Then adjust from there. With a kick, how wild can you go? Your not going to really slam it umtil it pumps. Just add a bit! When I do live recordings in clubs, I dont even monitor..nothing. I know how to place microphones. I have a little compression on vocals, and kick and snare and I hit record.
 
I am not opposed to tracking with dynamic or effect processors on the sound provided that it is contributing something good to the sound.

It is kind of silly that guys will on the one hand say "Track it to sound the way you want it to sound at mix time", yes on the other hand say "Don't compress while tracking, do that while mixing".

You can make a lot of arguments on why that is a bad idea, but I can make just as many arguments on why it can be a good idea, the main one being that you captured the sound you wanted while tracking! ;)
 
brodgind said:
My tip would be to always avoid any processing prior to recording the signal. Once the raw signal has been recorded, you can, in your case due to lack of additional outboard gear, send the recorded kick through the Diss. and back to another track to record. Then during the mixdown, you can use it on the snare, meanwhile, you still have that original track to work with!
Click to expand...

I totally agree here.
There is no sane reason not to wait until the stuff is tracked to apply a piece like the distressor. That way if you later find out that the dist. was the wrong choice you can simply remove it, and move along to something that does work in the mix.
 
xstatic said:
If you mean during tracking, you would have to buss them together, which I would not recommend. Otherwise, during mix you could send the kick through and then the snare through. Personally, I do not care for Distressors much on kick or snare, but snare definately seems to play nicer with a Distressor than kick does... at least for me...
Click to expand...

What DOES a distressor sound good on anyways?
Ive never used one.
 
xfinsterx said:
What DOES a distressor sound good on anyways?
Ive never used one.
Click to expand...


I'm still not totally in love with mine (the MC77 smokes it on a LOT of things) - but, I do like it on bass, and to "nuke" room mic's.
 
xfinsterx said:
I totally agree here.
There is no sane reason not to wait until the stuff is tracked to apply a piece like the distressor. That way if you later find out that the dist. was the wrong choice you can simply remove it, and move along to something that does work in the mix.
Click to expand...

The orig. question /statement was that he "wanted" to use the distressor on both kick and snare at the same time. Not "should" or "is" a distressor good for one or either. The conversation then evolved to why/if people should track with processing. I believe that one consideration as to why some of the older recordings sound so good compared to todays is there wasn't as much choice. Studios of the 60's and begining 70's did not have the racks of gear studios have today..so.... engineers HAD to make a decission what was needed then and there. I think they really listened. Today we just track, then days/weeks/months later we MAY have decided what is nedded.
 
jmorris said:
The orig. question /statement was that he "wanted" to use the distressor on both kick and snare at the same time. Not "should" or "is" a distressor good for one or either. The conversation then evolved to why/if people should track with processing. I believe that one consideration as to why some of the older recordings sound so good compared to todays is there wasn't as much choice. Studios of the 60's and begining 70's did not have the racks of gear studios have today..so.... engineers HAD to make a decission what was needed then and there. I think they really listened. Today we just track, then days/weeks/months later we MAY have decided what is nedded.
Click to expand...

"Today we just track, then days/weeks/months later we MAY have decided what is needed."

Sounds good to me! :D
 
Ford Van said:
I am not opposed to tracking with dynamic or effect processors on the sound provided that it is contributing something good to the sound.

It is kind of silly that guys will on the one hand say "Track it to sound the way you want it to sound at mix time", yes on the other hand say "Don't compress while tracking, do that while mixing".

You can make a lot of arguments on why that is a bad idea, but I can make just as many arguments on why it can be a good idea, the main one being that you captured the sound you wanted while tracking! ;)
Click to expand...

So are you sure that particular amount of effect you've added is going to work when the mix comes together? It'd kinda be like mixing the drums before you've added anything else to the mix. I like to capture good natural sounds, mic'd correctly and tracked at proper levels, then sweeten that up once the whole mix is put together. I don't really think there's a wrong way to do it but in this guy's situation I'd consider useing the distressor after the fact.
 
johnyc, I agree with you partly. You have a good point. I would not print "fx". You may want to have a different verb, chorus. Yes , that I agree. But basic compression/limiting on kick or snare? Nah, why wait? For me, those decessions are not subjective. There pretty straight forward. And again, he asked "how can he", not should he.
 
The drum tracks sound better for the rest of the musicians when they come in for final tracks/overdubs/touch-ups/whatever, which can inspire more confidence and maybe better performance. Plus you don't have to worry about it later. That is, if you're really good and can see that far ahead in the project. There are plusses and minuses to doing things both ways, there is no be all end all.
 
jonnyc said:
So are you sure that particular amount of effect you've added is going to work when the mix comes together? It'd kinda be like mixing the drums before you've added anything else to the mix. I like to capture good natural sounds, mic'd correctly and tracked at proper levels, then sweeten that up once the whole mix is put together. I don't really think there's a wrong way to do it but in this guy's situation I'd consider useing the distressor after the fact.
Click to expand...

I would venture to say that the drums are "mixed" while they are tracked more than you think!
 
Ford Van said:
I would venture to say that the drums are "mixed" while they are tracked more than you think!
Click to expand...


Nope, trust me, I know the importance of getting the drums sounding good right from the get go and in some cases I don't use any effects. However, I record a lot of metal and because I don't use any samples some processing is needed. I'm not as dumb as you think when it comes to recording, I've learned some things the very hard way but I have learned and continue to almost every single day for nearly 4 years. It may sound sad but, recording is the most important thing in my life right now.
 
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