hey guys, extreme n00b post about Live Vocal Compression

[moon_unit]

I would normally recommend not using one at all.

[rty5150]

Originally Posted by moon_unit

I would normally recommend not using one at all.

especially on that digitech unit.


i am NOT a fan of digitech products. the last good one imo was the dsp 256xl.

[aussie_techie]

Always want a bit of compression on vocals, as long as you have a good comp anyway.
However all processing, dynamics and effects should be done at foh and NOT on stage.
You are just making things difficult by trying to do it all your self.

[Wayne]

Originally Posted by DesTreMic

..& whenever i try using this live it pics up all the Drums & Guitars, the compression on the box doesnt work properly & i been recommended to get a vocal compressor... but i have no idea on where 2 start...

any helps much appriciated !

Particularly live a little goes a long way. You're working an uncontrolled unisolated environment. Compression brings up the quieter stuff relatively speaking. This would be your stage noise/bleed and feedback. Inserted in to the monitor path it's a double smack in that it reduces (or can reduce) what little gain to poke through and hear the monitors if that situation happens to be boarder line.

[joelpatterson]

On the other hand... I've seen it where bands are playing live, and you watch the compression ratio, and the vocals and being SQUASH-IFIED-- 10, 15 dBs of reduction, and it all sounds great.

More than "great," beautiful and richly rewarding... and the conclusion I come to is in some cases, the instrumental component of the PA output is hitting 95% of all possible good sound (APGS), and were you to leave the vocal input non-compressed, you'd hit 150% or so and bitter, gritty distortion would be the result, so topping it off at 100% is the trick.

Your mileage could vary, you could be driving a different car, the speed limit signs could be in kilometers/per/hour... but this is what I have seen happen.

[aussie_techie]

10db + GR certainly isnt uncommon but there is a big difference in how systems are setup.

[DesTreMic]

Originally Posted by Wayne

Particularly live a little goes a long way. You're working an uncontrolled unisolated environment. Compression brings up the quieter stuff relatively speaking. This would be your stage noise/bleed and feedback. Inserted in to the monitor path it's a double smack in that it reduces (or can reduce) what little gain to poke through and hear the monitors if that situation happens to be boarder line.

ok so back to basics

i want a easy & cheap solution to the problem

[MagicPants]

Most of us just use a Y split like this Disconetto
This way you double the lead vocal signal to 2 channels. One gets the royal treatment; Eq, De-Ess and compression. This one goes to FOH speakers.
The other one is just used for the foldbacks. The 'foldback' signal is eq'ed to fit the acoustic surroundings you are facing. Usually this means cutting som lo-mid and bottom end to avoid feedback.

[Wayne]

Might be a few different issus at play here. Stage / sound situation, does the pedal have control options to work with(?), consider dumping the pedal and pick up somethig else to check out and learn on?
Maybe get one of the modest used dbx's, in 'auto mode they're a decent start point.

[David C.]

My partner from our now defunct duo had a very dynamic voice. She could go from a whisper to a scream. I ended up getting an ART Dual Leveler. It's pretty much set and forget and it was outstanding for live vocals.

[aussie_techie]

Originally Posted by DesTreMic

ok so back to basics

i want a easy & cheap solution to the problem

Don't spend anything, just tell the FOH guy what you want.

[DesTreMic]

Originally Posted by aussie_techie

Don't spend anything, just tell the FOH guy what you want.

ive already spent out £169 for the fx box because it does exactly what i want, plus what im after cant be done with the sound engineer

i use distorted & pitch shift vocals, all i need is compression... im going for a cheap quick fix to buy a guitar compression pedal... i know im gunna get slammed but can it work

[Wayne]

Does that mean it doesn't give you the flexibility you want, or just need help getting there?

[DesTreMic]

bum