Compression

[Apex Beat]

Whats the best VST to buy for compression? Its been hinted that compression is the way to give ones productions that professional quality to them, in the context of clarity etc. I use ableton but dont really find its built in ones helpful so I'm looking to buy one which I can learn to use propley and spend time doing so...

Any ideas? PC user here.

[nova]

somone posted a comp up on this board somwhere that looks pretty good. i havnt used it but looks good

[nova]

yeah it was the compadre beat puncher.

[jesus]

youve got the waves c1, probably industry standard http://www.waves.com/content.asp?id=158

renaissance comp- adds colour like classic hardware comp - http://www.waves.com/content.asp?id=123

sonalksis - ment to be as good as high end hardware- http://www.sonalksis.com/index.php?section_id=315

neodynium - new type of compression looks innovative havent tryed yet though. http://www.elementalaudio.com/products/neodynium/index.html

i prefer the sonalksis but you cant go wrong with the wave ones.

[loopdon]

got the sonalksis and the waves c4...

[AcidTrash]

Whats the best VST to buy for compression? Its been hinted that compression is the way to give ones productions that professional quality to them, in the context of clarity etc. I use ableton but dont really find its built in ones helpful so I'm looking to buy one which I can learn to use propley and spend time doing so...

Any ideas? PC user here.

TC Works bundle is fab. The only oine thats made any sense or major impact on my music. Waves isn't bad tho if you can make head or tail of it.

[dirty_bass]

ooh sonalksis looks good
Need it need it.

[Mattias Fridell (emb)]

For those of you that has never tried the SV-315 Compressor (Sonalksis) DO SO NOW! Better software can never be found.

[BloodStar]

and what about Sinus Peak Comp??? it"s also nice piece of soft, imo.

[Mattias Fridell (emb)]

Never tried it, give me URL please.

[StoQ]

i use Cubase default compressors

[BloodStar]

http://www.sinusweb.de/peak.html

[rounser]

Sinus Peak is good for transparent compression (i.e. simply making things louder inside the same headroom) as opposed to making percussion snap and pump and glue rhythms together, and also good if you don't know what you're doing (it's an excellent learning tool if you don't). You'll probably need one of the above for getting that audible, techno pumping compression. Was recently impressed by Sonic Timeworks CompressorX for that job...

Anyway, I dug up this thread for a reason - I found this:
http://www.dogsonacid.com/showthread.php?s=c7d34db8570bd364f09a802a2fb59e19& threadid=279694

Couple of good articles to be had in there...you may have to join dogsonacid to get at the attachment though.

[Audioklinik]

How can I use the sidechain function with Sonalksis Compressor in SX2?
Does anybody use this?

[Dan Devious]

waves or TC works!! :rambo:

[eyes without a face]

i find TC works very nice indeed, and also try the Kjaeurhus Audio range includes a very nice compressor

[violenski]

i find the tc works or sonalksis are pretty good nice and punchey!!!!

[BloodStar]

TC works is doing it ****in well :rambo:

[Agility]

Compadre beat Puncher any good? I want a copy. :twisted:

I just use the Waves C1. :eh:

[Apex Beat]

Well I've started the learning process of compression now (check out my latest tune in the technofiles section!) and I've mainly been using a Yamaha Final Master. Found this excellent so far!

[sash]

sonalksis sv-315 and sound forge's 'wave hammer' :)

[Mindful]

sonalksis sv-315 and sound forge's 'wave hammer' :)

Wave hammers is sweet mate

[MARKEG]

wave hammer is a maximiser

???????????


best comp by far is waves c1/c4 range.

forget the others, honestly. :clap:

[Craig McW]

Tracks.

[rounser]

For those who didn't go to the DOA link, here's the article. Using this technique made me feel as if I really knew what I was doing and had control over the results, which is more than any other reading on the topic has done for me. :lol:

Cracking Compressors by Mike Stavrou
Extract from his book "Mixing With Your Mind"

http://www.mixingwithyourmind.com/


It's Like Cracking a Safe

Compressors have four basic knobs (parameters) and the key to classy compression is as simple as the order in which you reach out and focus on adjusting those knobs. When you get the sequence right, you'll hear more clearly the effect of each parameter - thereby arriving at a truer and more musical setting.

The compressor's combination lock has four tumblers. Adjusting them in a special order also prevents you from returning to a previously adjusted control. Don't you hate it when you are happy with the Release time until you fiddle with the Attack? They affect each other when adjusted randomly or out-of-sequence. Chasing your tail is about to become a thing of the past. Like cracking any combination lock, once a tumbler falls into place, you need not return to it. Each step represents decisive progress.

Getting started (temporary settings)

To crack this combination, you will need to set all the controls to a temporary setting while you focus on one parameter at a time. Once the first one is set, that tumbler falls in place, leaving three more to crack. Focus on the next one - listen - adjust - and tumbler number two falls into place and so forth. Approach this safe-cracking exercise in a different order and you will arrive at a different result.

* Attack to anywhere
* Release to minimum
* Ratio to maximum
* Threshold to sensitive

1. Attack
The first thing you do is set the ratio to as high as it'll go - 20:1, infinity... the highest you've got. Next set the release time to as fast as it'll go - which, admittedly, is faster than you'd ever want it. Then, drive the audio into the unit, either by lowering the Threshold or increasing the input (depends on the unit), and listen while you adjust the only the Attack time.

Listen to the Attack - the leading edge of the sound - while rolling the Attack knob. Try to ignore the horrible pumping caused by the after effects of the fast Release - just listen to the Attack. (The ultra-fast Release lets you hear far more individual attacks than a slow setting.)

Listen to the front edge of the sound. Notice how the Attack knob affects the size of the hit. So, if it's a snare drum that you are compressing, and the Attack is on a fast setting, it's as though the drumstick is really skinny.

Alternatively, if the Attack is on a slow setting, it's as if the stick is much thicker. Likewise, if it's an acoustic guitar and the Attack is on a fast setting, you're just hearing the finger nail come through as it hits the string; while if the Attack is slow, you might get the whole strum through - the entire transient bypasses the compressor. So, forget all the after effects, just listen to the thickness of the Attack until it's "tasty" - you might want it thin, you might want it thick, just think aesthetics. And then, because the ratio is so high and the release is so fast, you'll be able to hear the affect of the Attack time much clearer than if they were on any other setting. This technique effectively "turns your ears up" to heighten your perception of the Attack time control.

2. Release
The second step is to play with the Release time. "Release" controls the speed at which the sound glides back at you after being punched away. The trick is to get that speed to become a musical component of the sound. You might ask, "Do you mean in time with the music?" or "With fast music do I set faster than I would for a slow ballad?" Perhaps, but certainly don't think, "I want it fast because I want to compress the crap out of this" - don't do that. In fact, make it as slow as you can, so the compression envelope bounces back to reinforce or establish the groove of the music. Remember, any dynamic movement in a song affects the groove, and compressor/limiters are no exception. (Whether the Singer is moving back and forth from their mic, or you're madly wiggling a fader, or a compressor is pushing and pulling on a sound, the groove is at risk of being enhanced or destroyed by dynamic movement.) So, don't set your Release to a fast setting just because you want to hear something buried behind the sound. Forget that. There are bigger fish to fry. You're already compressing a little bit, so the se background sounds will come forward anyway. Instead, you want to think, "How slow can I get it while maintaining some control?", because the power in the groove is really a slower-moving, subliminal yet powerful wave - it's not an ultra-fast thing that's there to crunch your sound. Even in a frantically fast-paced tune, a slower, subliminal undercurrent carries most of the power. For example, you might have it so slow by the time the next hit comes along it's not quite fully released. But that's okay. A formulaic approach might intellectually tell you that it has to be fully released before the next hit, but that's more math and less groove.

Listen to the Release. Feel the way it glides or bounces back at you and there will be a point where you sense this bounce-back is kind of like a swing -almost like someone is swinging from a rope in a tyre in groove with the tune. It doesn't have to be perfectly in time, because a groove - as anyone who teaches music will tell you - should keep time, but not necessarily play the time.
Never play the metronome. Never play the conductor's baton. So, don't just make it a quarter of a beat or whatever, just look for that groove, and that's your release time. Make the rush of the Release a musical component that pushes you into the next beat without pre-empting the beat. Let the musician hit you while the pressure is still rising instead of letting the compressor finish its swing - dead air - lifeless moment... no good, Allow the compressor to push the sound towards you until the music makes it's next statement.

If, however, all you care about is maximum volume (no matter how detrimental to the groove that might be), then ignore this last paragraph and set the Release to "maximum irritation"! But I must add that if you aim to make the product likeable (extremely groovy, for example), the wrist of the listener will always turn up the volume for you more effectively than any brick wall compression ever could.

3. Ratio
At this point, the Ratio is set to maximum, so it's going to sound over compressed. So the next job is to take the Ratio and lower it as much as you can without losing the effects you created with your Attack and Release settings.

Think of the Ratio control a bit like a telephoto lens - the higher the Ratio, the smaller the sound is - although it will be more controlled. The lower the Ratio - as in 2:1(given the same output voltage), aesthetically feels like a larger image. So, the lower the Ratio the bigger it is - but at the risk of getting out of control. Meanwhile, the higher the Ratio, the smaller it is - although more contained. The idea is usually to try and make it sound big, but in control. So, bring down the Ratio, then when you don't hear the effects that you like - the thickness of the stick, the groove you created with the Release time - you can raise the Ratio a little, all the time focussing on size. At this stage, don't think about Ratio in terms of numbers - just about size and firmness of the sound. You know how I often talk about "firmness' and "Hardness Factors"? Well, as you raise the Ratio, the sound will become firmer (and smaller) as as you lower the Ratio it becomes softer(but bigger). So you might want to think along the lines of: "How firm do I want this?"


4. Threshold
The last thing you adjust is the Threshold. It's important to turn the Threshold knob so that it's not compressing all the time. The right setting will see dynamic movement coming to rest at special moments - otherwise you get a flatter, more lifeless sound.

Having uncompressed sound emerging from the processor at appropriate musical moments adds colour and contrast to the sound. For example, permitting the dynamic movement to come to rest in some quieter moments allows that moment to attain a momentary, bigger, 1:1 presence, and prevents it from rushing towards the listener with unwanted noise. It's sad enough that the little quiet moments are small without being squashed smaller still due to high compression ratios. Each time the sound comes up for air, so to speak it attains a sense of reality - a 1:1 ratio.

WARNING!
Most engineers do not realise that Ratios are multiplicative, not additive. If you compress your mix 10:1 and then the mastering engineer compresses it at 10:1 you effectively achieve, not a 20:1 but a 100:1 texture. Ouch! Consider yourself warned. This applies to all compression. If you compress a voice during recording at 10:1 and then in the mix again at 4:1 you don't get 14:1 but 40:1. Next time you mix consider the ratios likely to be used at the radio stations that provide the finishing touch. Ask yourself, "How small a sound can I bear to hear On the Air?"

That Very Expensive Sound
If you follow these steps, set your compressor to the settings in the illustrations, and follow the path of the Yellow Knob Road, then by the time you get to this point in the article you'll have a big and bouncy, firm but flexible, juicy and slippery groovy sound. Or as some would say, "a more expensive sound".

Mike Stavrou

[TechMouse]

renaissance comp- adds colour like classic hardware comp - http://www.waves.com/content.asp?id=123
I always end up digging this one out!

The compressors with the UAD-1 card are pretty quality, but you need to shell out for the herdware.

[sash]

wave hammer is a maximiser

???????????



there's a compressor and a maximiser.