tranqs wrote:
Why all the plugins come with a library of presets????????

Because people like you wouldn't buy them if they didn't! Presets can be useful anyway, but only as starting points. If you use an unmodified compressor preset you are likely to do more harm than good.

I think people should be forced to take a test before being allowed to use dynamics processors, and should lose their license if they abuse them!

(Thats not entirely a joke btw! I think the current trend to squash the hell out of pop music risks damaging the ears of the iPod generation, and there should be laws against it.)

got this from this link,

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/apr96/compression.html

USEFUL COMPRESSOR SETTINGS
SOURCE
ATTACK
RELEASE
RATIO
HARD/SOFT
GAIN RED

Vocal
Fast
0.5s/Auto
2:1 - 8:1
Soft
3 - 8dB

Rock vocal
Fast
0.3s
4:1 - 10:1
Hard
5 - 15dB

Acc guitar
5 - 10ms
0.5s/Auto
5 - 10:1
Soft/Hard
5 - 12dB

Elec guitar
2 - 5ms
0.5s/Auto
8:1
Hard
5 - 15dB

Kick and snare
1 - 5ms
0.2s/Auto
5 - 10:1
Hard
5 - 15 dB

Bass
2 - 10ms
0.5s/Auto
4 - 12:1
Hard
5 - 15dB

Brass
1 - 5ms
0.3s/Auto
6 - 15:1
Hard
8 - 15dB

Mixes
Fast
0.4s/Auto
2 - 6:1
Soft
2 - 10dB (Stereo Link On)

General
Fast
0.5s/Auto
5:1
Soft
10dB

From the same article:

"I should stress that these are just to get you started -- the ideal settings vary from compressor to compressor, which is why I come up with slightly different figures every time I write on the subject."

:roll:

Notice that he doesn't even attempt to give you suitable settings for threshold.. ;)

All very interesting. Thanks for the answers. Doesn't offend me at all.

Veering more than a little bit off topic for a minute:

It might just all be a complete waste of time, a useless thread...but then again we all keep coming back don't we? :lol:

Gee, maybe we should petition audiokid to shut down the forum, because really it's all been said, there are no new questions under the sun, and the naive and the experienced are just frustrating each other.

But that isn't going to happen. News flash kids. This place is a business for its owners. As an excample, I think the hits are up to just shy of 120,000 for the JP22 thread alone. To you and I it might be a waste of time, but to the people who sell advertising, it's another 120,000 sets of eyeballs. So these 'waste of time' posts are making someone very very happy.

But if you don't want to perpetuate such things then the solution is very simple isn't it? :roll:

in all seriousness though, it would make sense for there to be a sticky at the top of each page to pre-empt the most often asked questions, and a lot of rhetoric(like this post).

The contents of the stickys could be:

These are the best 10 threads on understanding "compression"

These are the best 10 threads on understanding"which is the best mic"

These are the best 10 threads on understanding "which is the best pre"

These are the best 10 threads on understanding "Which is the best mic-pre combination"

etcetera...

Ahh, but less silly questions mean less posts overall, and less posts overall mean less answers, even smart assed ones, and overall less eyeballs viewing posts, and ultimately less eyeballs seeing those pretty ads at the side of your screen. And that's bad.

So if you don't like the dumb questions, don't play. If you don't like the smart assed answers, don't play. No sense getting choked up about someone elses opinion.

End of rant.

Keith

took-the-red-pill wrote: ...but then again we all keep coming back don't we? :lol:

Yeah, I guess we do.

Maybe a more appropriate question for a thread like this would be:

a) What do each of the controls on my compressor/reverb do?

or

b) Here's a link to a clip of some drums I recorded. I don't like the sound because of x, y, & z. Can you folks help me make them sound more like a, b, & c? I have compressor x and reverb y to work with.

I dunno.

I believe that the key really is in understanding how these pieces of gear work, and what happens when you push a button or turn a knob.

IIRs,

This is Obvious ....

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT A PRESET IS A STARTING POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!

You don't have to repeat this in every single post....

To the others, it´s very simple too, as isaid before!!!!

YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ THIS KIND OF THREAD!!!!!
IGNORE THAN!!!!! DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WRITTING CRAP!!!

everything is gay.

took-the-red-pill wrote:
But you guys are fairly adament that the concept of running this or that instrument through a 'preset' is valueless information. So please explain this apparent contradiction for those of us who are naive enough to think that the concept of a preset is useful.

One word: context.

It's true that having some personal "presets" and what-have-you can be pretty helpful. Furthermore, you should always write down every setting during a session when you can so that you can recreate something later or continue a tracking or mixing session across days in a multi-user room. But the key to all that being useful is context. Only you, as the engineer, know what the context of a group of settings are. And by context what I mean is, what is the signal doing, how is it being generated, etc. With any piece of gear, but especially with the two mentioned in this thread, the signal coming in is as much a determinant of the settings as is the desired goal.

Secondly, it's usually dangerous to just give a neophyte that kind of information. It's kind of bad stewardship. Because what is very likely to happen is that, say this thread went exactly like the original poster intended. A bunch of guys chime in with "here's my settings on compressor and reverb for modern rock" or "here's a verb I use on alt country tunes that rocks". Well, said neophyte may be inclined to take these things as gospel and not realize how dicey that type of advice really is. It's entirely possible for a young recordist to sit in front of his gear, set it as prescribed and not ever listen to it critically. After all, it's the "Cucco Compression" and why would one improve upon that? Trust me, I've seen it happen.

And really, it's not even that "it's just a starting point." Because really it's not. I mean, MAYBE it is, if you've got the same gear, in the same room, with the same source. Otherwise it's a red herring. It's much more relevant to talk about the underlying functions of a piece of gear and what each of the common controls do first, then to discuss generalities about the different aspects of a signal to which a piece of gear would apply.

For example, with respect to reverbs, it would be more relevant to first explain that "pre-delay" is the time (usually in milliseconds) between when the signal enters the "reverberator" and when the "reverbing" actually starts. Then to say that with a tune at a moderate to slow tempo with plenty of space in the arrangement I might use a longer pre-delay (something like 30ms - 60ms) to get a larger "space" on the vocal track(s). Of course, even this presupposes you know what I mean by "moderate to slow tempo", "space in the arrangement", and "space on the vocal".

So a much more useful discussion would be about what compressors and reverbs do and why, rather than "here's what milliseconds I use!". That's all anybody's saying really. Besides, there's no way I could participate in a "settings swap" because I can hardly remember when my phone bill is due, much less what I set a compressor to without going after some notes somewhere.

took-the-red-pill wrote:
And yes, I have read Shotgun's compressor theory 101.

I assume your check is in the mail, right? :)

~S

Is it just "Shotgun," or should that be made out to "Mr Shotgun?" Actually I think Calgary said he'd pick up the tab on this one.

Okay, I get it. So Mutt wrote everything down and then recreated it for 5 albums straight, using as few variables as possible, but his settings were his settings and wouldn't likely mean shit to you or me, so there isn't much point in using them.

I think that's the point of the whole thing.

Keith

OKAY.

I've been patiently waiting for MR SHOTGUN to conclude all the noisey irrelavance spewed forth to this point, and he has.

What was that S*IT about the Mods disappearing? Mac Mayor I'm ashamed of you. You know I'm always here.....watching....waiting....gnashing....pondering....ready to strike at a moments notice. Yes theres quite a few new folks and many of them have constructive points of view on things....some have no point of view on anything, but so it goes.

Mr Tranq. Your question is one that gets posted a lot. The actual answer to your original question cannot be answered but thanx anyway, and thanx for your post enlightening us with your personal starting points on compression presets. As a professional recordist, I never used presets on compressors unless it was an LA2, which doesnt have a lot of choices and rightly so as it doesnt need em. As a hobbiest/amatuer I still dont use em. I'm more likely to use presets on the reverbs as I always find one or two go-to's for my own personal tastes. Compression is not always about taste. It is a tool at times, that needs to be used to CONTROL things in order to be able to effectively mix somebodys tracks. As an effect, the presets can be a useful starting point (ever hear that one before) but as a control tool, theres way too many parameters to consider to even begin to put up a random set of values. If you didnt hear what you thought you were going to hear by posting this question and it pisses you off, tough love. You got the correct answer several times, as well as some good-natured ribbing by the crew. Get some thicker skin or move to the country.

I love the idea of stickying the ten best threads about------..I'm trying to undo a lot of things that went down here the last few years. And whether McCheese thinks so or not....theres still cool people here with a lot of info to share. In fact Mr. Cheese, If you ever come down to the lower half (yer in Alaska right??) give me a call and we'll get some seriously strong beer to go with good food and hang around stupid musicians and talk shop.

Now how cool is that??!!

Yer ModerAtor......................

Oh dear Dave. I know you're here. I said most of the mods. I see you, AudioGaff, and maybe one or two others around from time to time.

mmm...beeeerrrrrr.

yeah, we're still around... as to the original preset question, plugins in modern DAWs are already chok full of preset, whic as somebody already pointed out there are nothing but starting points. Thus go to your DAW of choice, open a reverb or compressor, choose the preset of your choice and go to work from there- piece o' cake. Now with hardware boxes you'll have to work abit more and use your ears instead of your eyes- but aint that what ears are for? :D

Re: Let's share some reverb and compressor presets for drums

tranqs wrote: ..I'll start to put something that a friend of mine developed and works fine at my studio.

COMPRESSOR:
This is for use with the drums overheads mics and with the PSP VINTAGE WARMER

knee 30%
Speed 0
Release 1
Drive +6.33
Ceiling -0.6
Low +2.64 / 62.5hz
High +3.05 / 14.72k
Mix 66%
Out -0.3
Link On
Stereo On
Multiband mode

Obviously the difficulties attempting to transfer one set of settings to another context has run the full course and back again. But in all due respect, it would seem to me that this preset would be an excellent example of where (or why) one might be better starting with everything zeroed out', default', and simply understanding the 'why and how' of it. :D There are apparently some very task specific settings in there- i.e. very fast attack and release, makeup gains, a mix control(?!)
Actually, what would be cool too since I (and presumably others as well) don't even use this particular compressor, explain what some of these non-standard settings are doing. (How do 'speed 0', 'release 1' relate?) Mostly I'm thinking in terms of ms vs the type of instrument envlope I'm dealing with.
I do have a set of 'What if, Quicky two-bus Brightener' Bring-up the Sparklies, w/, w/o 'Ouch' band' Sonitus multi-band patches FWIW.
Wayne Smith

4 pages on this topic and this has not been shut down yet??

start slow and low... ears NOT NUMBERS. (bloody beginner or old pro -- ARGHH!!) or are you by mistake in the wrong forum... here is the link http://www.math.com
A.

hi

I dunno who is tranqs, but the text he posted was written by me a long time ago. Tranq, are you my friend?
BTW.... No info at your profile
Nice week

I wanna get in before this is locked!! What a worthless post. Hey guys, if a half-a-chicken laid a half-egg every half-day, how long would it take for a grasshopper with a wooden leg to kick all of the seeds out of a dill pickle?

im not sure but i think it's blue

oh and yeah i have a nice compression preset for that backingvocal girl:

KNEE: weak
THRESHOLD: set to 'HOT' or around 100 degrees Fahrenheit
ATTACK: laidback, take your time, after 3 takes you can.
RELEASE: A.S.A.P. make sure you've gotten your tracks though
GAIN: a lightheaded feeling and a beautiful highpitched vocal if you're lucky

backinthelab wrote: I wanna get in before this is locked!! What a worthless post. Hey guys, if a half-a-chicken laid a half-egg every half-day, how long would it take for a grasshopper with a wooden leg to kick all of the seeds out of a dill pickle?

It was nice of you to wait almost a week since the last post to formulate such a scintillating reply. While I do agree that this thread has very little luster compared to others, it is not without some pertinent information. You ,however, have raised the bar to a previously unimaginable level and I once again thank you.

yer moDeratoR

Davedog wrote: [quote=backinthelab]I wanna get in before this is locked!! What a worthless post. Hey guys, if a half-a-chicken laid a half-egg every half-day, how long would it take for a grasshopper with a wooden leg to kick all of the seeds out of a dill pickle?

It was nice of you to wait almost a week since the last post to formulate such a scintillating reply. While I do agree that this thread has very little luster compared to others, it is not without some pertinent information. You ,however, have raised the bar to a previously unimaginable level and I once again thank you.

yer moDeratoR

Davedog is sublime, and if I ran into him at Wendy's, I'd buy him a Spicy Chicken combo.

~S

Oh c'mon, nothing like a little humor to spice up the new year! Geesh. I've read this post and much to my shagrin, I seemed to have wasted valuable moments of my life. So, in turn, I joined the rest of the majority that has posted and maybe put a smile on the person's face who actually read through the 4+ pages.

I am the first person to apreciate humour. I'm DAMN funny and entertaining in Real Life....

My take is...if yer gonna bitch about something dont add to the misery you're complaining about.

So back to your regular program.

And there WERE some definate and succinct posts in this thread and had you been looking for them in the proper frame of mind ya mighta found em... :shock: