Specific Compressor settings question

[jwnc]

Hey guys,

I have a quick question. I was wondering for the most part what would the outcome of this compressor setting would be on the audio (roughly)

Attack :0
Release: 50
Ratio: 5

Obviously the the threshold etc are all different depending on material. But the reason I am asking is there is a preset called "Average Low Level" and I just wondered sonically what effect this has on the audio. I just wanted a different opinion about this. It seems to soften up the audio and make it sit alittle better without squashing it to much.

Thanks
Jason

[picksail]

Which compressor is this?

With that attack ratio you can also, kiss your transients goodbye.

That setting seems better suited for vocals.

How much gain reduction is occuring?

[jwnc]

picksail: Hey, it was the Sonitus Compressor. I just happend to be trying it out for fun. I have better compressors that I use like Sonalksis, Golden Compressor, etc...

I was only doing about 2-3 db of gain reduction not to kill the transients.

Thanks
Jason

[JohnnyTooLoud]

2-3 db with an Attack of 0 WILL kill some of your transients.

You are telling the Comp to kick in right away and that will roll of any initial attack of, let's say a snare hit.

By pushing your Attack time out to at least 50 will retain the 'attack' of your source material.

--Giovanni

All points aside.

Why not read up on compressors and then play with it.
Your ears will tell you what it does to the audio better then a chat room will.


Threshold= what level it kicks in at
Attack= how quickly it kicks in at threshold/passing threshold
Ratio= how much it will reduce the sound. This is provided in a ratio form.
4:1 means for every 4db the sound goes up it will go up only 1 with the compressor in.
Release= how quickly it lets go after passing back under the threshold.

If you don't have a desire to learn this, you may be doing the wrong thing with your time.

My lead singer loves to just play with the eq and hopes he finds what he is looking for. It takes hours and most often leads to nothing. No sense in blindly moving knobs. I don't think??????

Good luck!

D

[jwnc]

dpasch: hey, actually I know what I am doing and I know all of what you were speaking off, I just wanted an opinion on that particular set of parameters and how/why you would want to use it.

Jason

[5down1up]

i would call this preset

" ac guitar player on stereoids "

[Lagerfeldt]

Attack :0
Release: 50
Ratio: 5

Almost a limiter, although you'd turn the ratio to 10 then. 2-3dB pf GR with this setting would definitely chop off some transients and could sound quite enclosed.

[briefcasemanx]

why would you want to cut out transients for vocals??

[Lagerfeldt]

Originally Posted by briefcasemanx

why would you want to cut out transients for vocals??

One might want to reduce transients in order to avoid the explosive s-, t- and k-sounds.

I prefer trying to record as well as possible so post recording fiddling won't be necessary, and also resorting to quick volume auto rather than de-essing.

[briefcasemanx]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

One might want to reduce transients in order to avoid the explosive s-, t- and k-sounds.

I prefer trying to record as well as possible so post recording fiddling won't be necessary, and also resorting to quick volume auto rather than de-essing.

ahhhh. yeah that's something I'd try to fix in tracking.

[Lagerfeldt]

Yup, I also found a nice trick with singers with extreme sibilance. Place a very small piece of chewing gum behind the two front teeth, and let it dry for a few moments so it sticks. Apparently a whole lot of whistling and sibilance comes from the small gap between the front teeth. Beats a de-esser any day if you can convince the singer that is!

[briefcasemanx]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

Yup, I also found a nice trick with singers with extreme sibilance. Place a very small piece of chewing gum behind the two front teeth, and let it dry for a few moments so it sticks. Apparently a whole lot of whistling and sibilance comes from the small gap between the front teeth. Beats a de-esser any day if you can convince the singer that is!

wow thanks for the tip!

[StuartMac]

Apparently Madonna sticks a dollop of wax in there.

Maybe it's one she scraped off Willem Dafoe's chest

[JTR]

Originally Posted by StuartMac

Apparently Madonna sticks a dollop of wax in there.

Maybe it's one she scraped off Willem Dafoe's chest

No, she's recycling old wax statues of the Virgin Mary, now that she's moved on to a more fashionable religion

jwnc

your original question omits some important detail which make it difficult to give a meaningful answer -

type of sound source, its dynamics, and overall recorded level