to compress : before or after??

[est]

Im confused about a coupla things....hope some of you guys can help!!!

my setup is : mixer - direct outs to a delta 1010 - and using Cool Edit Pro2 to record all the tracks on computer

im going to be recording drums next week and i dont know if I should try to compress the tracks in 'real-time' or afterwards in cool edit ....or does it make no difference at all.......and whilst ive got your attention, am i better to eq on the mixer (i guess 'real time') or later using cool edit's tools.

this is my first drum recording....so i havent mucked about a lot....but if anyone else has done something similar id love to know what werks!

cheers.

 

[pratt]

I record all of my drum signals clean and then apply EQ, compression, etc. in post-production...

I'm not a fan of limiting yourself to a recorded signal with EQ, effects = once it's there you can't get rid of it....however, by recording a clean signal you can apply/take away whatever you want post-recording...

I know some folks that compress the drum signal going in to contain outlier 'dynamics'....but, again, it's just not something that I like to do...

 

[neirbo]

It CAN make a difference. Compressing a signal later on that clipped during tracking will just give you a quieter clip. By compressing before the analogue/digital conversion (i.e. during tracking), you avoid clipping.

I use a compressor/limiter just to limit the occasional spike that can screw up an otherwise good drum track. I set it up to limit only the highest levels, so it has minimal coloring effect on the overall sound.

 

[gnarled]

I don't do this myself, but I was talking to a guy that does a lot of live sound in addition to recording. He likes to record bands like they are playing live - even sets up a PA some times. He records everything with EQ and compression to tape. You can save a lot of time this way since you can essentially pre-mix the entire track, be ready for overdubs with a rough mix in no time and spend considerably less time on the final mix. But I think you have to really know what you are doing and have a good idea of the final sound you are going for ahead of time.

 

[cwb123]

for recording drums, i always try to record clean, w/ the only exception being compression.

but if you dont really want to compress your tracks before recording, but you also dont want to deal w/ clipping (just like neirbo said, compressing a clipped signal just makes a quiter clip) you can always set a hard-knee limiter right at the clip level... this could be easier w/ digital recording just setting the limiter right at or just below 0 db.

this way for the most part you still get the dynamic contrast of a totally clean tracks, just w/o the clipping if levels get too high... then if you feel compression is needed you can add it in later.