Oh, im not just using a compressor for any one reason.
The only time i throw it on a bus is to achieve this "glue it together" vibe, cats was raving to me about. Along with their presets. even now, ir eally dont get what the hype is about. Altho in a few tracks, it sounded good with it, in comparison to without. But that was me just playing around.
The biggest problem with what i do, is whenever im "finished" with an instrumental its usually going online:
Radio Friendly Beats
and from there in the rappers hand to 2 track, fans hand to listen on the ipod, or just generally a showcase of my ability... So its not often, i can A/B a mix within days of its creation.
Maybe i should give myself a week to re-evalutate my instrumentals before putting them out there. But i feel like, even once i fix the initial mix, i can probally also fix the secondary mix as well...and i try not to get too wrapped up into it, considering if i ever sold a beat for a BIG record, they would desire the stems to remix anyway!
As for home recording, i have a compressor before my soundcard thats on my mixer for the microphone. I use the Red gain reduction lights on there, no more than 3, when im using that...however the "shaping" or "release" still troubles me because i have nothing to compare it to a "good" compression track or vocal...
I mean if i keep it up this way, im sure ill discover a winning idealogy and theory about using compression...but im really hoping that i dont go out like that.
imma take all the tips given here, and just contemplate on them along with all of the other guides and presets ive come across.
And that mixing with your mind book, do i buy it from publisher direct? or can i buy it in a local store/amazon?