Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Rancho Palos Verdes, United States
Compression and EQ mystery
Wow, haven't been on here in a while.
So I've been compressing my bass to keep the lower end tighter and I notice a drop in db giving me headroom. Now, intuition tells me that if I apply equalization afterwards by cutting out the highs with no boosting, that the db should at the least stay the same level if not be lower. However, the resulting signal actually has a higher db which is SO WEIRD. It doesn't make sense... I cut out freq...
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Jan-07-2009 09:34
TaylorR
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: May 2005
Location:
it might be because when the compressor is acting, it mainly gets triggered by the sharper transients of the higher freqs therefore if you cut it or make it softer, you decrease the chances of the compressor acting upon it's ratio (for example, 2:1 which means for for every 2db that goes in, 1 db goes out) which basically makes the signal quieter.
that's my theory :P
haha. hope that helps.
Jan-07-2009 10:21
azndragon0613
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Rancho Palos Verdes, United States
But assuming that the sequence of effects matters, the eq after the compression shouldn't affect how the compressor works right? Because when a note is played, it goes through the compressor then the eq. Or is it done continuously over time.
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Jan-07-2009 10:45
djsphere
producer in training
Registered: Apr 2003
Location: bucharest
quote:
Originally posted by TaylorR
it might be because when the compressor is acting, it mainly gets triggered by the sharper transients of the higher freqs
hmmm...i don't think so. he said he applied the eq after the compression, so the eq as no influence as it is applied on the compressed signal.
i think it has something to do with the eq device itself. check for other parameters than frequency and gain, like q factor and stuff. that may be actually boosting the low end as you cut down hi fq.
not sure tho. let us know if you got it fixed.
Last edited by djsphere on Jan-07-2009 at 10:57
Jan-07-2009 10:50
TaylorR
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: May 2005
Location:
quote:
Originally posted by djsphere
hmmm...i don't think so. he said he applied the eq after the compression, so the eq as no influence as it is applied on the compressed signal.
oh shoot, forgot about that part. haha.
Jan-07-2009 11:04
djsphere
producer in training
Registered: Apr 2003
Location: bucharest
wait, i remember it happened to me too:
i was playing a track trough my mixer and the vu-meter was just bellow 0 db. after i turned the hi knob all the way down it started going above 0 db when the kick was triggered.
Jan-07-2009 11:06
DJ_Eternal
Senior tranceaddict
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Warrington, England
quote:
Originally posted by djsphere
hmmm...i don't think so. he said he applied the eq after the compression, so the eq as no influence as it is applied on the compressed signal.
i think it has something to do with the eq device itself. check for other parameters than frequency and gain, like q factor and stuff. that may be actually boosting the low end as you cut down hi fq.
not sure tho. let us know if you got it fixed.
Yeah, that's a good point. What kind of EQ Unit have you got your compressor linked to? Parametric?
If your using a parametric, check your Bandwidth Q and parameter settings. Between both parameters, If you set a low enough Q, sometimes cutting a lot of the high-end frequencies can induce a rise in dB of the mid-level frequencies and possibly the lower level ones depending on where the cut is taking place.
Last edited by DJ_Eternal on Jan-07-2009 at 11:53
Jan-07-2009 11:17
capricorn15
__
Registered: May 2001
Location: CA
does the compressor have automatic make up gain? to 0 db or whatever?
the silver compressor in logic has auto make up gain and sometimes it comes out higher than the original db.
djsphere if high transients are turning on the compressor, you can adjust the attack and make it longer
Jan-07-2009 20:01
Eldritch
Eldritch Project
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: Sweden
Is it a linear phase EQ?
Jan-07-2009 20:24
Storyteller
Supreme tracneaddict
Registered: Feb 2005
Location: The Netherlands
quote:
Originally posted by hadi ******
does the compressor have automatic make up gain? to 0 db or whatever?
the silver compressor in logic has auto make up gain and sometimes it comes out higher than the original db.
djsphere if high transients are turning on the compressor, you can adjust the attack and make it longer
But transients are usually at the start of the sound, making the attack longer which would reduce the ammount of compression on that part of the sound. Shortening the attack would help
If less is more think about how much more more would be.
-Frasier
Jan-07-2009 20:26
azndragon0613
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Rancho Palos Verdes, United States
So I'm using the fruity compressor with 0 ms attack and about 100 ms release at a ratio of 4 to 1 with hard knee. I then (want to) use a parametric equalizer with a low pass filter around 4-5 khz with a STEEP slope just to cut out all higher frequencies. But, with the parametric equalizer graph, I don't let any resonance rise above the 0 db line. It's still soo weird. Maybe i'll just work around it.
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Jan-07-2009 22:59
Timothy
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: Jun 2004
Location: Holland
Some EQ's create some kind of strange bell-shaped curve at the point where you cut wiht a low pass filter, it doesn't go as perfect as the GUI is showing you, which could be an explanation of the boost you're experiencing?
I'm not sure which EQ it was, but maybe it is with one of those EQ's you used :P
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