Smoove03 wrote:kraster wrote:acq1 wrote:Any tips on how to get my beats to sound louder after recording without distorting them. I plan on having them mastered so they say not to use any compression on maximizers on the final bus.....
It's up to you really. Record the tracks individually into Sonar and apply the compression on each track individually. Watch your attack and release rates. For drums the attack should be quite high and release quite low so you don't lose the front of the hit. Compression can make stuff louder but it can also destroy all the little details in the beat if you use it too much.
i never did understand the compression thing much. i just play with the settings. but all that ratio and stuff, i have no idea what it means lol
Compression:
its simple really, all u are doing is reducing the difference between the loudest and quietest levels in the recoring or sound, i.e. reducing the 'dynamic range'.
Imagine recording a very excited artist, who when in front of the mic keeps on swaying from left to right and can't keep still...
as u can imagine, the recording will have very varied (or dynamic) volume levels....i.e. relatively loud parts (where the artist was positioned directly in front of the mic) and relatively quiet parts (where the artist swayed from left to right and wasn't directly in front of the mic)
It can be said therefore, that the recording is dynamic. Cue compression!
Compression reduces this dynamic range (i.e. the difference between the loudest and quietest parts)
So when u set the threshold, u are picking the level (in dB) above which the compression kicks in. The ratio determines the amount of compression that is applied!
E.g. Threshold: -20dB; ratio: 2:1. All this means is that ALL the sound above -20dB will be compressed (i.e. reduced in volume) by a ratio of 2:1 (i.e halved), thus bringing the levels above -20dB closer to the levels below -20dB. This, as u can imagine, smoothes out the dymanic range and allows u to forget the traumatic experience of recording the very excited artist who couldn't stay still!!!
With drums (say the kick drum), if they were sampled (i.e. taken from a commercial record), they would hav most likely already been compressed and chances are wen u program them, they'll all hav the same level. These need less [or no] compression than say drums which you actually recorded with mics, as the drummer (unless extremely experienced) would hav hit the kick drum at different velocities, therefore producing different levels, which u might want smoothened out.
Dnt forget that compression isn't always desirable! For instance u may hav recorded or programmed an instrument which exhibits a very dynamic range that adds to its character...so use compression wisely and not just for the sake of it. Only last year, i used to compress EVERYTHIN jus to increase the percieved volume of ALL my tracks. BIG mistake! All my trax had no character or intersting dynamics. I therefore had to go bak and re-mix all of them.
Hope this helped...and sorry if i put u to sleep!
If u need more help...jus ask
Peace
