Mixing "into" a Compressor

[grockvt]

Is a compressor on the 2-buss going to help the mix and not mess up the mastering engineer?

I'm looking at a drawmer 1968.

[dsw]

Boy is this a hot topic right now.
The Drawmer is certainly a nice compressor and you're going to find a lot of people who say yes.
I say its a matter of degree.
If you squash the shit out of it, well duh....you're not going to give the ME much room to work.
For me I'd say a lot of it depends on the style of the music. A big hot dance mix is very different from intimate folk.
You will like the 1968. Your ME will like it too if you use it in a musical way, and don't go overboard.
This is completely a matter of personal taste.
A lot of people really like the Waves SSL plug for 2 bus on the mix.
So my answer is:

Yes


No



Cheers

[JGriffin]

Yes


No



Cheers

+1

[junomat]

+1 - Nicely written.

[Nick Sevilla]

Is a compressor on the 2-buss going to help the mix and not mess up the mastering engineer?

I'm looking at a drawmer 1968.

Hi,

Let's break this down into the two individual questions:

Is a compressor on the 2-buss going to help the mix?

It can, if you have some rogue transients that end up not allowing you to have the final dynamic range you want for your overall mix. In other words, you can use a limiter to reduce the biggest peaks of your mix, and allow you to increase the average loudness of the mix. Of course, overuse does cause ear fatigue, so use sparingly.

Is a compressor on the 2-buss going to mess up the mastering engineer?

Depends on the mastering engineer. If you know who will master your mix, ask them. I usually get an an answer such as "no, if you are only reducing some peaks by 1-2 dB maximum." and "Yes, is you are squashing the mix to a bloody pulp."

Cheers

[Brian]

Play with it for a while.
Try some AC GTR + Vox dynamic stuff and try some hard rock and some dance pop. Play with it, make some mixes and put them in your car, your house, your high end listening rig, and a set of headphones. Use a notepad an remark about the differences it has on each.

Two things people have the hardest time doing:
Writing things down as requested and wraping cables properly.
Both are like puling teeth to to get peeps to do.
Why?

[drumsound]

I don't think of a mix bus compressor as a way of taiming the peaks. I think of it as a simple tying together of the tones. You are taking multiple elements that often sound quite different (multitrack) into a smaller more contained space (2-track stereo). A mix bus compressor can help ease all those elements into that smaller space. Be careful to not make it a funnel, bbut more like a gradual narrowing , more like a trapazoid.

[Brian]

It makes Drums and bass pump together and it makes other instruments fill in between. It is NOT a peak limiter, unless that's how you use it, but, it wil sound like crap if you do most of the time..

[rwc]

Does it sound legitimately better with a 2bus compressor?

Or does it just sound more "glued" together?

Does it sound more BORING or mushy, at the expense of sounding more glued together?

If so is that worth it?

Are you listening with the levels matched perfectly so you're making a decision based on sonic quality and not loudness?

These are the questions I ask myself as I apply it.

[themagicmanmdt]

2 Track Mixdown compression is something, at the moment, I leave to the ME.

I love the sound of the overall track having a 'singing point' when it hits full blast, and it's all glued together. I want to make sure that singing point is through a damn wonderful compressor, too.

And I can't justify getting a Crane Song right now.

^_^

[MASSIVE Mastering]

I tend to mix into a compressor:

* If it's a decent compressor.

* If it actually serves the mix.

* A dB or two for "glue" (if more is needed, I find out why - in the mix).

* Never for the sake of volume.

[Shane Michael Rose]

i actually try this often, and about 80% of the time i pull it as my mix starts to sound good.

once pulled, usually sounds much better.

[grockvt]

been messing with a 1968 for the past 3 hours...really really like it!!!

shaving just 1-3 db on a mix with the 1968 inserted on an API A2D which is being fed from a folcrom...thing is there are still plenty of dyanmics left probably because the API is so punchy!

very nice sound

[fatcatholic]

Along these same lines, does anybody have any experience with a joe meek stereo optical compressor on the 2-bus? I recently acquired one that was just sitting on a dusty shelf at an amusement park where I help out with sound. No idea why they had it, but they agreed to let me take it.

[Rufer]

What would be a good starting point as far as ratio and attack if one were going for this glue? Ignoring the obvious answers of use your ears, depends on the material, etc. Looking for some good starting points.