Hey Everyone,
I wanted to get some perspective from the forum members on compression. A friend of mine calls compression the magic key to a good mix. I'm sure he has good reason. I personally like a little compression on a mix and especially on vocals. I read a book that said to never go over a 2:1 ratio. I'm not sure what they where mixing. Of course this is all subjective, but what works for you? Do you have a magic key to your mix?
Happy Recording
Comments
The magic key is to do what the mix is telling you to do. Wheth
The magic key is to do what the mix is telling you to do. Whether in the mixing *or* mastering phase. But especially the mixing process. Ratios are dependent on what you have vs. what you want vs. what the source is actually capable of (that's the part a lot of people forget about). 2:1 means nothing without another reference. You can have 2dB of gain reduction at 2:1 and 2dB at 10:1. Nothing close to similar though...
I compress the most obviously dynamic tracks to blend properly w
I compress the most obviously dynamic tracks to blend properly with the least dynamic tracks. I use whatever ratio, attack, release and knee are required to get the sound I want. That could mean anything from just taking a little edge off to squashing the heck out of a track. Then I apply a "mastering" limiter on the main bus to get the RMS level to some arbitrary target, not for any big affect on the sound.