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Obviously most of this depends on the style, individual compressor, and using one's ears is always the best. If software, I can also load up some presets and explore. But. (dramatic music) I want to begin a discussion on why certain settings work or do not.

Disclaimer on threshold: This clearly depends on track levels, I get that. Maybe we can reference threshold settings in relation to the peak. For instance "maybe setting the threshold about 10 dbs below the peak will get you warm fuzziness. ." or something like that.

I guess lets start with a general rock/pop mix. .
(maybe we could copy/paste my format to make it easy to read?)

Thoughts about settings regarding:

Bass Drums

  • Threshold:
  • Ratio:
  • Attack:
  • Release:
  • Wanted Gain Reduction:
  • Opto or Electro:
  • Other thoughts?:

Toms

  • Threshold:
  • Ratio:
  • Attack:
  • Release:
  • Wanted Gain Reduction:
  • Opto or Electro:
  • Other thoughts?:

Snare

  • Threshold:
  • Ratio:
  • Attack:
  • Release:
  • Wanted Gain Reduction:
  • Opto or Electro:
  • Other thoughts?:

Overheads

  • Threshold:
  • Ratio:
  • Attack:
  • Release:
  • Wanted Gain Reduction:
  • Opto or Electro:
  • Other thoughts?:

Room Mics

  • Threshold:
  • Ratio:
  • Attack:
  • Release:
  • Wanted Gain Reduction:
  • Opto or Electro:
  • Other thoughts?:

Snare Bottom

  • Threshold:
  • Ratio:
  • Attack:
  • Release:
  • Wanted Gain Reduction:
  • Opto or Electro:
  • Other thoughts?:

We could try and apply this to other styles as well!

Comments

Davedog Tue, 11/30/2010 - 19:51

This will take some thought on my part as its always relative to the particular NEED at the time. I dont track with compression as a general rule thought lately I've had a touch on the bass just as a 'tightener'....very minimal. Using a hardware compressor is all about gain staging. You will always have to make up what you take out or it gets small in a way thats unrecoverable. I'm using 3:1 on the ratio and the gain and output are dependant on the material.

I never have to compress drums at tracking and very seldom at mix. The only compression I've used at mix was a global across the 2-bus and mostly for the tubes.