For discussion about setting up your studio and advice on the gear and equipment within it.
By kaneaudio Mon Feb 23, 2004 4:46 pm
Should I go from my mpc 2000 into my compressor then into my Makie 1604 to mixdown or should I put the compressor after the Makie (through the outputs) into my dat. Or could I use it as an aux send? Any help is appreciated
By mpcvore Mon Feb 23, 2004 5:08 pm
is your MPc the only device connected to your Mackie?

By kaneaudio Mon Feb 23, 2004 6:54 pm
yes
By KoolSha178 Mon Feb 23, 2004 7:48 pm
kaneaudio wrote:Should I go from my mpc 2000 into my compressor then into my Makie 1604 to mixdown or should I put the compressor after the Makie (through the outputs) into my dat. Or could I use it as an aux send? Any help is appreciated


Depends on how you want to use it, if you want to use it per channel youll need a patchbay and will need to repatch the device individually to each channel via an INSERT, you generally do not want to use a compressor on a aux channel, and unless your using a digital comp, this is no good because you cant individualize your settings per channel. This is why pro studios usually have several compressors for different tasks.

To sidestep this you can sample to your MPC through the comp, and tailor your settings for each sound. This is usually not a good idea, especially when sampling from vinyl (vinyl pressings are already compressed).

Now if you want to compress your whole mix, simply insert your compressor inbetween your desks main outs and your dat, be caresful though cause you can do serious damage to your mix if you dont know what your doing and youll end up with the typical newb squashed out mix.

My general opinion is that when doing MPC music a comp is unecessary and should be left to pro engineers, I had two hard comps and sold them both, the only comp i use now is the Waves Renaissance Compressor on my master channel in ProTools, because at least with Waves you can apply a preset and wont end up destroying your mix. I also recommend Waves C4.

By elmacaco Mon Feb 23, 2004 9:42 pm
There is nothing wrong with using a compressor on an Aux if you can set that aux to pre so you don't get a mix of the original signal and compressed signal. You can still select each channel with the send knobs and it sure beats repatching.

By kaneaudio Tue Feb 24, 2004 4:25 pm
Thanks for the help. I was trying to get by without using compression on my final mix but it always sounded like garbage once I put it on CD. I'm hoping by compressing the whole mix I will get a more pro sound. Any other advice on compressing a whole mix like setting etc etc.