Vocal Tracking: How hard are you hitting the compressor?

[not_so_new]

Mostly rock / heavy rock now days..... and "How hard am I hitting the compressor?" VERY



I don't go crazy with other stuff and compression but lead vocal I will smash, crush, search and destroy then smash again on the way back out as well.



I usually run a Trakker set to LA-2A ish into a Purple MC76 when tracking. Then another pass into the Trakker for mix. I want the vocals to sound like I am sitting right next to the singer, I want to hear them take a breath.

Again, I am NOT talking about every other instrument, I might do some medium compression on drum buss or room but most everything else is pretty open. Vocals are the thing that I really go crazy with.

[David R.]

I usually start with 2:1, sometimes 2 1/2:1. I do not record much rock/hard rock so I try to keep it as little as possible.

[Nu-tra]

I use a symetrix 488 cause it sounds invisible to me.

[Musiclab]

I go light on the way in and whatever sounds right to me on the way out.

[Mike Brown]

Generally 3-4 dB of peak gain reduction at the loudest bits...

Again--- Light on the way in... don't let it get in the way... and what sounds right on the way out...

Use your ears.

[junkshop]

For rock stuff i usually go fairly hard on the way in. My best results have been with an LA3A in limit mode.
For other styles and music that is more sparse I'll go easy on the way in and then use the Audio Suite gain plug in (in Pro Tools) to add gain to the quiet parts so that the compressor can act more consistently on the output.

[Sigma]

with digital 24 bit? ehh no compressor..i ride the vox to a compressor AFTER tracking..then take that and compress it for the mix

[Chris]

Heavy metal. Crush. And mostly because I mix ITB and don't patch in outboard, and I have a good outboard comp.

Then either UAD-1 LA-2A or 1176 itb.

[ScumBum]

Originally Posted by not_so_new

Mostly rock / heavy rock now days..... and "How hard am I hitting the compressor?" VERY



I don't go crazy with other stuff and compression but lead vocal I will smash, crush, search and destroy then smash again on the way back out as well.



I usually run a Trakker set to LA-2A ish into a Purple MC76 when tracking. Then another pass into the Trakker for mix. I want the vocals to sound like I am sitting right next to the singer, I want to hear them take a breath.

Again, I am NOT talking about every other instrument, I might do some medium compression on drum buss or room but most everything else is pretty open. Vocals are the thing that I really go crazy with.

I mix the same .

But I crush the vocals with an 1176 . I forget where I got the setting but its some old time engineers favorite setting .

Ratio 12 , Attack 6 , Release 7 , -15 db


Only things that get some good compression with me are are Kick , Snare , Bass , Vocals .

I mix into a bus compressor ,

[djbrough]

Originally Posted by Sigma

with digital 24 bit? ehh no compressor..i ride the vox to a compressor AFTER tracking..then take that and compress it for the mix

+1

[Chris]

Originally Posted by audiomichael

...and please make note of which style of music.

I'm pretty sure this really does make a big difference... People should answer it.

[unit7]

Rock/pop/jazz, 1:2-1:4, max 5-7 dB (jazz mostly max 3 dB). To save a little to the mix.

[MickeySmid]

I'm using a la610 for vocals lately. And in the very very loud bits the compressor goes up to -10 db... Sounds great.

Style: old soul, gospel type funk.

[Musiclab]

Originally Posted by Chris

I'm pretty sure this really does make a big difference... People should answer it.

personally I don't think the style makes a difference, It's the singer. It makes more of a difference in the mix side, a even more depending on the density of the track and where you want the vocal to sit

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Musiclab

personally I don't think the style makes a difference, It's the singer. It makes more of a difference in the mix side, a even more depending on the density of the track and where you want the vocal to sit

That generally depends on music style/genre, for me. Jazz versus metal, for instance.

[not_so_new]

Originally Posted by Musiclab

personally I don't think the style makes a difference, It's the singer. It makes more of a difference in the mix side, a even more depending on the density of the track and where you want the vocal to sit

Which is why style does make a little difference right?



Unless I am misunderstanding your reply (which I might be)....



…. on the whole (and this statement is not meant to cover every situation) heavy rock and metal tracks tend to be very dense with lots of midrange content. Lots of guitars, double, triple or quad tracked, distorted bass, fast snares etc.

That is a world of difference from a somewhat sparse R&B track that has tons of low end energy but lots of room in the mids for vocals.

It's the same thing I say over and over again around here like a broken record, it's not one thing that makes a recording it's the combination of all the factors. Style being one of them in my eyes, performance being another and it seems to be that a good amount of compression when tracking also helps the singer.

Anyway, I know that I am going to end up with 20 or 25 db of compression on a vocal when all is said and done, I want very little swing in the vocal. I am a BIG proponent of making decisions when tracking if I can. Couple that with the fact that I would MUCH rather get 20 or 25 db of compression from multiple compressors than from one I choose to compress heavy on the way in. Of course YMMV.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by not_so_new

I am a BIG proponent of making decisions when tracking if I can.

I would MUCH rather get home from tracking and load in my .wav's and have a SONG instead of a bunch of finely recorded tracks that sound great in solo.

If they're the same thing, then that's fine.