Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Digital hardware compressors for tracking

jcatena · 7th July 2009

Using a digital compressor for tracking makes not sense at all (the input of such a compressor is an ADC anyway).
Furthermore, with high end 24 bits ADCs, no analog compressor is needed, as the dynamic range is large enough.
All you want is to adjust the input level to assure it doesn't clip. With a DNR of 115 dB or more you don't even need to set very close to 0 dBFS. Even if the peaks are -10dB FS, the resulting SNR is better than any analog signal you can send to it, so an analog compressor can only degrade it.
After it is recorded, use any compression you need for mixing and mastering, digital if you want it clean, analog if you appreciate the colour of your analog compressor and don't worry much about the added noise.

7th July 2009	#5
jcatena Gear nut Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 134	Using a digital compressor for tracking makes not sense at all (the input of such a compressor is an ADC anyway). Furthermore, with high end 24 bits ADCs, no analog compressor is needed, as the dynamic range is large enough. All you want is to adjust the input level to assure it doesn't clip. With a DNR of 115 dB or more you don't even need to set very close to 0 dBFS. Even if the peaks are -10dB FS, the resulting SNR is better than any analog signal you can send to it, so an analog compressor can only degrade it. After it is recorded, use any compression you need for mixing and mastering, digital if you want it clean, analog if you appreciate the colour of your analog compressor and don't worry much about the added noise.