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Forums - Music techology
Subject: gain pumping
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Original Message 1/3 14-Feb-07 @ 06:58 PM - gain pumping
Hi,
Ive been playing around with compressor settings on one of my tracks. Im very new to it all however I have a reasonable understanding of the theory behind it. However, Im struggling to find out how to apply compression practically. There are a couple of things I don't quite understand so here are my questions...
Firstly, when applying compression to the kick drum channel, what release/threshold/gain setting should be used? I know the attack should be fast, at the mo Ive got it at 5ms. There are 468 ms between each beat. So should the release be set at 460 or something like that? What about the threshold and gain? Are there any rules that should be basically followed? At the mo Im struggling to tell the difference between reducing the threshold quite a bit then turning up the gain and reducing the threshold just a little then turning the gain up a little.
Secondly, with regards to apllying compression to the whole mix to give that 'energy' and 'pump' then what kind of settings should be used? Ive tried a 25 ms Atack, -2db threshold, 250ms release and no gain increase and this just seems to be a little quieter but a bit more compressed. From what I understand, when you apply compression it should seem louder as we determine loudness from comparing the signal peaks with our ears. Am I wrong?
Lastly (for now!), what Im trying to achieve is that when the kick comes in, the bass kind of lowers so to make room for the kick but I dont know what kind of settings I should be using. Should the bass compresion settings be exactly the same as for the kick? (On separate channels) or should they be on the same channel? Or would I have to use 'side chains' ?
Thanks for any help, I really do appreciate it.
Joe
Ive been playing around with compressor settings on one of my tracks. Im very new to it all however I have a reasonable understanding of the theory behind it. However, Im struggling to find out how to apply compression practically. There are a couple of things I don't quite understand so here are my questions...
Firstly, when applying compression to the kick drum channel, what release/threshold/gain setting should be used? I know the attack should be fast, at the mo Ive got it at 5ms. There are 468 ms between each beat. So should the release be set at 460 or something like that? What about the threshold and gain? Are there any rules that should be basically followed? At the mo Im struggling to tell the difference between reducing the threshold quite a bit then turning up the gain and reducing the threshold just a little then turning the gain up a little.
Secondly, with regards to apllying compression to the whole mix to give that 'energy' and 'pump' then what kind of settings should be used? Ive tried a 25 ms Atack, -2db threshold, 250ms release and no gain increase and this just seems to be a little quieter but a bit more compressed. From what I understand, when you apply compression it should seem louder as we determine loudness from comparing the signal peaks with our ears. Am I wrong?
Lastly (for now!), what Im trying to achieve is that when the kick comes in, the bass kind of lowers so to make room for the kick but I dont know what kind of settings I should be using. Should the bass compresion settings be exactly the same as for the kick? (On separate channels) or should they be on the same channel? Or would I have to use 'side chains' ?
Thanks for any help, I really do appreciate it.
Joe
Message 2/3 16-Feb-07 @ 12:50 PM - RE: gain pumping
thats a big subject in one post
firstly the sidechain, yes, you need to feed the kik into the sidechain input on the compressor bass channel, and then set it so that when the kik signal comes the bass lowers.
pumping, is really all done by ear what you're going for is the comp crushing the signal and then releasing it quickly so it surges back up again before the signal decay ends, just fiddle with it and find out
well without a multiband compressor all you can really do is raise the overall loudness in terms of getting more of the overall mix up nearer the threshold of clipping, just bare in mind that the loudest sound within the mix will trigger the comp, which means if your kik is loudest, in effect you'll be mostly compressing the kik attack... as you say all you seem to hear is it gets a bit quieter but more compressed which is what'll happen, but that eans you can raise the overall level back to how loud it was before compression, and all you're doing is just reducing the differences between louder and quieter sounds... perhaps what you want is to import the mix to your pc/mac and use a plugin if you dont have a hardware multiband unit.
theory is ok in compression, in as much as you need to know what a compression ratio actualy is and what the controls do, but after that i really am a great beleiver in experimentation to arrive at familiarity... and of course what make/model of compressor it is also effects how it sounds, wether it's set to soft or hard knee, peak or rms etc, thjey all do subtley different things
and of course some comps no matter how you thrash them dont really pump much and others do more
firstly the sidechain, yes, you need to feed the kik into the sidechain input on the compressor bass channel, and then set it so that when the kik signal comes the bass lowers.
pumping, is really all done by ear what you're going for is the comp crushing the signal and then releasing it quickly so it surges back up again before the signal decay ends, just fiddle with it and find out
quote
From what I understand, when you apply compression it should seem louder as we determine loudness from comparing the signal peaks with our ears. Am I wrong?
From what I understand, when you apply compression it should seem louder as we determine loudness from comparing the signal peaks with our ears. Am I wrong?
well without a multiband compressor all you can really do is raise the overall loudness in terms of getting more of the overall mix up nearer the threshold of clipping, just bare in mind that the loudest sound within the mix will trigger the comp, which means if your kik is loudest, in effect you'll be mostly compressing the kik attack... as you say all you seem to hear is it gets a bit quieter but more compressed which is what'll happen, but that eans you can raise the overall level back to how loud it was before compression, and all you're doing is just reducing the differences between louder and quieter sounds... perhaps what you want is to import the mix to your pc/mac and use a plugin if you dont have a hardware multiband unit.
theory is ok in compression, in as much as you need to know what a compression ratio actualy is and what the controls do, but after that i really am a great beleiver in experimentation to arrive at familiarity... and of course what make/model of compressor it is also effects how it sounds, wether it's set to soft or hard knee, peak or rms etc, thjey all do subtley different things
and of course some comps no matter how you thrash them dont really pump much and others do more
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Message 3/3 21-Feb-07 @ 01:38 AM - RE: gain pumping
Thanks very much for your help.
Is it possible to use sidechaining in plugin compressors or would it have to be hardware?
Ive only been messing around on fruityloops with its standard compressor which doesnt allow sidechains (that Im aware of), but when I get all my gear Im taking it that Ill be able to input channels into a sidechain on a good plugin compressor without any problem?
Cheers K
Is it possible to use sidechaining in plugin compressors or would it have to be hardware?
Ive only been messing around on fruityloops with its standard compressor which doesnt allow sidechains (that Im aware of), but when I get all my gear Im taking it that Ill be able to input channels into a sidechain on a good plugin compressor without any problem?
Cheers K
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