Should I be compressing mics while tracking?

[snoopy23]

I would like to know how you do your tracking. Common sense seems to say I should go from the mic to the pre amp to the compressor to the tape. Is this the best way to approach things like vocals and drums, or can I just as easily add compression during the mixing? I have had experiences where I went to tape with a little too much compression and ended up with ping-pong drums, and other times when I didn't compress the vocals during tracking and had too much colorization when compressing after the fact. What is your hard and fast rule for this? I should mention I am not using top quality gear, I have Presonus Blue Tube and ART pre amps, and DBX and 3630's for compressors, and the standard 57's, D112, MXL 900 (modified), CAD Equitek 100's and 200's for mics. Would I be better off buying a better pre amp or a better compressor?

[losthighway]

I think the quality of the preamp trumps the quality of the compressor. I suppose if anything in you signal line mic-> preamp-> compressor-> is really bad it brings the whole thing down. Perhaps their importance is in that order. The only thing that stops that is there are really great mics that people can afford for very little money, whereas their are much less cheapo buys on the preamps.

But- as for workflow. I'm currently of the belief that if you always compress a certain instrument, why not compress it going in. I do it to give some sonic character that my plugins can't do. Of course, you need to be conservative with your ratio and threshold, you don't want to over-squash something with no turning back. The other benefit to this, is if you apply more compression later, compression in two stages is often more transparent than all at once. Especially considering you are hopefully setting your attack and release the second time, based on what sounds best.

My rule (we break our rules in audio don't we) is never more than 3:1 going in, unless it's bass. Then I might go 4:1- but usually in that situation I have another mic or DI coming in that is not getting hit as hard, if at all.

[Nick Sevilla]

I would like to know how you do your tracking. Common sense seems to say I should go from the mic to the pre amp to the compressor to the tape. Is this the best way to approach things like vocals and drums, or can I just as easily add compression during the mixing? I have had experiences where I went to tape with a little too much compression and ended up with ping-pong drums, and other times when I didn't compress the vocals during tracking and had too much colorization when compressing after the fact. What is your hard and fast rule for this? I should mention I am not using top quality gear, I have Presonus Blue Tube and ART pre amps, and DBX and 3630's for compressors, and the standard 57's, D112, MXL 900 (modified), CAD Equitek 100's and 200's for mics. Would I be better off buying a better pre amp or a better compressor?

Hi,

It entirely depends on the sound you're after.

As far as what I do, I do use compression on the way in, as this reduces the dynamic range of the instrument, and that is sometimes desirable.

Then more compression is added in mixing, but always remembering that compression is added in a Logarithmic way.

When you compress 2:1 and then compress 3:1 you end compression total is NOT 5:1 it is 6:1 (2x3, not 2+3).

So keep that in mind when reaching for the compressor. Usually I am more conservative during recording, to allow for more compression later on.

Cheers

[ott0bot]

I usually compress in small amounts on vocals and drums. I try to keep it minimal unless I'm really going for a specific sound, then any amount of compression is utilized. Quality preamps really give you the tone and body of the sound and the compressors can only shape whats there. By the way I'm actually much more of a fan of leveling amps....i seem to always use the FMR audio RNLA on vocals. I know you can do a ton more in the box...but I like take the time during traking and to put the sound I want to tape rather than trying to shape or fix it a lot later on.

I have an ART Tube MP and coupled with an RNC or RNLA it sounds petty good, especially on snare drums and bass. But I had to step it up a got a UA 710 preamp for vox and everything else. There are less expensive good pre's on the market...I've been hearing alot of good stuff about the Electro Harmonix 12 AY7 Tube mic pre...and it's around 200. The Summit Audio 2ba-221 is a really verstile pre and you can find it for under 600. The UA 610 and 710 can be had for around 700. There are a ton more too obviously, these are just units I had a good experience with.

So yeah...I say pick up a good pre first then find a compressor that works well with your pre. The FMR stuff is pretty great....i was iffy at first but pulled the trigger on a Funklogic racked rnc/rnla from Mercenary for 450. It was definatly worth it. The alesis 3630 you have isn't bad...i've used it before, and you could probably get by with that until you can afford something spiffy.

[drumsound]

I almost always track vocals with compression. Sometimes lots of compression or sometimes a little. It depends on the singer and the tune and the production. Sometimes two compressors in series both being hit lightly works best.

BD and SD again many times will have some compression, often for the tone of the compressor and to shape the envelopes.

[vvv]

I tend to track bass with a compressor, dependent upon what I am playing, ex, snapping-n-popping, for me, makes it mandatory. Also, I like the sound.

I do most of my lead vocals through a compressor, also, as I tend to use different volume levels to change my voice, not so much for backing vox.

[losthighway]

I By the way I'm actually much more of a fan of leveling amps....

I just realized in all these years I never learned what a Leveling Amp is. Maybe cause I've never owned one. Dang.

[drumsound]

I By the way I'm actually much more of a fan of leveling amps....

I just realized in all these years I never learned what a Leveling Amp is. Maybe cause I've never owned one. Dang.

Actually compressors, limiters and leveling amps are pretty much the same thing. It's really just semantics.

[ott0bot]

That is true.....but for whatever reasons everything I've used labeled "Leveling Amp" seems to yield the desired results. The RNLA and the UA 1176 or LA-3(UREI one too) are what I'm refrencing, as opposed to mid range DBX and Drawmer compressors or channel strips with compressors like the Eureka or Avalon 737.

I guess the impression I got is that the Leveling Amp allowed for more subtle adjustments and less harsh compression.....even though the units were capable of that. Plus units I referred to tend to allow some color and less transparent compression. Maybe it's just the particular units I used....and my own preconcieved idea.

[Snarl 12/8]

I'm of the opinion that my shitty outboard compressors (dbx 166 and 266xl and symettrix 525) are better sounding than my plugins. So, I usually use all 6 channels on something when tracking. I put the overheads through the 166, the rooms through the 266 and the bass and kick through the 525. I just try to make one or two LED's worth of gain reduction light up on a semi-regular basis.

I also always use comp when tracking vox or bass as overdubs. It's almost like reverb in that I think I "play into the compressor" while tracking. You can phrase your notes and timing in a way that works better if it's affecting the signal in real time. It lets me get a little hotter signal to disk too. There's a chance if I ever tracked a great bass player or singer that I wouldn't [need to] do this. But when it's me, always.

[Professor]

Ever the contrarian I don't really ever track with compression.
I have a few outboard compressors I could use on the front end, and of course a comp on every channel of the console, but I want the entire dynamic range arriving at the recorder.
If I were using something with a really lousy signal-to-noise ratio like a tape machine that maybe only has about 50dB or so of range, then I would treat things differently. But since PT-HD has a range of over 100dB above the noise floor then I feel pretty safe. The mics and preamps all have good noise floors, so really the noisiest part of my entire recording chain is the room I'm tracking in and even that is very low if it's the studio, though it's fantastically high in some of the performance spaces.
With that in mind, it doesn't matter to me whether I turn up the levels at the preamp, a front-end compressor, or in mix down because the room noise is coming up at the same time.

I do like the concept mentioned above of having the performers 'play into' the compression. I must admit, I've not really thought of it in that way, although I do run comps & reverb on the monitor mix so the performers feel more comfortable. I prefer to spend more time focusing on the instrument sound and the performance, and I try to avoid having the performers waste a lot of time on me trying to mix the front-end sound when they could be playing good takes.

Just a different kind of work flow I guess.

-Jeremy

[Mane1234]

The rule of thumb that I go by is how stuck to the sound do I want to be that I'm recording? I can't undo compression or reverb or delay so if I'm recording something that I've written and I have a really good idea that early in the process of how I want the final sound to be then I'll track with whatever seems appropriate. I tend to be much more conservative though for things that others are playing with me just doing the engineering.

I think what's important is not so much how I track but that I realize how the decisions I make early on are going to effect me by the time I'm ready to mix. I would certainly agree that sometimes it is the character of a piece of equipment that I'm looking for early in the process so I'll go ahead and run through a compressor or whatever.

[Snarl 12/8]

I should mention that I'm almost always just recording myself. A compromised performance, in a compromised space using compromised equipment. Ironically, I find that tracking through a compressor lets my worry less about the recording aspect of my performance, because I don't have to worry quite so much about clipping the converters. Based on advice from this board I'm recording way less hot than I used to (and way less gain reduction on the comps), but it's still an issue on some dynamic sources (my shitty bass playing, for example).

[scott oliphant]

It's all about being comfortable with committing it to tape (literally in my case). A little compression here and there on the way in helps with the tape hiss a bit (I record almost entirely to 2" 16 or 24 track at 15ips) and gets me close to my final mix quicker when i pull the faders up post tracking

[vvv]

I will say that I play differently, a little harder, and I think my swing feel is just a little different, if I have a compressor on the bass. Also, I can let go just a little more as I don't have to worry so much about staying "smooth", especially on stuff like quick octave runs.

And re the vox, it's different hollering into a mic+pre+compressor than just a mic+pre.

FWIW, and mebbe don't count, but a compressor pedal on the Tele and Fenderish amps makes for good chi'ken-pi'ken.