Complimentary Compression for Vocalists

  Hey phillip
  I hope I'm not changing the focus of the subject but as I think so many times
when a question arises about say eq, comp etc that (one) component is hard
to consider a "stand alone" unit. It's a bit like "if you do this" "it affects that"
and so on. It can be the "perception" or a (can be measured) aspect and what
works for "one" situation may not work for another.

  I have found myself in the past having to use "so" much "treatment" to say a
given track, be it voc, or guitar, or anything, and only coming to find in the end that
I was "walking but going nowhere".

  If for one example the "transients" of a part say guitar, or back ground voc
or something get lowered to where there is less difference in the peak and
rms level of "that part" then it is a more "constant". If you had say 50 people
sitting in chairs and said "one person" "stand up" you'd notice "that person"
and as more people stand the harder it is to "notice" "those" people.

  In simple terms if "all" the people stand up then it's the same as them "all"
sitting down, just "higher". It's the relativity to "the others".

  One thing that comes to mind is that "some say" that the "performance" "is
the song" meaning that by comparison a "weaker" mix and "better performance
and or production" is better than a "weak performance" with a "great mix".

  The above paragraph is "only" meant to serve as a thought about the
"importance" of the songs performance/production. If a person is not
"doing it all" then something has to be decided on about what "can" be
done it that situation.

  If I had for example some loops or midi files or whatever that I was
building a song upon then I'd have to consider "what parts that I add"
to complete the song (or make it).

  I don't use loops so I can't speak with any knowledge on doing songs
that way but I can say that when doing so "some things" are already
(at least in a way) "set".

  I would guess to say that the "more the parts", the more one finds
themselves "going" for comp/limiting. If the "cup is full" all else "spills
to the side"

  Using my own experiences in the past is an example of that. I would
"over produce" add this, add that etc until I was "yes" comping, EQing
and whatever to "make it work". It was a "no win" situation. Without
"all that stuff" my songs sounded weak and thin, but with it it sounded
like a mesh of "stuff".

  What was the problem? I think it was "the quality/tone" of my "individual"
parts, and trying to "make up" for that with "more parts".  And hence
going to compression as the solution, but it didn't work, it only gave me
something to "lean on".

  To further confuse some issues, terms such as warm, dark, bright or
whatever "are" useful terms but I think they can only be used as "just that"
"general terms"

  And as I mention this isn't meant to say that any one "point of focus"
such as in this case, compression is "not important" because it certainly
"is" (but) it isn't "the" (only) thing that makes something what it is.

  As we learn things (of which I hope I always do) we do tend to focus
on "something" where we are learning in "that area". In my mind
what I seam to have come to is the fact that I "look back" at my works
and do some thinking. Most of the time it isn't what I did well, but what
I didn't do in many ways.

  I also find that many times as my writing, performance, mixing, producing
etc improve (hopefully that is) that I find myself being able to use tools
such as comp etc in a more "musical" way instead of a "fix it" way which
leads me to think that the performance (and or) the production/arrangement
will reap more rewards than just "filling up the cup" and then trying to
make it all "have a place" hence the comp subject again.

  If one was to think of the perfect song in this manner of recording, mixing,
plugs etc, the ultimate would be to record it, set the levels and that's it "enjoy"
of course "that" isn't realistic, but it does place a huge "value" on the fact
that "trying" to produce, perform or arrange in a manner that knowing
"later" in the project that it would need less "treatment" is something
that many times "can be" accomplished.

  I hope that I'm not in any way appearing to sound as though that
your what you call "pearls" are not valuable because they are.
I only want to add some food for thought, that's all.




  
 

  

ultimately, i think you have to understand and use compressors for a long time, and KNOW them....


because then, you will realize that the settings are INFINITE, and are totally program dependent.

you have to KNOW how to dial in what you want.

general settings, is the best you can talk about.