When is OPTO compression not suitable?

[dumbangel]

(thanks for tomb 4)

I bought a Distressor recently and so far I've used the opto mode a lot as I find it very discrete and faster to set, but since I'm no expert on the subtleties of compression, I wonder on what sources that type of compression isn't really suitable? Your experience?

[joel hamilton]

I kept thinking how to answer this...

There is no better or worse time for any technique. YOU have to decide. I could come up with a theoretical, outlandish scenario where I personally would not compress. This scenario STILL would not be specific to the opto mode on a specific piece of gear.

The evil in me wanted to say that the answer to your question is this:

If you ask a question like this, the answer to "when" is never....

But i realized it may just be thewording of it and not your actual sentiment....

[drumsound]

Opto compression is in general a little slower and smoother. It's very useful and works on a lot of sources. Sometimes I want the compressor to 'grab' quicker and more obviously. Then I go for a different type of compressor. For instance the bass in an up-tempo pop song. I might not want the nice smoothing of an opto, I might want a lot of grab and some pump from a VCA compressor. On drum sub parallel I tend to want something fast and kind of 'sharp,' so an opto won't cut it. Though on a mid to slow tempo song a nice gooey opto on the drum parallel can sound great.

[soundguy]

optical compression isnt suitable when it ceases to make what you plugged into it sound better, period.

I may be wrong, but Im pretty sure that the "optical" setting on the distressor is just paint on the front panel, I think the whole unit is actually FET but the program makes it behave at that ratio sorta like an optical limiter. I may be wrong, but I really dont think there are two elements in a distressor. You are just really mildly using a FET.

All optical limiters are also not created equal. The element on a LA2A is fairly unique and has totally nonlinear qualities to it. The element on something like an LA4 uses an LDR which is very different from the EL panel in a LA2a. When it comes to LDR's you can buy them with different attack and release speeds (well, turn on and shut off speeds) so one box may use an LDR and have a very slow feel to it while another can use the exact same type of say, silonex ldr but be totally faster and more aggressive than the slower part.

Ive always looked at optical limiters as types of limiters that are just good at controling level without adding tons of limiting artifacts. I say this in comparison to maybe a diode limiter like a 33609 which the whole point of using is sorta for its nasty arifacts in many ways.

dave

[joel hamilton]

Thank god for you two...

Here is the devils advocate:

First of all, dave is right, the 6:1 setting is just called "opto" on the distressor.

Saying "when should I use an optical compressor" is like saying "when should I use EQ." in a lot of ways. How much opto compression? On what? Why?

[nacho459]

Like mentioned above, I also find opto compressors are pretty smooth, but not super fast. IE: my LA-2A is fast enough to keep vocals squished together without killing their sound, but not fast enough to catch the attack of a cowbell. Then again I really don't need to compress a cowbell. I guess it really comes down to if you are using the compression as a leveler or an effect. I mainly use my opto compressor to level out the vocals and to over all limit the dynamic range of the vocals, but on the drums I'll use a FET compressor with a slower attack time to actually increase the attack and punchiness of the drums. One of my favorite bass compressors is a dbx VCA compressor I bought for $75.

I guess because there are hundreds of compressors out there and even more ways to use them it's almost impossible to say when and where to use a certain compressor. I guess I'd just say try and figure out what you want to do with the compression, and then try to set the Distressor to do that. You should tell the compressor what to do, not the other way around.

[heylow]

optical compression isnt suitable when it ceases to make what you plugged into it sound better, period.

I honestly don't think there is a better answer to this question than this. I usually try to stay away from these sorts of answers but....damned if ain't the best and most to-the-point answer.

I'm guessing the original poster is truly only looking for some guidelines to experiment with. Opto, to me, can really sound "classic" when used at the right time on the right track in the right way but, so too, can it sound like ass or (almost worse) non-descript. Here's the rub...the exact same can be said for every other form of compression or model of compressor you can think of......and this brings me back to Dave's line quoted above.

The Distressor is a great compressor and a great learning tool, I think. It's the Distressor that really got me understanding what compression could do and I'm far from being done learning, myself. The Opto mode is only a simulation but it's close enough to anything that can be considered an "opto sound" to get the point.

Play with the unit as much as possible on as many different sources as you can find and I promise you that you will come to your own conclusions as to where it all works best and that's going to be more important than anything anyone else can ever tell you about the subject.

On a side note, never stop learning. I went to Brooklyn to work with Joel a few months back with the idea that I had a pretty good grasp on tone shaping with compression. I watched Joel do it for a week and realized I had no friggin' idea.



heylow

[drumsound]

optical compression isnt suitable when it ceases to make what you plugged into it sound better, period.


dave

Dave,

That might become the official answer for the Recording Techniques forum! Just change 'optical compressor' with whatever people are wondering about. I love it!

[cgarges]

the 6:1 setting is just called "opto" on the distressor.

Actually, it's the 10:1. With the attack at it's slowest setting, the release time is logarhithmic at that ratio, which is part of what simulates the optical limiter sound on the Distressor.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[joel hamilton]

the 6:1 setting is just called "opto" on the distressor.

Actually, it's the 10:1. With the attack at it's slowest setting, the release time is logarhithmic at that ratio, which is part of what simulates the optical limiter sound on the Distressor.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I saw that as soon as I went back to mixing, instead of dorking around on the board!

What a D-bag I am. Thank you for the correction. .... told you I dont look at the compressors when I mix, especially the VU's....