DUAL COMPRESSION: When do you use it?

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jcooke
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DUAL COMPRESSION: When do you use it?

Post by jcooke » Mon May 22, 2006 9:20 pm

I have 1 distressor with the stereo link mod and am wondering if I should be saving up for a second. When do you guys use 2 compressors linked up?

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Post by drumsound » Mon May 22, 2006 10:00 pm

I liked to track vocals with two compressors is series.

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Post by KilledByAlbany » Mon May 22, 2006 10:29 pm

Occasionally, in live sound situations, I will compress a vocal by itself from the insert jack, and then send it to a group bus with a stereo comp patched in, though generally the group comp is set more for some added light limiting for all of the stage vocals than for anything specific to one signal.

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Re: DUAL COMPRESSION: When do you use it?

Post by dokushoka » Tue May 23, 2006 12:16 am

jcooke wrote:I have 1 distressor with the stereo link mod and am wondering if I should be saving up for a second. When do you guys use 2 compressors linked up?

Thanks,
Jcooke
You mean like for stereo applications??

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Post by jcooke » Tue May 23, 2006 5:40 am

I was inquiring about any time when 2 compressors are used at once. I'm wondering when 2 distressors would get use at the same time. Stereo compression would be one of those times I guess? On what sources do people do stereo compression a lot? Overheads? Amps?

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Rodgre
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Post by Rodgre » Tue May 23, 2006 5:52 am

I use stereo linked compression on subgroups, especially on drums. I use it occasionally on OHs. Sometimes a stereo spread of BG Vocals, stereo acoustic guitars and sometimes, if I'm feeling that way, the stereo bus.

Roger

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Post by jcooke » Tue May 23, 2006 6:19 am

Rodgre wrote:I use stereo linked compression on subgroups, especially on drums.

Roger
What is meant by a subgroup. Does that mean the whole drum mix or just portions of it?

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Post by ryanlikestorock » Tue May 23, 2006 6:52 am

Fairly often I'll run vocals through two compression channels - a low ratio and a higher one.

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Post by cgarges » Tue May 23, 2006 7:51 am

Stereo compression can be used on anything. A pair of tracks, a subgroup, an entire mix, a mult of a mono track (where you set the two compressors different and listen to the imaging get all screwy), effect returns. You could use them across two different sources when you want the both the sources to impact the compression (like a compressed kick drum linked with a compressed bass). And just because you're using a pair of compressors across a stereo source doesn't mean you have to have them linked. You get a less-stable image and sometime more width (or at least more motion across the speakers) by not linking them. But it's good to have that option.

The Distressors are great to have as a stereo pair because they're capable of so many different things. You could totally use them in series (in this case, by "in series" I mean one into the other OR during both tracking and mix) without the sort of goopy buildup that you can get using the same compressor on something twice because of the number of different compression types it'll do.

That's my two cents.

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Post by joel hamilton » Tue May 23, 2006 7:54 am

I have, in the past, run two linked channels on a source NOT for stereo, but as a ducker or even in seires to force the detector into a weird position.

Like if you want something high ratio on a vocal, but it is sounding too "squeezed," I will put one compressor at a low ratio like 1.5:1, and link that comp to another with a higher ratio, but use the low ratio comp as the master, so I can set it to really react. The second comp in the chain is "closing down" based on the first comp's reaction. It can sound really cool. even with the high ratio comp first in the chain, you can get some interesting things happening...

As a "ducker" it is really just having something really transient, like a snare in one compressor, and the violin (for example) in the other. The snare ducks the violin...




Usually this is for stereo operation.

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Post by joel hamilton » Tue May 23, 2006 3:18 pm

Also, one of my favorite distressor "tricks" is to put it in link mode with nothing to link to. Makes it totally distort, and freak out in a nice way.

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Post by justhitthebutton » Tue May 23, 2006 3:36 pm

you have a distressor and you dont know what a subgroup is? wow. ok thats funny.
can it really look better than it sounds?

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Post by jcooke » Tue May 23, 2006 4:43 pm

justhitthebutton wrote:you have a distressor and you dont know what a subgroup is? wow. ok thats funny.
I guess I'm just dumb and uncool. Maybe someone should alert Empirical Labs and they can come remove it from my home since I am unworthy to own it.

Jcooke

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Post by justhitthebutton » Tue May 23, 2006 8:08 pm

woah there . relax. if you cant take a joke then i have to tell you now...youre in the wrong business. and i apologize if youre upset. its just a joke man.
can it really look better than it sounds?

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Post by jcooke » Tue May 23, 2006 9:43 pm

justhitthebutton wrote:woah there . relax. if you cant take a joke then i have to tell you now...youre in the wrong business. and i apologize if youre upset. its just a joke man.
I can take jokes, condescension is pure shit though IMHO.

WARNING: (Long winded anecdote to follow.)
I undesrtand where you're coming from. I was a computer engineer in college. I had a class with this big dude that always wore hawaiian shirts and asked "dumb" questions. He asked so many "dumb" questions that it kind of got on my nerves. I thought, how could he be asking such silly questions in his 3rd year at school. I on the other hand didn't ask "dumb" questions, I just tried to get by on my own. Fast forward to graduation, that "dumb" guy in the Hawaiian shirt was the valedictorian and I graduated in 8 years, barely.

Long winded way to say: If I don't know something about recording I ask it.

I guess I just don't expect condescension on this board, and have never received it in the 70 + posts that I've done. (Several of those have been "dumb" questions too I might add.)

Thank you to all of those who still answer "dumb" questions with sincerity on this board. Myself and other beginners are very appreciative.

Jcooke

P.S. What's your screen name on gearslutz.com, I want to go read more of your "jokes"?

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