I'm a dumb everyman, help me scope out compression settings

[kayagum]

I think this is something 80%+ of this board would like to know, but afraid to get punked for asking:

Attack / Release settings: can someone offer their opinions or go-to applications ses for these:

(a) Fast Attack, Slow Release

(b) Slow Attack, Slow Release

(c) Fast Attack, Fast Release

(d) Slow Attack, Fast Release

And, be nice!

[thefriendswemake]

[Snarl 12/8]

I guess I'll bite, even though the answer is "it depends".

Could you at least narrow it down a bit? Rock, folk, jazz. Drums, guitar, bass, violin. WTF are we talking about here.

Also, which compressors. They're all different.

My only thing is that I hardly ever use fast attack any more. I have shitty cheap compressors and I don't think they do the fast attack well. I can add body and consistency to the drums, bass, vox etc. without slaughtering the sound if I just let those transients through and deal with the sustain part of the envelope. So for me it's medium attack and medium release on everything. (options you didn't provide us with, BTW)

HTH.

[;ivlunsdystf]

Glad you're having fun.

[;ivlunsdystf]

And BTW my method is: start with attack and release 1/3 of full range away from fastest setting, then lower threshold until you hear too much artifact happening, then raise threshold until artifact disappears. That's assuming an average scenario on average instruments with goal of making compression inaudible but effective. That's my method, from one everyman to another.

[kayagum]

So for me it's medium attack and medium release on everything. (options you didn't provide us with, BTW).

I didn't provide this option because that's what I do. I do the "let's start at 12 o'clock on everything as a default, mess around until I get the sound I like" method. Maybe that's still an OK method after all.

[Bro Shark]

The letter in the latest TapeOp about hiding control text and learning to "play" stuff as an "instrument" really resonated with me. Maybe try that?

[MoreSpaceEcho]

i pretty much just turn the knobs.

also it kinda depends what you mean by fast or slow. but i'll bite anyway.

(a) Fast Attack, Slow Release

if you consider ~350ms slow, then i use this on room mics alot. i want the fast attack because i want to kill as much transient as possible (as i can get the transients from the uncompressed track) and bring up the sustain of the room as much as possible. release time somewhere in the hundreds usually works out to breathe nicely for most stuff.

(b) Slow Attack, Slow Release

vocals, if you're going for relatively transparent compression. can't go too slow on the attack though or it'll bring the sibilants up too much.

mastering, again slow meaning in the hundreds of milliseconds somewhere.

(c) Fast Attack, Fast Release

percussive stuff where you just wanna tame the attack and get out of the way. could be drums or acoustic guitar or whatever.

aggressive vocals.

(d) Slow Attack, Fast Release

most everything else. i use this sort of thing the most by far.

generally i find that too slow a release dulls my shit up too much. but too fast a release can be really annoying and draw way too much attention to itself if you're doing a lot of gain reduction.

[ott0bot]

i pretty much just turn the knobs.

....
etc
....

(d) Slow Attack, Fast Release

most everything else. i use this sort of thing the most by far.

generally i find that too slow a release dulls my shit up too much. but too fast a release can be really annoying and draw way too much attention to itself if you're doing a lot of gain reduction.

Great info! I like you're suggestions and I'm no expert on compression, but this is generally how I work too. I usually start with the (d) settings on most everything and adjust from there. The compression seems to be the pretty trasparent at this point, and you can really hear the compression as you speed up your attack or slow the release. I usually hit the bypass switch hear and there to check it versus the clean signal. The only thing i really like slow release on are the room mics as stated...and on some bass guitars. Sounds really nice on smooth finger playing with a slow tempo. Otherwise is sounds compressed.....which isn't really the point of compression is it?

[MoreSpaceEcho]

for me compression is mostly about helping make something sound the way you imagined it sounded when you were playing it.

like if i played you just a basic uncompressed recording of me playing drums, you would like it or not like it, but you would have to say that it was a decent representation of a guy playing drums semi incompetently in a room.

which is great. but in context of a song, i don't necessarily want a listener to imagine some guy in his pajamas in a freezing cold room hitting the drums not terribly hard. i want them to imagine king kong and godzilla beating the shit out of each other over tokyo.

[kayagum]

MSE- your description helps a lot, and getting me to think about what part of the envelope I want to emphasize/ignore.

Anyone else? For the amount of compressor gear lust on the board, this topic has been a little quiet

[chris harris]

The most important thing is really, and I mean REALLY, understanding what the controls on a compressor are there for. If you really understand how a compressor works, then choosing settings becomes more about "what do I want this to do to the sound", rather than spinning knobs hoping to get lucky.

If you're confused about compressor settings, sit yourself down and FORCE YOURSELF TO UNDERSTAND HOW THEY WORK!! Get a raw snare track, kick track, voc track, and bass track, and sit down and experiment with different settings until you really, and I mean REALLY, understand how each control affects the envelope of the sound. Don't get up until you get it! Start with 4:1 ratio and threshold low enough to get some moderate gain reduction happening. Then, experiment with the extremes of the attack and release settings. Everyone always says "use your ears"... but, use the GR meter to help your ears understand what they're hearing.

Once you understand how these controls work and the affect that they have on your audio, it's much easier to hear what they're doing to individual tracks in context of a mix.

The answer really is, "it depends".... I may use slow attack/fast release on bass 98% of the time. But, when I get a bass track with pops at the beginning of each note, I might start with a fast attack/fast release comp to tame those pops before going into another comp for more typical bass compression.

The real key is just having a very firm grasp of what those controls do. Once you understand the functions, it's much easier to hear a sound and make a judgment about which settings will best serve the mix.

[chris harris]

MSE provided some great starting points.

Attack settings depend heavily on whether or not you wanna let transients slip past the comp uncompressed. Release settings (for drum tracks and some other things) depend heavily on the tempo and feel of the song.

And, just to throw in another generalization that may or may not be applicable in your work:

Fast release = more excitement
Slow release = smooth

[kayagum]

The good news is that I have a project where I will have a ton of material to use for getting up to speed on using compressors for real.

With my previous (theater sound design) projects, compression wasn't really necessary beyond taming peaks. Really, for 99% of the time, I used the best compressor of them all- the fader.

What I want to learn this time around is less about the utility function of the compressor (which I was already getting into, albeit with different styled material), and more about the artistic/aesthetic qualities and possibilities with it. It's not my style to build a "Flaming Lips" kind of sound, so I don't think I'll go overboard.

That's why I wanted some additional input. It's not just about "transients" or "waveforms" - it's "bloom", "space", "sculpting"- all those liberal arts terms

This is helping me a lot- thanks! Any other input is greatly appreciated!

[timmymacdd]

Compression guy that said basically read the manual and understand all the buttons is correct.

Also learning limiting and automation and the actual place where you put the compressors really will make the whole track sound better.

There could be 20 compressors going on each song actually. vocals can be squashed and totally compressed by themselves. the guitars need there own...the bass.....the piano....the everything else. Then it comes to the master track which can have three compressors doing there thing with EQ in between and limiting.

The great producers are not just setting one compressor right.....they are aligning it all with several compressors at the perfect points for the instrumentation and the sound of the track and album.

So like the first guy said learn what the buttons on whatever compressors you have to use do and compress the intruments on their own first....and then compress the whole track using busses and faders and limiters as well.

That is the reason why audio recording is an art is that there is no one answer. Everyone would do totally different things to a track.