"Compression is for kids...it's a crutch" - Bruce Swedien

[gumby1220]

Originally Posted by David Ray

^ very generous, sir!

I agree who in their right mind would want to take those horrid sounding compressors

[viewing]

'compression is for kicks, it's dat crunch' - bruce swedien

[Jomox]

Originally Posted by astroidmist

I tried to watch as much of the video as possible, but I gave up after he starting rambling on about his mounted stuffed bird.

That so-called "interview" was a huge waste of time.

They need to be talking about actual techniques instead of spending so much time ass-kissing and bragging about one-off mics and just plain bullsh*tting.

There's your problem, you did not watch it all to hear the techniques he used, there was allot of info. The interview was fine and his humor is what makes people love him also (On top of his engineering skills)

[Alxi]

To the OP
I don't think you are doing your self a favor by not learning compressors at all.
Granted, if you are the one making the music and not the one mixing it you can avoid the use of compressors but if you plan on learning how to mix, you will somehow need to use them.

About sampled drums compression i noticed that i always compress customers drums to get the sound i have in my head. When i program the drums my self i don't. Maybe a tad on the drum buss but that's about it.

[jtstudios]

Don't assume that he actually compressed much with the 1176. He likes the sound of it. I assisted him mixing an album where he put the main vocal through the 1176 and the meter rarely moved.

Bruce is the real deal.

JT
JT Studios

[JanZoo]

Originally Posted by jtstudios

Don't assume that he actually compressed much with the 1176. He likes the sound of it. I assisted him mixing an album where he put the main vocal through the 1176 and the meter rarely moved.

Bruce is the real deal.

JT
JT Studios

Well, that's it, I use compressors as "colloring" effects, like EQ. Even though, some moderate compressing is needed for "not so good" artists.
But to me, a lil bit of LA2A on vocals is enough. Or just a lil bit of compression of any channel strip, just to catch few peaks nothing else

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by jtstudios

Don't assume that he actually compressed much with the 1176. He likes the sound of it. I assisted him mixing an album where he put the main vocal through the 1176 and the meter rarely moved.

Bruce is the real deal.

JT
JT Studios

Uh.... I track through certain 1176s in attack-bypass mode and it sometimes does more compression than I care for.

But yes, Bruce is the real deal.

Nice lookin' studio by the way.

[princeplanet]

Yeah, I wanna be the real deal too. From now on, no compression (bad for transients), no eq (horrible phase artifacts), no multiple mics (see eq), no FX (too fake sounding), no tape (too mushy), no transformers (slow slew, weird non linear distortion etc). Just one reference mic in the anechoic chamber. No conversion, automation or playback through any sub standard path. Eat my dust, gonna be bigger than Thriller, and more manly.....

[Over Dose]

Originally Posted by Refresh

I've seen Dave Pensado do this aswell. Could anyone elaborate on this? Why would this work better than just using one compressor? Does this go for both analog and digital aswell?

Look-up "serial compression". Basically, the compressors don't have to work as hard, so it sounds like it's less compression than it really is. I've seen people getting 20 dB's of GR and still have a good vocal sound!!!

Also, I like to use a few compressors with the attack time to allow transients through, and then at the end of the chain I use a compressor to control the transients.

[longbongsilver]

Maybe it's a quirk of how I like things to sound, but in my stuff I tend to use channel compression more to deliberately abuse a sound in some form than for what it's intended for. Especially with drums. When it comes to the "correct" settings & compression I end up ditching the compressor entirely in the end.

[StringBean]

I was using too much compression a while ago, stopped using for a while, then came back and use it for slight coloring and to glue together similar sounds. I think I've found an adequate middle ground. If you don't use it at all your source material better be KILLIN.

[Chris Lago]

The only thing I know is that Tricks are for kids, the rest, unsure!

[baskervils]

Just read his affirmation from the latest Tape Op.

Misinformation (or inaccurate information) from a master. That's a shame. He must be trying to rattle cages.

The 60s and 70s wouldn't have sounded like the 60s and 70s without compression.

It's not a crutch, it's an EFFECT.

[CJ1973]

Not all of us have had the privilege of working with folks like Michael Jackson....get him any mic and just plug it in...I'm sure he will project himself right to compensate for lack of any special gear!

[Mortal Engines]

I think it's also important to point out that Bruce has been doing this for a very long time and came up in a studio environment that relied MUCH more on good musicians, a good room, and good microphones and less on outboard gear. I love the sound of Count Basie, Duke Ellington records but, I don't want my recordings to sound like em. Thriller was a GREAT sounding record for 1983. I didn't even like Michael Jackson but, there was no denying THAT sound coming from the tiny, crappy speakers in my 1970 Monte Carlo. I have no desire to re-create that sound either so, I will probably continue to compress, compress, compress.....

[baskervils]

Originally Posted by CJ1973

Not all of us have had the privilege of working with folks like Michael Jackson....get him any mic and just plug it in...I'm sure he will project himself right to compensate for lack of any special gear!

What is confusing about Sweiden's comment, to me, is that he doesn't acknowledge that compression isn't ALWAYS used to compensate for shitty performances. Sometimes, it's used DELIBERATELY as a creative tool. It certainly was for the Beatles and hundreds of other acts.

[KevWest]

Like all things you have to know when and how to do it. I wouldn't compress sampled one shot drums for example unless I played them in a way to allow for the dynamics to shine though and even then these days I think drums only require light compression at best if you like the sound of compression. I think these days everyone wants to compress everything and we should keep the compression down to a minimum enough to hear it because its appealing but not so much that its ruining the sound. I think in 1982 Bruce would have been correct but in 2013 our ears are so used to hearing some compression that it doesn't sound modern without it

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[Ezionjd]

Originally Posted by Gans Ja

What??!

for example:

Jennifer Lopez - Jenny From The Block - YouTube

Jennifer Lopez - Get Right - YouTube

Songs mixed by Bruce Swedien

Funny how the Beatnuts came back at J-Lo for "stealing their beats" when she (her producer) used the same sample that the 'Nuts used on "Off the books".

Wasn't it Guru who said ; "Rap is an art you can't own no loops"
The J-Lo flip was more banging, due to, in part i guess, Swedien's mix.
Guess they shoul have hired him

[Elvis Gotta Gun]

When old geezers get old they like to say inflammatory sh1t.

[Goa-Dubs]

Theres always some compression when using the analog route.......

[Stackx]

Lol I wonder how Dave felt when he said that lol. Considering that Dave uses compressors like crazy.


To not use compression at all though is not a route I would choose to go. There's so much more that compression does then just control dynamics.

[miscend]

I very much agree with Bruce. Listen to the beautiful transients on all MJ records. You don't need compression, music is all about dynamics. I hate squashed mixes.

Compression is a cope out and it's a tool for amateurs. Apart from when I intentionally have to create pumping fx using a side chain - I will generally never use compression. But I will use a transient shaper to increase the dynamics on my drums.

[steveschizoid]

Originally Posted by miscend

Compression is a cope out

A cope out?

Originally Posted by miscend

and it's a tool for amateurs.

I guess that makes almost every engineer (except for Bruce) involved in the history of recorded rock and roll an amateur.

Cool!

I feel so much better informed. Ain't the internets grand?

Just one question though...didn't Geoff Emerick get paid after all those sessions where he tracked Paul McCartney's bass guitar through a Fairchild?

Wouldn't that make him a professional?

[Goa-Dubs]

'Joe meek' was a cope out then??

[Rust Creep]

When he says "compression is for kids;" I hear "If technology scares me."

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[steveschizoid]

I guess Joe Baressi should rename his studio "Joe's House Of Amateur."

But surely one of the hundreds of bands on his discography PAID him.

Maybe Tool paid him? Whaddya think?

Maybe Tool should go to miscend's studio to make their next record?

I'm sure they'd have to pay for the more professional approach; perhaps the record company will balk....

[steveschizoid]

Originally Posted by Rust Creep

When he says "compression is for kids;" I hear "If technology scares me."

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I don't think so.

I think it means "I don't like compression."

You know, it's great that people do and hear things differently, but it's lame when people use a statement made by an expert to abdicate the responsibility to figure out their own thoughts, tastes and methodologies - especially when we're talking about an endeavor that is such a huge mixture of art, craft, science and mysticism as ours.

If you don't like compression, don't use it.

But don't form your opinion based entirely upon what Bruce Swedien (or Ken Scott, Geoff Emerick, or Joe Barresi) has to say.

[Goa-Dubs]

Yes...BUT-over compression and over limiting is killing transients and natural sounding recording no???Stressing the term OVER cooking the food to suit modern expectations of loudness.Most of it sounds like crap.I think compression (not the tape variety) came to the fore in the early to mid sixties..before this we had lovely,natural sounding tape mixes did we not??

edit-could say the same about multitracking,multi fx and digital ectect...

[Ezionjd]

"Cope out" is my new favourite term

[The Aristocrat]

Originally Posted by Ken Lewis

i must be a child. a small child. infant possibly.

I almost died laughing when I read this.