Choir: To compress or not to compress?

[Splico]

Can I say : this is final product!

Do I need aditional EQ,Reverb or compresor?

Chain is :
Neumann sm69fet in MS
Shadow Hills Gamma8 Discrette preamp

[boojum]

I sent my choir director two samples of their chorale's latest efforts. One mildly compressed and one not and asked her to pick the one she liked the best. She liked the mildly compressed one. ;o)

[Splico]

Nice idea...Thanks

[rumleymusic]

Normally I'd say no. But this is a very percussive sounding recording. Perhaps a little dynamic control wouldn't be out of order. I do think it needs some reverb. Since I am listening on bright headphones, I don't want to give any preferences on EQ.

Just my suggestions.

[MichaelPatrick]

I'd try parallel compression first to raise the ambiance so it won't disappear between transients. The voices sound nice. Did you use any noise reduction?

[Splico]

No noise reduction..nothing,just little eq..-2 db near 3khzwith wide Q,and +1 db at 100hz..and little reverb..

[Roland]

I haven't listened to your sample, however, I wouldn't compress a classical choir recording as a, it will increase the noise floor, b, it can also lead to more sibalance, neither of which is desirable. If you need to raise gain, I would put in some fader rides, however, I've never personally had to do this with any choir I have recorded.

Regards


Roland

[letsdance]

i always record clean, then if necessary, compress / gain / reverb / EQ etc.

i find a lot has to do with the quality of the instrument/s (voices) as well as acoustics in the room, as regards peaks.

i have found that most listeners will like to have some decent volume on all cds, as the quality of the playback equipment is not always the best.

my 2 cents