My philosophy of late has been focus on improving songwriting and making melodic music, and use simple effective production techniques to get a track done, without overusing effects I have little detailed knowledge of. In fact, I haven't even been using compression on anything other than the lead, bass and vocals. Of course, some samples and synths already have compression on them, which I prefer; any time a professional sound designer has already made the decisions about compression, it means one less technical decision I have to make.

I figure, if I ever make a song good enough to see a release, I will let a mastering engineer deal with the most of the loudness. After all, they are experts on compression, and have access to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of mastering equipment.

Here is the strategy I have made regarding compression moving forward. I would be interested to know if anyone thinks there are flaws with this system (and if anyone has recommended settings, I am all ears):

Organize compression into 4 groups. I will look for the best compressors/settings for each.

Group 1: Drums (but not the kick). Add lite compression to bring them together.
Group 2: Bass(es). Add a moderate amount of compression specifically to the basses.
Group 3: Lead Synth. Add a moderate amount of compression specifically for the leads.
Group 4: Vocals. Add a moderate amount of compression specifically for the vocals.

Leave everything else completely uncompressed (some of the samples or synths may already have compression that I didn't add.)

Finally, let a mastering engineer take the pre mastered track peaking at -6 dB and deal with the rest of the loudness.

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try it out! see if that gives you the sound you're looking for. sounds like a good plan

you are forgetting channel compression.

it isn't really hard if you understand the point is to make space or make something byte granted it will byte on your small speakers which i suppose is your listener but ya.

when you mix too surgical, i tends to sound lifeless.
Just use compressors with dry / wet controls so you can get the right balance.

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i put the glue on every single channel it just makes my tracks sound so lush and expensive .


honestly most of compression is just about subtle usage, but each one has a different sound to it, and thats where it comes into play , its knowing which compressor to use to get the type of vibe that you want, you won't get much of it in vst's but cross talk is also something you should take into consideration.

Good Question and Reads...I to want to know however..I tend to do the opposite and compress everything. Could possibly be very wrong in my approach to however, it gives me a very warm feel and how certain tones sit in the mix. So, for me, I am basing everything by ear.

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Compression for me (UAD) -

Mix bus - always compressing the mix bus, something to give that pumping feel, Neve 33609, occasionally 4k

Drum bus - sometimes i will compress the drum bus with an 1176, sometimes snare or clap individually with an 1176, just does something really nice to the tone and shape if its the right sample, doesnt always work

Vocal samples - some vocal samples are a bit up and down volume wise, LA2A is nice on these to even them out, you cant hit it really hard

thats it, i dont compress basses, leads, pads or whatever else - occasionally will put a limiter on the bass if its jumping around a bit

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i compress everything and then mix the dry. WIN WIN

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quote:

Originally posted by evo8 Compression for me (UAD) - Mix bus - always compressing the mix bus, something to give that pumping feel, Neve 33609, occasionally 4k Drum bus - sometimes i will compress the drum bus with an 1176, sometimes snare or clap individually with an 1176, just does something really nice to the tone and shape if its the right sample, doesnt always work Vocal samples - some vocal samples are a bit up and down volume wise, LA2A is nice on these to even them out, you cant hit it really hard thats it, i dont compress basses, leads, pads or whatever else - occasionally will put a limiter on the bass if its jumping around a bit

don't you kind of have to compress the bass to bring it up front with the rest of the track ? at least with dance music.

quote:

Originally posted by LoveHate don't you kind of have to compress the bass to bring it up front with the rest of the track ? at least with dance music.

if i wanna bring something upfront i just turn it up

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A couple of points:

The vast majority of a mix's loudness comes from the mix, not the mastering. If you ask a mastering engineer to bring a bad mix up to "competitive levels", you're going to end up with a crunchy mess. So if you want a clean, loud mix, that's your responsibility as the mix engineer.

Talking about compression in general terms is meaningless, and dangerous. Some people may read it and think they're learning something, and then a month later we get someone writing a ridiculous statement about compression in a forum post, because "that's what they've learned". Talking in generalities is especially dangerous with regard to compression, since in the first couple of years of mixing experience, while one's ears are improving, it's more difficult to hear the unwanted side-effects. EQ, distortion, delay effects are typically easier for the ears to pick up on.

However, this is understandable - in the first couple of years, some of us only think of compression in these general terms, and hence only apply them in these general terms. We may simply say "route all basses into a group, and apply 2 dBs of compression with the threshold a bit under where I'm seeing the maximum level hit, and let's make the attack as fast as possible. There, done". We don't stop and specifically analyse our sounds and say to ourselves "that mid bass is drifting in and out of the mix, I need to make that more solid", then work out if compression is the correct tool to use to fix the problem (it could have some modulation running over some parameter, which could be removed), then work out the specific compression settings for that sound.

We need to identify the attack transients of each sound we're compressing, and whether we want to retain those transients or not. Especially for snares, hi-hats, if we run them through a compressor with a fast attack time, those sounds are going to become quite dull, depending on the other compressor settings. In terms of the release, we need to be able to hear whether the compressor's "pumping" aligns with the song's groove, or works against it. Setting an incorrect release time can kill a song's groove. The ratio and threshold work in tandem, and depend on the answers to "how much do I want to even this out?" and "at what times do I want this sound to be uncompressed?"

Also, so far the discussion hasn't touched on sidechain compression at all. It's quite common for a sound to be "evened out" within itself, then sent into another compressor so that it gets out of the way of the kick, or the main lead, or some other element of the mix it may clash with. Sidechain compression is more straightforward, with the main aims being allowing the main sound to come through cleanly, while retaining/enhancing the song's overall groove.

Once you've worked enough with compressors and understand exactly what you want to do to a specific sound, and how the various controls are going to influence the sound, compressors change from "mysterious black boxes which magically embiggen and glue sounds" to really straightforward effective tools which help in creating really solid mixes.

In terms of the OP's original setup - without knowing specifically which sounds you have in each group, and which specific compression settings are meant by "lite/moderate", whether any of the compressors are being side-chained, and whether you're using the compressors only for function, or whether you're also using them for adding tone, I have no idea whether it'll work for you or not. Each sound, each mix is different, so you're the only one who'll be able to answer that question.

one cool technique that helps to punch the drums is to sidechain the drum to a return track that has some reverb and the compressor that holds the sidechain...it's like every time you hit the drum the compressor pounds back the drum and you can get cool and good results...but you cant overdo it. especially if youre using pre fader...

honestly theres alot of ways that you use compressors in the mix, it's really an art. (dare I say)/

but for people who are just getting into it I agree they should have a checkmark list of like 2 db here and on this buss etc, but yea they need to use their ear.......because you can get so much utility out of compressors in modern dance music.....people figure it out the more they muck around

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