... so the commonness of Nathan and Brian is the usage of tape for tracking and mixdown, right?...and that seems to make the bus compressor redundant or excessive.

It would be interesting to know, if there is somebody who's using both (tape and sumcomp) or if there is an analogy?

Andreas

Exactly what I was thinking .

DirkB, I am not picking on your or anything so don't think I am pointing at your ideas and making light of them. We each have our goals when working and I respect yours, cool??

For me I pay a mastering guy to have all the toys that get me the sound you are after. Most mastering cats don't have the mic pres that I have nor do they have the mics or the cool mixing toys etc.

I don't expect that from them, that is not their job. I see my job as getting an emotional proformance from the talent (or non-talent as it is in some cases ) and getting that sound to tape in the best possible way to put the band in the best light.

During mixing it is my job to make the above sound as interesting and as good as I can get it to sound. For me I can get better mixes if I focus my funds on microphones and preamps and channel compressors and channel EQ etc.

If I am getting the finished results that I am looking for from the mastering house I am going to let them handle it, that is their end of the deal after all.

For the most part I think that a good mastering guy will have better ears that I do and a better listening environment as well so I like to leave that up to him. Also my ears hear waht they do in my room, it is nice to get a freash take outside of my end of things on the music I am producing.... just my take....

not ALWAYS! i used a clean comp on the 2 mix at times, but not color stuff, the less the better if you can get away with it


but yes, usually no mix comp as i master my own mixes (eek!) and I look at mixing as pre-mastering, so i have the results in mind at every stage ... why repeat a 2 mix comp when it would be more powerful at mastering?

2" tracks with tape compression, parallel and buss comps are often lovely as-is, especially with a little mixdown tape added in. then master from that tape and buss comp there.

tracking is pre-mixing, pre-production is pre-mixing ... its all ONE train moving!

It seemed excessive even when I was tracking digitally, but mixing to analog. Analog isn't as 'compressed' as you think it would be, not like a regular compressor. To my ears it sounds more like a very subtle limiter. So I stopped using the comp on the two bus. Now that I'm tracking to analog also, it's doing exactly what I wanted to hear...what I think people in general really want to hear out of a two bus compressor, but in reality it's not doing the same thing. It seems to be the proverbial band aid on the bullet wound. I'm not saying that tape is the ultimate answer (although it really sounds like better than real life technicolor sound to my ears), but more of a concentration on massaging placement, individual compression, eq, efx, etc would be more of an appropriate course of action.

Interesting! thumbsup

i posted pretty detailed notes about using it somewhere on here.... maybe search 'psp vw multiband drive' or something like that...

for recording real instruments and want them to sound glued but still real, the tube tech lca-2b won over the ssl "alan smart" compressor at avatar on my acoustic jazz recording. made everything fatter, more "realistic", and "glued in a great way.
kurt

ME

I think Nathan is nailing it (#64) when he talks about what we expect to hear rather than trying to produce something that is right....
The whole thing about mixing is that we are producing the sound equivalent of a painting, where the components are more or less representations of the real life components.
The bus compressor is the varnish!

Ted Fletcher
www.tfpro.com

I mostly record to 2" taoe and often mix toi 1/4" tape and 24/88.2 at the same time. I use a mix buss compressor most of the time. I just dig it!

for the glue I've been using a focusright mixmaster, which is not really bad for a budget unit IMO (AAAAAGGhh flames!)

but I'm moving on to a combination of an old Neumann OEV eq, and NTP limiter cards.
I'm missing some dynamics unit to sit in the middle here, have no idea yet what to get for that. People suggested an avalon, or gyratec, 1968 or API. (limited budget), or maybe an old Neumann U473a that I still need to connect. As I absolutely love the DAV BG1 I've been looking at getting a DAV compressor. But nobody seems to use that, except for classical music productions. (please share your experiences?) Also I have not heard the P38 but it looks promising.

Untill I have the chance to listen I can't make a choice.... anyway

I use stereo compressors (SSL clones and Kultube) on seperate busses, for mixing, and solving dynamic problems. Separate character units (Urei, Joemeek, Siemens) for "dirty" channels. But 2 buss glue is something else..

as suggested sidechain use is the key to good compression, I think. I use software plugins to shape the sidechain signal. Ideal. But I heard some solutions (API) of this sidechain shaping are better than others.

Also I recieved a promo DVD of the Neve Masterlink. Could be the end of all problems. Very cool product, mucho dinero.

Seems a lot of people are thinking of getting a *magic* 2 bus unit. heh

How would the rnc do for this situation compared to all the high priced comps ?

It wouldn't.

it CAN.... its all about how one uses the gear they have.... i have even heard rumour of one particularly successful album for a band where the guy used an ART comp on the 2buss.

those are pretty clean, actually

I will revive this one due to a recent purchase....

I am loving the API 2500 on the stereo Buss!!!!!
Pure rock.
I quickly took the advice of others and mixed through it from the get go and I couldn't be happier with the mixes I have done through it.
Any other 2500 users...feel free to share some ideas!
thumbsup

I'm a big fan of the ART VLA comp. Particularly on drums. I've never really tried it across the 2 buss.


I recently aquired a Studer A807 which is providing a nice glue for my digital mixes.

-Scotty