I never use Compression with pads, I always throw an EQ on it and turn up the mids and highs, with delay and reverb and a phasor. That makes the pads have enough sound and it stands out.

It won't sound right if you don't compress your kicks and bass right. So make sure you got that down and it should all mix in together.

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Pyster's Myspace

Compression is not a quick fix. Compression kills dynamics and will sometimes take the life out of your pads. If something doesn't require a compression tool to fix a problem, then it's a good idea not to use one.

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quote:

Originally posted by Rodas I hear from alot of places that it's not needed because pads are already compressed themselves...

I've read a tutorial before that said that too (probably the same one), but imo that's completely the wrong way of explaining it. What they mean is that pads generally don't have a lot of dynamics (i.e. the sound is more of an 'aaaah' rather than an 'ah'), so you won't need to use compression to reduce the sound's dynamics (they haven't actually been compressed already, but only have the effect of already having been compressed...if that made sense).

The only reason I can see compression useful on pads is if you happen to have a pad with a sharp initial attack that you don't want, or if you just happen to have a pad that has a bit more dynamics than you'd like it. In that case, you could use a compressor with a low ratio and a deep threshold to make the sound more dense, while leaving the transients pretty much intact. Using a higher threshold will just go to squash only the highest peaks down, which is gonna sound ugly in most cases.

Also, I'd suggest using subtractive EQ on pads rather than boosting frequencies. This will make the pads sit better in the mix rather than on top of it, though this of course depends on what sort of effect you're going for. As an example, suck out the low-mids to create a nice airy sound rather than boosting the high-mids and highs to do so. And of course don't forget to high pass.

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.: Atlantis [Atlantean Records]

music engineer/eq professor/multiband professor

Open for mixing and mastering submissions