RE: just boght a compressor
2006/03/20 21:28:28
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one thing to remember about compressors is that they actually reduce volume on tracks (some people think they make things louder). most compressors are full-band (if that's not a real term, i just made it up), meaning that they work over the entire audible range. if you just slap it on your kick with no low-pass roll-off pre-compressor you'll be compressing sounds you can't even hear (sub-40hz or so is more felt than heard).
you may like the result anyway, but it's just a warning. hopefully your compressor will have a gain reduction meter or output of some kind. besides your ears this is a good indicator of whether your compressor is working too hard. in some cases you may want that "squashed" sound but if it doesn't sound right then it's probably time to decrease (increase? depends on how you look at it i suppose) the threshold, use a softer knee (if you have that option), or back off the ratio so there's less gain reduction.
the attack and release times will also shape how the compressor changes the sound. a shorter attack time will diminish the attack of the instrument. a longer release time will add sustain.
assuming you use sonar, you should first mess around with the software compressors (sonitus in particular) that come free with it. this will give you a better feel of what the different settings do to your kick and snare. do this while listening to the complete mix - listening to instruments solo rarely has any use unless that instrument will be solo'ed in the mix. you should also be careful if you are going to use your compressor before the raw track gets recorded - over-compressed drums can't be uncompressed later.