Compression

I just wanted to start a thread re: compression techniques.
here is mine.
#1-I run the drums (clean set, no fx) into the compressor, compress them as I feel. usually high attack fast release. this brings the drum sound up (the Punch) fast. the compression this way, will bruing out the middle portions of the drum sound, (think Mobb Deep on quiet storm and on their 2nd album, god part 3 etc.)
run this track into your sampler.
now, run a second set of drums through the reverb or other efx u wanna use on the drums.
now, layer the two together, making the compressed set just below the clipping and have the other one blended with it.
now add a 3rd set of totally clean drums and layer these, adjusting the compressed drums (but not the efx drums after the efx drums and comprssed drums sound good 2gether) down so that it dont clip.
This is how dan the automator does his drums, it works out pretty good. but i add another step.

Now, run the whole thing back through the compressor, and keep the attack high, but adjust the release, to keep the phatness of the sound.
this is how i do most of my drums. of course this has to be done for the kick's and the snare seperate, so it takes time, but the results it yields are awesome. try it oout and lemmie know how u compress ur drums, id like to try another way just for fun and all.[/color]

maaaan I cant be the only one with a compressor. c'mon share the knowledge and blah-blah-blah.[/color]

havent got that far in my production yet , idont even have a compressor, whats a good commpress is a berhinger any good i seen one for $150 brand new, what does it do to your sound how does it work[/color]

What I did was load up an eps kit on a k2000 and the kick had no punch whatsoever.  I found a lowpass filter algorithm at 250 and resampled it down to 22.5khz I then ran the output thru a compressor set to 2:1 -10db into the mpc and what came out was a very very dirty knocking sound.  It sounded horrible by itself but when I made a beat with it, it had the grungy punch of a mobb deep track.[/color]

ededj wrote:havent got that far in my production yet , idont even have a compressor, whats a good commpress is a berhinger any good i seen one for $150 brand new, what does it do to your sound how does it work[/color]

a compressor compresses sound, you set the ranges, and whenever a sound goes outside that range, it compresses it back down into the original,
what it does, is remove the emphasis from some sounds in a sample by limiting its dynamic range, thereby accentuating other sounds in the sample. it gives drums more meat, the middle part of the kick stands out more. essential for hip -hop production, and a trademark of Havoc from Mobb Deep's production work, quiet storm is a super example, the drums kick hard, but are not at a high volume where they would drown out the other sounds in the cut[/color]

I have aruged with engineers about this for a while. Lemme see what you guys think. Now a compressor is going to physical change your attack, sustain, delay etc etc of a signal. Now Why in the world would you go pre eq. If after you eq your sound all nice, then add compression on it. You are going to change your eq settings drasticaly. Now personally i do all of my compression before i eq, so i will eq a tweaked signal already. I mean it would be much easier if i had a puter setup. But i dont. See i cant see what excatly the bands look like. I dunno just some soup for you guys. Add on to whatever.[/color]

Well anything you want can domante the compressor just by choosing a lower threshold. If you really wanted to make a sound stand out it is much easier to just iso that freq band and boost it some. I mean figure a kik, you would boost between 20-60. But personaly this is what i do. Even with a multiband, i will dedacate a certin eq to a certin sound. So one eq just for lows or just kiks and toms, one just for highs, or just hithat/snare/rides/crashes. And to tell the truth i wouldnt even bother using some real ####ty compressor. Anything that isnt a tube is not even worth using.[/color]

I've gotta behringer, it's ok but not my preference. I wanna switch to a RNC, I heard they're sweet!!![/color]

If its the tube one. They are really nice especially for behringer, and the price is real good too.[/color]

i use a behringer tube compressor and a behringer tubr eq befor it. That way you can boost your EQ but keep it all under control with the compressor, it takes alot of setting up to get the right result but you know when you've got it

lex[/color]

i've got to move to New York next month, so i'm thinking of getting rid of all my outboard (except monosynth) and just working on my PC and 4000. it's good to hear someone who understands compressors is using software versions because i've never used a convincing one however the tube composer isn't the best compressor. it's those Tube knobs that make a nice difference though, especially on drums as you said.

lex[/color]