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Stop sniffing the compression glue
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| DigiNut |
During my very temporary return to this forum, I thought I'd share with all of you one of the most important things I've learned during my absence:
If you think that a better compressor (or any other "mastering") can significantly improve your track, you are wrong.
This is a subject that often comes up in the discussion of compression and mastering, and there have always been those of us who say that the best mastering cannot save a good mix. The revelation for me, over the past few months, was just how much I over-estimated said role of post-production, in spite of all those previous comments. I still thought that my tracks were "almost there", and would sound a lot more professional with that special finishing touch.
This reminded me of the many others who not only think the same thing, but have openly complained that the professional studios have some kind of unfair advantage over us amateurs. If you don't fit that definition, then you don't need to be reading this. If you do, you're wrong.
(Disclaimer: if you have listened to my new tracks, and think they don't sound particularly good and that I'm full of , you are entitled to that opinion and you may even be right. But in which case, why do you care enough about what I have to say to be reading this?)
Anyway, the focus here is on compression specifically. I've since realized that some of my older tracks were horrifically over-compressed. Not just on the master, but also in parts of the mix. I was not able to recognize this until I figured out better ways to bring out the mix, and experienced firsthand just how much more "clear/loud" a production can sound using more precise mixing, often with little or no compression at all.
Of course, "more precise mixing" is a nebulous term, and I'm sorry to say that I can't spell that out for anyone. For me it currently involves experience, frequent breaks, and hours of painstaking labour, but YMMV. What I can do, however, with great confidence, is tell you to stop sniffing the compression glue this instant.
A bit of compression on the master (say 2:1) is fine. A bit more compression (say 3:1) on a kick or bass is also fine. Anything else, and you're wading into dangerous territory. Here are some things you should definitely NOT compress:
- Cymbals (hi-hats etc. - never, ever, ever)
- Snares or claps (a little bit is OK, but be very careful)
- Acoustic guitar (I know it's tempting, but just don't)
- Piano (good EQ will bring it out 10 times better than any compressor, and won't kill the dynamics)
- Tribal percussion (sticks, congas, bongos, and so on - dear God, don't compress these)
- Strings (just kill me now)
- Bells or other decaying elements (they're called "decaying" for a reason - if you need to louden the tail, then adjust your synth)
- Anything else that you don't want to sound cold and mechanical!
- Probably a lot of other things that I forgot about
I know I always say that there are no rules, and obviously there are some people who will disagree with me on the above points and still make great tracks. I'm not talking to those people. I'm talking to the people who think that the only thing lacking from their tracks is good compression. Chances are, your track may already be suffering from overcompression. But even if you haven't used much or any compression, don't think that a fancy compressor is going to suddenly bring out the magic in your track; chances are very high that you're lacking something else, like EQ (which by the way has to be done on individual channels to really be effective, don't expect master EQ to really take care of this either).
And remember: Compression is cumulative. If you put a 2:1 on one channel, then a 3:1 on its routing group, and another 2:1 on the master, it's going to sound squashed and ugly in the end. Yes, I'm ignoring the role of knees and trigger levels and attack times and release times, because they're basically irrelevant to this particular post.
I hope this has been enlightening. If not, feel free to launch into a tirade on how I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, and how $4000 hardware compressors can make such a HUGE difference compared to cheesy old VSTs. I'll be happy to respond to you by bringing out the ole' give-a-ometer and spending my extra $4000 on booze and hookers.
Cheers! |
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| Lindo |
| Good read...I'd say most of that was known for me, but for others it's definitely worth the read. |
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| zodiac9 |
Welcome back Diginut, I was wondering where you went to actually. I read your whole post, I didn't just scan it, I read it intently. I might go read it again. Now thing is, I thought maybe proper matering would magically give my tracks that professional, commercial grade sound. I haven't gone that route yet, so I can't say if it will or won't. The only compression I use is on the kick and bass, I'm using more than the 3:1 you recommend. I'm going to experiment and try using less, it can't hurt to try. I have yet to put any compression on the final mix, every time I've tried even as little as 2:1, I either get this horrible distortion noise, or it squashes the mix or makes it sound odd.
Now I have learned something recently that you mentioned, I don't EQ the whole mix anymore, I EQ each synth and sample individually. I realize now this is the only way to go if you want precise EQing, and totall control of the entire mix.
On another point I concur, I never mix my tracks in one night, I do it over a period of time. Yep, you have to rest your ears and come back later and rehear what you've done. I find it usefully to get a family member or friend to listen too, because even if they know nothing about producing, they can tell you what their ears are hearing, whether something is too loud, or too soft to hear. I get very neurotic when I mix, because I realize this can make or break a track.
OK, to sum it up, great, thoughfull post Diginut. I know some won't agree, and then I'll be confused again. My thinking is, if a mixdown is done well, all the "mastering" that needs to be done is some normalizing, maybe a little compression, and possibly a little boost of certain frequencies to give tracks that "commercial" sound. I read that somewhere about the frequency boosting, so I might of missunderstood it.
I'm going to let a producer buddy of mine master an EP I'm working on, we'll see how that goes. |
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| Vizay |
as usual the conclusion can be drawn that it's most of the time not the tools but the user that has control over the sound.
I agree with you on some points and I disagree on some others, I'm not gonna go into details tho because that's not what this is about imo (we all have a different view about our music, thank god):)
The nice thing about music is that it's easy to try out for yourself to see if it's true or not and of course, there's 346723468792467 times infinity ways to get there ;)
A 40k compressor can prolly help someone out there but the general rule apllies even on epic magic yuber hellspawn tools like that, if you can't use it then what's the point in spending 40k on it? |
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| DJ Shibby |
| Same goes for EQ. |
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| kitphillips |
Heya! There's been heaps of stuff on compression lately, so I was just wondering... When you talk about compression at the mastering phase (ie on the whole mix) aren't you better off just whacking on a very gentle limiter? Thats what I've always done, and then left compression for individual elements.
Also when you talk about acoustic guitars and pianos not needing compression, do you mean samples/synth or actual live performances? If you know a way to put in live acoustic instruments (not samples obviously) without any compression, how do you do it? I've always found that live stuff needs compression to sound nice next to electronic stuff. Is this just poor technique?
I agree totally with the rest of your post, just wanted to check on those two things... |
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| kitphillips |
| But, isn't the purpose of putting a compressor on the master channel just to stop clipping? Seems silly to use a compressor for something like that coz it doesn't work off an inf:1 ratio. I dunno... |
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| dEEkAy |
Good post. Agree'd in all points.
But I guess it won't make a lot of sense with some peeps here :stongue:
Just wait a few weeks and you'll have another hand full of "omfg-can i compress my traxx till they sound good" threads :rolleyes:
but hence, it formerly was an Ama Forum :toothless |
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| kitphillips |
Well, maybe I'm wrong, but isn't that what this entire post's about? Using a compressor on the whole mix to make it "louder" and destroying the dynamics in the process?
If you were actually making the mix louder using a compressor then it would still clip.
The whole point of using a compressor or a limiter in the mastering process is to remove the peaks that are causing clipping that escaped you in the mixing, sort of like a last resort.
I am not suggesting putting the master up to where it clips and then just slapping on a limiter. Even I Know that's stupid. |
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| Storyteller |
| quote: | Originally posted by kitphillips
If you were actually making the mix louder using a compressor then it would still clip.
The whole point of using a compressor or a limiter in the mastering process is to remove the peaks that are causing clipping that escaped you in the mixing, sort of like a last resort. |
This isn't entirely true. A professional mastering engineer would compress with the goal to make the overall mix louder up to a certain standard. |
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| kitphillips |
| Oh, Ok I see, yeah I misunderstood the orginal post. Thanks for the info.:) |
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| dEEkAy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Storyteller
This isn't entirely true. A professional mastering engineer would compress with the goal to make the overall mix louder up to a certain standard. |
Indeed.
A limiter is NOT for removing clips. In fact, the signal shouldnt clip at all before it's running through a compressor/limiter. It should be by far less louder than what comes out of the comp/limiter.
Else a limiter or compressor wont influence the dynamics of the track at all (or will even get close to what's called "brickwall limiting") |
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