I'm getting a bit lost with trying to find the right compression settings for a guitar rhythm part I've put down.  I'm more a lead guitarist so the part is ok timing wise but uneven in terms of volume on the stokes.  I want to compress things so the part sounds steady and consistent throughout.  As an example, I'm trying to get the evenness of Nile Rogers' part on 'Spacer' by Sheila B Devotion.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aIsqMOMnKw  Any compression suggestions?  Thanks.
 
John

If you're looking for really constant levels, I'd say you would want a higher ratio, say aroound 8:1. Set your attack fairly fast, maybe around 300ms. You can play around with it till you find what works for you. But avoid really fast attack times because you want to preserve the pick attack. Then roll your threshold down a bit until you hear everything level out.You can use your meters to verify that your getting a constant level. Then turn your make-up gain up a bit and you should be pretty good.

look at the meters... 

an overall compression of about 5 - 7db should do the trick on rhythm though...
for lead i may go with between 1.5 - 3db...


slow attack fast release... get a little pump back into the axe...
 
hope it helps... cheers!!!

Hi john,in this kind of guitar,for me, the most important thing are the ghost notes,Nile Rogers is the best for this.
My advice is choose a long attack value (50\60 ms),fast release 80 ms,medium ratio (4\6 :1) and the last of the chain a limiter with 6\8 db of limiting and fast attack,(auto release).
Concrete is a good tool.
Best

Upward compression may be the ticket here. Try parallel compression with a high ratio, e.g. 10:1. with a fast release and the threshold set just low enough so that the compressor is engaged most of the time but releases before the chords die out. Set the attack time to adjust how much of the pick comes through.