Compression on overheads

[firesine]

How many of you mess with compression on your overheads?

I'm mixing a prog rock record that we recorded in a fairly small but good sounding room, Mojave 200s over the cymbals. In the mix the cymbals were sounding very splashy and decidedly not rock. So, I slapped 2 DBX 160s on and immediately liked the sustain that I was getting from the cymbals, however they started ticking on big crashes so I had to remove them. Next I tried 2 Neve 2254s that I originally had on the rooms and WOW!

This is possibly the most full, sustained and rocking drum sound I have ever gotten. The drums have so much attack from the OHs now I can use the close mics to get more tone instead of focusing on the attack frequencies. The cymbals just bloom so beautifully on big crashes and they are working even better with the stereo bus compression.

Just thought I would share the fun I've been having the past few days and see if anyone else has similar stories. If so, what kind of compressors do you use on OHs?

Also, what the hell to dbx 160s sound good on? I seriously can't find a damn thing...

[jesse_baccus]

Also, what the hell to dbx 160s sound good on? I seriously can't find a damn thing...

haha, that depends on the version of the 160s you have, there are a handful- A, X, XT, SL, VU.. i feel like i'm forgetting some... but mer...

i've also had luck when working with small rooms adding OH (or in my case LCR) compression, but if its dense material still find myself relying on the spot mics to get my transients to cut passed the "super rock guitar" tone.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

i have some parallel compression on overheads most of the time. sometimes it's more saturation than compression...

[joninc]

i know this is not a 2254 but i used this at a studio several months back and neglected to note the model - it's a neve. i tracked some pretty aggressive compression on the overheads on a song and they came out really great. thick and pumpy. anyone know what model this is? (it's at mushroom studios in vancouver)

also - any great plugs for overhead compression?

[joninc]

(apparently tchad blake likes the dbx 160x on bass - people seem to like em on drums a lot too - kick/snare)

[Jeff White]

also - any great plugs for overhead compression?

Stillwell stuff. I am rocking the 1973 EQ and Rocket Compressor on overheads lately.

Jeff

[firesine]

Right, I should have specified that I like the 160As and Xs on bass. But they seem too fast to use on drums. I'm talking about the 160vu. I makes a weird ticking noise on bit transients. The only time I liked it was doing no compression, just adding gain to a ribbon mic.

Those Neve comps look very cool. And yeah, the 2254s were digging in deep, way more than sounded good on the 160s. I'm not sure how much 'cause the meters are fucked but the threshold was one click from the bottom.

[joninc]

a little more hunting reveals that those comps are the 2264s...

[losthighway]

More often than not I tend to put like 1.6:1 compression on my overheads with the threshold set fairly low. It seems to kind of help everything stick together and stay in place a little more.

As for the DBX 160, it is great on bass, vocals, and kick drum in my experience. I agree that the lack of control over the attack time is not completely ideal, but its still a pretty diverse tool with its comp ratios, over easy setting, threshold and extremely clean gain with the volume knob. I think the 160 is all about being transparent. I've never used it on oh's but I'm surprised there was so much weirdness for you.

What kind of ratio were you using, and how hard was it hitting the signal?

[@?,*???&?]

Also, what the hell to dbx 160s sound good on? I seriously can't find a damn thing...

Bass. Bass. Bass. Absolutely essential for bass.

[T-rex]

also - any great plugs for overhead compression?

Stillwell stuff. I am rocking the 1973 EQ and Rocket Compressor on overheads lately.

Jeff

Two things, first the UAD 33609 plug in sounds great on overheads in my opinion.

Secondly, I downloaded the Rocket comp and damn. It's pretty sweet. I have';t tried it on overheads but it sounds really really great. it's got more parameters than I really want to mess with, but for $49 I am going to probably pick that up.

[cgarges]

I'm talking about the 160vu.

I use mine on kick drum a lot. Sometimes on snare, too. I find that I like it at low ratios with a high threshold-- just barely working. Sounds right to me. I am working on mixing some stuff right now where it's just killing on a Hofner bass in the mix. But sometimes I use it on guitar (especially clean funk guitar), sometimes I use it on vocals. It's a great compressor. I don't know that I'd be digging it on overheads, though. There are very fews compressors that I've really liked on overheads.

The single rack-space versions of the 160 (the A, X, XT, etc.) are different beasts than the VU versions. Similar attack and release, but WAY different-sounding electronics.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Joe P.]

Whenever I put a compressor on overheads, it just seems to make the cymbals louder, and I rarely want the cymbals louder.

[newfuturevintage]

Whenever I put a compressor on overheads, it just seems to make the cymbals louder, and I rarely want the cymbals louder.

the most common form of compression I seem to use on cymbals is de-essers or multibands when I've got an, um, 'enthusiastic' drummer leaning into the flying saucers too hard..

[themagicmanmdt]

it depends on how the drum sound is to be.

sometimes I dig doing some fast attack/slow release lightly on OH's so that they're still plenty of punch with a slightly tamed transient and a hint of that 'bloom' of cymbals on the big hits.

other times, slow attack/fast release to get more attack or snap, depending on what the tones of it all are -

then again, overheads are the core of many drum sounds I do, and any close mics only are placed to do what any OH setup doesn't get me, which is usually a deeper kick and a deeper floor tom and maybe under-snare sizzle.