Drone wrote:oceanblood wrote:I suppose the crux of what I'm asking is why do anything at all to the signal BEFORE it is tracked (where you can't undo the changes) Why not compress/distress etc... after? Especially considering many of us don't have nice external compressors, but have good plugins...
To sum up what the others are saying.
No, there is nothing happening compressing before you record, that can't be done after you record. It's just personal workflow taste.
Yes - but to sum up the other side -except
- if you're working on tape (where you get a better handle on signal to noise by compressing on the way in)
- have one specific compressor that you want to use on multiple sources at mix time (meaning the best options are to compress one of those sources on the way in and the other at mix time)
- are tracking at a studio with better outboard then you'll have where-ever you mix
- are sending the record out to be mixed by someone else. In that case your best chance of having the mixes turn out sounding the way you'd like is to commit to sounds in the tracking stage.
Above and beyond all of that I compress before tape/computer because I know the sound I'm looking for and I want to commit to those sounds instead of postponing those decisions. I'd like the record to sound like a record when I push up the faders. It makes it easier for singers or anybody else overdubbing to be working with tracks that sound like the record. It also makes it way easier to tailor the sounds of each overdub to the rest of the tracks if the raw tracks are in the ballpark of where they'll be for the final mix. A good analogy would be to think of a guitar player doing an overdub. You could just have them plug right into a DI and tell them you'll take care of everything else by reamping and adding effects during the mix but you'll get a much better performance if they dialed in their amp, pedals, and picked the right guitar for the song.
Even in the tracking stage I'm thinking about the final mix and how all the pieces will fit together. Once you've got the confidence to commit it becomes much easier and the end result is usually better.
That said, it's all down to personal taste and workflow. If applying that stuff in the mix works better for you there's nothing wrong with that.