Compressors without threshold knobs. Love em'? Hate em'?

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:13 am

You down with O-C-D? Yeah you know me...

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:31 am

Your baiting me, aren't you. Wink

Okay. Counter question. What if any, is the gripe against using Kat's metering system. Its not like it interferes with the creative process. Apples and oranges. Its just a way of setting equipment up in order to "optimize" some things. It doesnt hamper creative freedom.

The point though isn't that Bob Katz say's to do it.... its because what he is saying is technically right, which makes it a good idea to do. Being an electrical engineer.... what he say's simply makes sense to me from a technical standpoint, hence I see no reason to disregard it.

I think he has a good idea and people want to adopt his idea not because Katz has aquired some level of notoriety like Steve Albini where many people feel the need to emulate him. Oooh. Steve Albini does this, or Steve Albini does that.... godda' do it the Steve Albini way.

In Katz's case, unlike with Albini, his idea is purely a technical one, and not merely an unsubstantiated subjective opinion, and though its not the only idea out there, its a good idea and an attempt to set a standardized way of doing things (and its also a way to fight the war on overcompression).

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 8:20 am

There is nothing wrong with using BK's metering systems. Again, as I said, I use it as a guide as well.

However....the ONLY impact on volume knobs that it should have is on your amplifier's gain knob (or preamp, or powered monitors, whichever you use.)

You see...what you're suggesting that you do is what most of us CRINGE about. It sounds as though you merely throw up a mic or two or 17 and record whatever's there and if there's a problem with the sound, your philosphy would be...."Oh well, I'll fix it in the mix."

Yes, we have a problem with that! Part of being a good engineer is knowing how to fix things DURING TRACKING. Instead of using an EQ for example, it's knowing which mic and pre to use and how to use it (positioning, etc.).

This requires that you LISTEN while you track and make adjustments accordingly. The thing is...your mix should stand up as it is immediately after tracking. Mixing it should only make it better and give you the opportunity to apply necessary effects. It certainly should NOT be the phase in which you correct your sound or slap on 50 effects to get it right.

I cringe at the thought when people say..."Oh, well it doesn't sound quite right, but what I'll do is put on X and Y effect while mixing and we'll get it sounding right."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No!

If it doesn't sound right going in, no amount of effects will fix that. Instead you'll have a WRONG sounding part that has obviously been modified with effects. (EQ and fake saturation are the most obvious and easy to spot. Fake reverb is right up there, but occassionally necessary.)

If you have even a mild assortment of mics and pres, an equalizer should RARELY be used during mixing.

As for the gain staging and the Katz system, again, I'm game. BUT, again, this should only affect your amplifier's gain knob. If you are using it to maintain ALL of your gain knobs in the same place, I suggest you re-look at Bob's suggestions (or go hit him up on Gear Slutz). This is NOT his intent with the K System. Not even close.

Cheers -

J.

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