Middleman, AT, Danny, Mike, Herb, Jeff, and Linear Phase:

Many of your thoughts merit re-reading, as you all truly have solid wisdom in these matters.

I tried some vocal buss fx's using Ozone and Alloy (on the road) ... to hopefully better things ... but like you, especially Middleman, prophesied ... it flopped ... :):):):)

And one of you, AT, also reminded us of the price of compression: 

"Too much compression makes even the sweetest voice sound harsh, hard and sibilent"


...

I thought we were talking about glue type compression on busses not the main stereo buss necessarily. You can be very subtle with it. And only over a buss here and there is sometimes all that is required. I like slow attack settings like 10 ms and even up to 30 ms. This ensures nice transients getting through. Release to slightly fit into the groove of the music nicely. Even quite fast can sound good eg 100 ms to 300 ms. Then quite a low ratio eg 1.5:1. Threshold so you are only seeing between -2dB and -3dB of gain reduction max. 

When in this mode the compression becomes subtle and almost un-noticeable but if you switch it in and out you will find when the compressor is in, the overall sound on that buss just starts to take on a nicer level type sound that has a slight polish to it. It should be hard to describe but when it is off that buss should start to sound a little more jumpy etc..

In mastering mode the compressor over a whole mix can be set that way too. I love the sound of the hardware Smart C2 in this mode, it is just killer. It is just soo polished when switched in it is ridiculous. I am still searching for the ultimate plug-in to do that. Danny tells me the Waves API 2500 can do it and perhaps with even more control too. I wish the hardware Smart C2 had a very slightly lower ratio at times.

i use both.

actually, i use compression at 3 different levels:
1. at tracking, with an external compressor (dbx 160)
2. mixdown, at individual track level.
3. mixdown, across 2-bus.

now, i also use limiting, but that's another topic.

i don't use any one level very hard, and what i'm looking for is an overall gentle effect, that is cumulative.


i'll do the odd hard compression or limiting for effect...
and i do limiting on ALL of my bass tracks, and a lot of times across the drum sub bus.


i have, at times, put a waves L2 limiter across the master bus, set where the meters don't even move, and i STILL hear an effect to the signal.

i'm still working this scenario out.

takes a lot of experimenting, listening long after the fact, revisiting the approach, and it's constantly moving and progressing.

it's hard to discuss specifics on any of this, because every song is unique (for me), and unless you are stuck in one specific genre with a specific sound that comes up over an over again, then you pretty much have to deal with it as you go along, song by song, and each song will require something different.




rule of thumb:


once you got things setup across the master bus, in terms of compressors and "GLUE", when you are almost finished with the mix:
BYPASS everything.

and see if it really still sounds better.



i mix into a compressor on the 2-bus from the beginning, it took a LONG time to figure out where i wanted to be with the compressor settings before i could trust it.

batsbrew

it's hard to discuss specifics on any of this, because every song is unique

So true, it's very genre specific. My approach is more clarity and natural I should have added. Think paper airplane by Alison Kruass. For Rock or Metal, totally different approach.