What instruments do you put compression on, and what ones you don't?

[Eric V]

In the beginning.....I used to compress the heck out of everything and that of course was a disaster. Then I went for a while when I put it on sparsely among various tracks because of the aforementioned disasters. And I felt there wasn't enough compression in the appropriate places.

But there must be a medium course of action, a basic compression workflow method I could use.

I use Reaper, ReaComp, and I have another plugin for compression I sometimes use which also has other features such as gate, EQ, and deesser (Schepps Omni Channel). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PorterhouseMusic]

I'm hardly a person you should be listening to - but I try to use compression as sparingly as possible. I've gotten to where I'm not a fan of that sound where I can can easily tell something is compressed. It's a turn off. So - for now anyway - I see compression as mostly a tool to fix something - rather than "a sound" or effect I'm going for. It - along with automation - is a great way to even out a vocal. And I use it on bass gtr a lot. <--- short answer (from me) to your question.

I have both hardware and software versions of 1176 and LA2A compressors and find them very useful. Recommend plugin versions of those two - if you look for them you can often find deals. They're very different animals. The 1176 is lightning quick. The LA2A - softer, warmer, slower... with "character".

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

I smash every track.