Icaro
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Apr 7, 2011 23:58
If sending kick + Bass to a bus, it doesn't take much compression for the 'glue' effect to help make the kick/bass sit well together. Over compressing the bus can squish the life from the kick and bass, and it ends up sounding really lifeless or 'flat'. I sometimes go back and listen to some of the earliest tracks I made, and I can hear that exact problem. I think it just takes practice and patience to learn how not to overdue compression. Also, takes time to figure out what exactly you're listening for, and be able to hear the subtle differences as well as the more drastic obvious effects like 'pumping', etc.
willsanquil
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Posted : Apr 8, 2011 00:14
OH, another thing - and this doesn't apply only to compression...
If you turn a compressor or FX unit or something in your chain on and off, and you can't hear the difference?
Don't use it. Try not to use something just because someone else told you to or you have a feeling that is the 'right' way to do things.
I didn't use compression for a while because I didn't understand it and couldn't hear what it was doing a lot of the time, and my understanding of it is still amateur I'm sure but in time my ears developed enough that I could hear it.
Don't beat yourself up and fly towards advanced techniques if you don't have a basic grasp of the....basics or else you'll get lost in technical land, get frustrated and not write any music etc.
On 2011-04-08 00:14, willsanquil wrote:
I didn't use compression for a while because I didn't understand it and couldn't hear what it was doing a lot of the time, and my understanding of it is still amateur I'm sure but in time my ears developed enough that I could hear it.
i know that trap quite well. i was doing the same not only with compression. now when i go over my first couple of tracks again, i turn off lots of effects and eq things differently, just to be able to listen to that material properly
Quote:
On 2011-04-07 23:35, willsanquil wrote:
To me, compression is like ketamine.
People try to explain it; 99% of the time they fail.
It's fucking weird/hard to understand...
But it works really well.
Don't do too much.
not at all, compression is pretty simple: it just turns the volume down
jekvan
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Posted : Apr 8, 2011 02:42
I don't know man,a brush is a brush,if it paints I don't care what size it is...I am here to do shit and if it comes out great,I don't care what are exact technicality,it just goes inside my crayon box.
Here is example for you of the bassline I've done with that LFO to volume and compress trick,maybe I'm missing something and later I will be more technical and less intuitive down the road,this day I'm just happy to draw my notes.
The bassline is pumping,maybe my "monitors" are way off,but it sounds awesome to me.Maybe its just the fat blunt talking...
From all the things I lost,that sandwitch cost me most :)
psyraal
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Posted : Apr 8, 2011 16:17
Quote:
On 2011-04-08 02:42, jekvan wrote:
I don't know man,a brush is a brush,if it paints I don't care what size it is...I am here to do shit and if it comes out great,I don't care what are exact technicality,it just goes inside my crayon box.
Here is example for you of the bassline I've done with that LFO to volume and compress trick,maybe I'm missing something and later I will be more technical and less intuitive down the road,this day I'm just happy to draw my notes.
The bassline is pumping,maybe my "monitors" are way off,but it sounds awesome to me.Maybe its just the fat blunt talking...
How would you like it if i went to another topic of yours and show somethin made by me?
Icaro
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Apr 8, 2011 23:58
There is a .pdf file you can find for download called 'Bob Katz The Secret of the Mastering Engineer', that has some good info. Mostly, he goes into mastering stuff, but there are some good tips for compression in there, that applies to basic compression use. I'd highly recommend checking any of his stuf out.
psyraal
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Posted : Apr 9, 2011 00:01
Quote:
On 2011-04-08 23:58, Icaro wrote:
There is a .pdf file you can find for download called 'Bob Katz The Secret of the Mastering Engineer', that has some good info. Mostly, he goes into mastering stuff, but there are some good tips for compression in there, that applies to basic compression use. I'd highly recommend checking any of his stuf out.
Ok here are some technical explanations for your questions..
Sidechain is actually a "module" inside compressor/gate that listens to its ( sidechain, not the original you want to process ) input signal and tells to VCA or whatever control circuit device is using to control the amp ( fader ) of the output.
Basically when you sidechain something ( eg. kick ) that means that compressor will listen and react to that signal instead of the original one that is going in and out of the compressor.
Sidachain is basically always used, but what gets sidechained by default is the original input signal that is going thru the device.. the signal you actually hear on the output of the device.
About M/S.. Chemogen is right about isolating.. you have middle channel and side channels ( L and R ). So what is panned in the middle you hear only in middle channel and nothing in side channel, as you pan sounds towards L or R you get that signal more in side channel and less in mid channel..
So basically, kick and bassline should be mono and in the middle and you should hear those only in mid channel, when you listen only side channel there should be no kick and bass there.. Try Brainworx bx_solo to get the idea, it is a freeware plugin!!
Hope this clears things out for you
All the best,
Psynthax
psyraal
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Posted : Apr 9, 2011 14:18
Quote:
On 2011-04-09 06:46, Psynthax wrote:
Ok here are some technical explanations for your questions..
Sidechain is actually a "module" inside compressor/gate that listens to its ( sidechain, not the original you want to process ) input signal and tells to VCA or whatever control circuit device is using to control the amp ( fader ) of the output.
Basically when you sidechain something ( eg. kick ) that means that compressor will listen and react to that signal instead of the original one that is going in and out of the compressor.
Sidachain is basically always used, but what gets sidechained by default is the original input signal that is going thru the device.. the signal you actually hear on the output of the device.
About M/S.. Chemogen is right about isolating.. you have middle channel and side channels ( L and R ). So what is panned in the middle you hear only in middle channel and nothing in side channel, as you pan sounds towards L or R you get that signal more in side channel and less in mid channel..
So basically, kick and bassline should be mono and in the middle and you should hear those only in mid channel, when you listen only side channel there should be no kick and bass there.. Try Brainworx bx_solo to get the idea, it is a freeware plugin!!
But it actually isn't that simple, if I am to get more technical about it.. ( M/S )
Side bands are actually summation and difference between left and right channel, its basically stereo information in your mix that will be lost if it is converted to mono.. AFAIK
