Is it possible to record a track without using a compressor at all? What will be the results?

If you want to know that question why don't you try it.

Listen to michael jackson´s thriller album. It was mixed without compression at all!
Not sure if there was any compression during the mastering stage, but if so - minimal I guess.
You will most likely need to ride the faders quite a bit (volume automation), in order to get the track
nicely even. Try it! I´m using VERY little compression in my newest remix, so I´m curious
on how it will sound in the end.

compression is not a must, it's an artistic decission

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Originally posted by Microlab Is it possible to record a track without using a compressor at all? What will be the results?

To understand what a compressor is useful for, study what dynamics means. There are sounds you want to compress so they meet a certain threshold in volume and dont go past that and all dynamics within that individual sound track meet that volume without going past it by much. If they are higher than the lower volumed sounds then those higher sounds are squashed so that the lower sounds are more closer in volume to the higher sounds. You have to ask yourself do you want the dynamics to be even or do you want the different moments within a sound to be dynamic and have different volumes, a dynamic sound usually has more character. Something like a snare you want all the snare hits to maintain an even level of volume so that the overall mix isnt jumping around in volume because the snare is changing its volume every other hit, especially if you have a compressor on the mix bus, same with the kick. Compression is as artistic as it is a technical utility. It just takes a lot of practice to get mixes sounding good.

But as far as results of not compressing, your mix will jump around in volume and is hard to mix down and master later on. And you also run into the problem of clipping when you have a lot of tracks at their highest dynamic point going off at the same time, good compression technique will lower the chances of this happening. Personally I use minimal compression, I like to keep a sounds dynamics as much as possible, lets the track breath.

IMO compression is vastly overused in most music (especially commercial music). It often ruins all the dynamics of tracks and although in many cases when used technically correctly it can add energy, it often removes all subtlety and dynamic variance in tracks.

It is in most instances necessary for vocals, basslines and loud drums, but people seem to throw it on everything now, thinking it's a mandatory requirement.

I actually try to avoid using compression until the very last stages of the mix (unless for obvious elements listed above), as this makes me concentrate harder on getting the samples and relative levels just right in the first place, and stops me from "cheating" by compressing elements that don't fit well together naturally.

this is quote from another forum by manuel schleis (guy behind spencer & hill)

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compression is made for vocal recordings, drum recordings (real drums), guitar recordings etc... Its made for making low volume parts louder and high volume parts softer to get an equal average volume... in my opinion, it makes absolutely NO sense, to compress a pad, or a lead sound or any other synthetic sounds, where you have a full ADSR and note volume-velocity control...

He does not even compress the kick wich was huge surprise for me..

i hate compression , its a ballache and i cant be bothered to involve it in any of my productions just because everyone else says so.
Ive had comments saying ive overcompressed in the MPP when ive not even used a compressor.
Ive hundreds of knobs to turn , and i dont see why a compressor should undo your work and in the end you switch it off.
My gosh i feel strongly about anti-compression.

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Originally posted by Notle He does not even compress the kick wich was huge surprise for me..

I rarely compress ANY sampled drums, unless I'm intentionally trying to achieve a compressed sound for effect. There's no need to compress anything that has a static level (e.g., samples) - if you need to achieve a consistent level with samples, just make sure the velocities are the same and set the fader where you want it.

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quote:

Originally posted by Notle this is quote from another forum by manuel schleis (guy behind spencer & hill) He does not even compress the kick wich was huge surprise for me..

Well sometimes you have to if you want the track to swing, compressing will allow you to draw the kick in a way that it behaves with the bassline better, if you dont compress it you might not get that swing the bassline is offering the piece. So compressing and shortening kick by milliseconds might make that difference. Sometimes a kick's transient already works well with the bassline and no compression is needed. That said I doubt he never compresses the kick, different pieces require different compression technique.

But yah hes right about not compressing a pad, the only pads that you might want to compress are the ones that swell up and down and the peak is far higher in db than the lower portions which can cause problems with the mix. Also compression might be needed if you are doing filter automation on the pad, on some pads opening the cutoff will increase the volume and create problems with the mix if you dont compress, or instead of compressing you can automate the volume as the filter cutoff opens up, ie ride the fader

quote:

Originally posted by Notle this is quote from another forum by manuel schleis (guy behind spencer & hill) He does not even compress the kick wich was huge surprise for me..

I said the same thing on another forum once and got lambasted. Compression is great for vocals and guitars, but I don't personally use it on synths except where I'm after a very specific effect.

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Originally posted by Notle He does not even compress the kick wich was huge surprise for me..

Well that would make sense, since he rips all his samples from other tracks which already have compression on them

I compress fairly much and I think it works so I don't care what other people say.

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