Do you ever think compressors, suck?

[Lesha]

I think a "dynamics controller" is a good explanation of how a compressor works, and what is its overall purpose.

[jens]

Yes, I would agree with that - but of course it is also more than that, because it also tends to colour the sound of the material it processes - pleasurably, ideally.

[Tp3]

Do you ever think that commas, suck?

Only when used to decimalize numbers.

...and compressed with no more (!) then 3dB of reduction.

Do you ever think compressors, suck?

LIFE SUCKS... what can you do ?

If life sucks try better compressor or what any it is simular called .Not 3db reduction, 3db increase . but if try tb barricade 5 db sound good too. you can try out. but you should be warned. Can sound bad on iphone speaker, because the thin plastic housing of iphone speaker or simular begin to self oscilation and produce ugly sound because of the more punch. if your make music for this better reduce below 200 hz with maybe 4 db /octave.

You completely obliterated the transient of that paragraph.

And then some

[herodotus]

There are many folks I love who hardly use compression - and I deeply admire anyone who can mix largely without it and still produce very exciting, great mixes. Steve Albini and Infected Mushroom being 2 great examples.

FWIW, Steve Albini gets compression through tape saturation and other kinds of clipping. Even when using compression, clipping right before it is a great way to catch sharp, fast transients that most compressor don't do well with.

Yes, I'm aware there may be some kind of overall compression going on somewhere ie. recording to tape, but, compression, as far as I know, is not part of the 'process' for these folks.

but in a way it is after all - it doesn't really matter what device has been used to achieve the compression, because it will always be a conscious decision to use it in order to achieve a certain result and if compression is part of the processing the device applies, then it is a conscious decision to apply compression.

I don't use much distortion on guitar, but the more I use on a certain track/part, the less likely it will be that I add compression on top of that, as the distortion already results in compression. The kind of sound I am aiming for when I use strong distortion is a heavily compressed one. The compression is part of what I want to achieve,

Steve Albini made clear many times that his preference for tape was not aesthetic, but rather based on a belief that digital formats were unstable and likely to become obsolete, making it possibly difficult to access old files in the future. Tape would work for as long as mechanics could repair the machines, which had been made to quite exacting specifications. (In a way he had a point, as many early digital devices had proprietary storage formats, and some still do, though I think the chances of the future completely forgetting how to access pcm wave files is pretty low.)

In any case, he uses compression all of the time, and has tons of dynamic processors available at his studio. He just has a personal preference for recordings that sound as close to the source as possible.

Finally, it should be noted that high end analog tape machines in the pre-digital era were rarely used for the special effects applications that fascinate kvrians today. They were precision machines that were mostly used to capture the sound source as accurately as possible. The fidelity of state of the art tape machines in the 70s was really quite amazing, sort of like a mechanical watch that only loses a second a week.

[Bhan]

The old school rule of compression. They are to be seen and not heard. If you hear compression effects - you are simply not applying them correctly.

[bongo_x]

Finally, it should be noted that high end analog tape machines in the pre-digital era were rarely used for the special effects applications that fascinate kvrians today. They were precision machines that were mostly used to capture the sound source as accurately as possible.

I get what you're saying, but that's a pretty broad blanket statement. I worked on things all the time where I or someone else recorded things crazy hot to tape specifically to get that sound. Everything in an analog studio, including tape, is used this way, you decide how hard you hit every piece of gear depending on what sound you want. Certainly there were people trying to capture the cleanest sound possible, but "rarely" is an overstatement, I would say the clean approach was more rare in my experience. It was really just an entirely opposite approach; you were getting color at every stage whether you wanted it or not, some people would try to minimize it, some would exploit it. Now you're not getting color unless you add it, some add more than others.

[jens]

The old school rule of compression. They are to be seen and not heard. If you hear compression effects - you are simply not applying them correctly.

Pretty sure you just made that rule up...


Either way it is complete nonsense of course - if you don't hear lots of compression on all those classic records from the 70's and 80's then it's rather your lack of Hearings skills than the lack of heavy compression on those records. The compression on Wish you Were Here for instance was so heavy, they had to use a forklift to apply it - if you don't hear it I applaude your cute naive innocence.

[Ronny Pries]

Compressors already drove me mad. Until i figured: i was using them wrong. The best advice i've been given in this regard:

"use your ears, not your eyes - idiot!"

And two things i'd like to add:

1. make sure your ears are aware of details and that your monitors are able to deliver them.
2. make sure you're using the right compressor for the right task

[Hermetech Mastering]

I did a little tutorial on using compressors in mastering a while back:

http://hermetechmastering.com/2016/03/2 ... ression-2/

[camsr]

Compressors already drove me mad. Until i figured: i was using them wrong. The best advice i've been given in this regard:

"use your ears, not your eyes - idiot!"

And two things i'd like to add:

1. make sure your ears are aware of details and that your monitors are able to deliver them.
2. make sure you're using the right compressor for the right task

Being able to see what they do helps hone in the ears on the subtle changes taking place. But the end result is obviously purely audial.

[herodotus]

Finally, it should be noted that high end analog tape machines in the pre-digital era were rarely used for the special effects applications that fascinate kvrians today. They were precision machines that were mostly used to capture the sound source as accurately as possible.

I get what you're saying, but that's a pretty broad blanket statement. I worked on things all the time where I or someone else recorded things crazy hot to tape specifically to get that sound. Everything in an analog studio, including tape, is used this way, you decide how hard you hit every piece of gear depending on what sound you want. Certainly there were people trying to capture the cleanest sound possible, but "rarely" is an overstatement, I would say the clean approach was more rare in my experience.

But I don't think that you are considering the big picture here. A clean, unsaturated approach to recording characterized pretty much all orchestral albums, movie and tv soundtracks, spoken word albums, recorded radio programs, jazz albums, showtunes, 'easy listening' albums and nature recordings.

Whether it is true or not that most rock recordings made purposeful use of tape saturation, such recordings were but a part of the totality of recorded sound in the era of magnetic tape.

[murnau]

I did a little tutorial on using compressors in mastering a while back:

http://hermetechmastering.com/2016/03/2 ... ression-2/

Nice read. Thank you!

[camsr]

What exactly do you expect of a compressor?

Honestly, I have no idea. And I am SURE this is because... of what goes into the compressor and how that compressor is reacting. Believe it or not, but compressors do not react to subjective interpretations of sound quality, only signal statistics.

[camsr]

It's good to remind yourself sometimes that a compressor isn't just for keeping dynamics in check. It can also be used for the exact opposite purpose and as a "swing generator" (or even a "swing killer").

But what IS dynamics? This question IMO is even more relevant in regards to a wideband compressor (you know, the kind that don't do band splitting).