live 2-mix 2-buss compression...

[JayCrouch]

You know the deal, you're doing your 2-mix of a live show - and a copy of it is about to drop into the hands of someone else directly after the gig.

You fear that they are going to pop that cd-r into their car stereo, or worse - some boombox that the house has setup in the lounge, you want them to hear the work you just busted your hump over...

so, do you compress the heck out of your 2-mix?

I know what Mr. Remote does (ballpark ratio/reduction), but what do you guys usually do when you have to hand something over right after the gig..

some help here Steve?

[fifthcircle]

Short Answer- No... I treat it like I would the 2-buss on any recording I do. Sometimes, I'll give it a little compression/limiting, but nothing overbearing.

For Awhile, I was using a Drawmer Masterflow (2476) as a set of converters for my 2-buss recordings. I'd use a little bit of compression/limiting to prevent overs and so I wouldn't have to think about it... Seemed to work pretty well. Now, I rarely do the 2-track recording while mixing FOH. If they want a raw master of a live recording, they get it as-is and they are informed as to exactly what they get when they book me. If they want a more polished product, they can pay for post.

--Ben

[JayCrouch]

Ben - I also like to set a compressor just so that I am not thinking about the levels.

In recent gigs, I have had the pleasure of having a friend's Apogee Mini-Me on hand. Last gig was a big local show for jamband I work with, they just wanted something really good to spread around to both local fans and internet fans. Bringing down a multi-track would have been overkill, so it was basically a seperate mixer kinda rig, run into a mini-me. Anyways, the mini-me has a few compression curves built it. I used the softest of the 3-curves which is a soft-knee compression scheme anyways. I set my levels as I normally would, yet just an extra touch beyond. You can't hear the compression as far as I'm concerned - and it works when you needed it to.

Other times a FMR 1773 gets the job done quite well, and is very easy to pack along with a small rig.

[TinderArts]

I've been extremely happy with the API 2500 for live bus compression. It's very versatile and if you set it up right, quite transparent.

[Remoteness]

For me it depends on the music. Sometimes I'm crunching the 2 buss with a dynamic range of a couple of dB and the next time it's as open as possible with tons of dynamic range, just like Ben described.

[Steve Smith]

For rock and pop stuff, the SSL taking off 2 - 5 db at the 2 mix generally makes me happy, but remember, if it sounds good, it is good!