What & When to Compress

[What Have You]

I know there are a million and one posts on compression, but I had trouble finding the answer to my question...

Does it make sense to compress my drum sounds seperately (compression on just the bass drum, compression on just the snare), and then also compress the whole mix? Is compressing just one instrument/sound by itself capable of having a meaningful effect on the sound that you can't get by compressing everything together?

Oh, and this pertains to mixing and recording, not live applications.

Thanks.

 

[Turnip]

Hmm

I would probably apply compression individually to each piece of the kit, if possible. I don't know if you're applying the compression digitally (in which case, this is simple), or if you've got equipment to compress every channelof the kit...

Regardless, the only parts of the kit that I would see NEEDING compression are cymbals; the volume consistency on the other pieces of the kit should be consistent enough to sound fine without compression.

I'm sure others disagree, but there ya go.

 

[Middleman]

Great question and there are as many answers to this as there are solutions or techniques. Most compression is used either to control transient peaks or as an effect.

When you compress you're basically flattening certain peak frequencies which tend to bring them forward in the mix, i.e. you notice them more because of the compressive sound. So, if you want the snare or drum to have little dynamics and you want in yer face drums, then compress them while tracking. If you want a big ambient resonant sound then just limit the drums which means low threshold and high ratios with fast attack and moderate release. This has the effect of controlling the loudest peaks but still gives you some of the natural drum sound or room sound.

You can always compress and gate drums in the mix and I am from the school of get the most dynamic range but at the loudest possible level during tracking. It's easier to eliminate tone than create it and you can always squish the sound later by adding track compression and if more is needed, buss compression.

So the answer to your question is, it depends on what type of sound you are trying to get.

 

[Cyrokk]

I do not recommend using any compression during tracking unless you have some issues with controlling the levels of your instruments that cannot be avoided with good, consistent playing. If you are unfamiliar with how compression works, then you will probably not be using it as an effect, and you really don't want to put your signals through any unnecessary processing before it hits tape. I think you would be much better off experimenting to your heart's content with compression on tracks after tracking and during the mixing process where your tracks won't get destroyed.

Cy

 

[jcmm]

I'm with Cy, get the best sound you can up front.
You can do anything you want afterwards, but shoot for the sound you want from the start.

 

[What Have You]

Thanks, I think I see the pros and cons of applying compression at different points in the process.

I definitely want to use compression as "an effect" (add some punch to my drums). I know it will take some experimenting with the settings, but any suggestions on how best to do this (i.e. what ratios, attack, etc...)?

And what exactly is buss compression (see Middleman's post)?

Keep 'em coming, this is real helpful.

 

[Middleman]

First, compression can be applied either to a pre-recorded track as a whole or mixed with a 2nd version copy of the original track adding compression to the mult, split, whatever you want to call it. When done this second way you mix a clean version with a version that is heavily compressed; mixing it in as an effect. You effectively treat the compression as an effect versus just applying it to the whole track.

Buss compression is when you put a compressor across the main stereo buss out of your mixer. When done lightly it gives you that radio sound and helps you mix a song and EQ it (Yes you can put EQ on the stereo buss too). Light compression on the stereo bus, also sometimes referred to as the 2 buss, is pretty regularly used in rock and roll during mixing. People may or may not leave it on the final song depending on instructions from their mastering engineer (ME).

If you have heard the term "Mastering" this is what they do to a stereo final mix. They will put an EQ, Multiband compressor even reverb across the whole mix to polish it up before burning to a CD. They also do other things like average the volume across many songs, put spacing between songs etc to prepare a group of songs for burning to a final master CD.