A production tip that i think must be shared...

[loopdon]

The concept is so simple but still worth trying out:

Better Compression Using an Oscilloscope


http://sonictransfer.com/compression-house-tutorial-oscilloscope.shtml

This can be of great help when trying to find suitable kick/rest of tune levels.

Give it a try. Even without the compression part of it an solely matching the levels on a visual basis provided me with a great learning experience. :wink:

[rhythmtech]

very very interesting read.. nice one!

[The_Laughing_Man]

This says a lot, but doesn`t actually tell you anything at the same time.

Essentially it says, compress things, but use an oscillator to watch how the signal is affected. Oh, and maybe try to mirror the look of a well mixed tune.

DOn`t wanna sound moody but it`s actually a pretty crap bit of advice.

Talking about how to tune the attack and release would be a lot more helpful for this tutorial considering it is talking about heavy dance music mastering comp.

Trying to copy the dynamic image of another tune might not be appropriate for what you are working on anyway.

Nope, as a rule I would say oscilloscopes and spectral analysis is less effective than watching the gain reduction meters and tuning your attack and release appropriately.

[loopdon]

As i said - i found it helpful for little ME. I don't think much of the compression thing he explains there, tbh. It purely reminded me to look more closely at waveforms and how they transfer to sound. It might be dangerous as well as totally following the visual image of an already mastered tune (gone through multiband comp etc.) might not work for your tune. With the specific thing i am working on now it does help me. I can't explain it any better, Steve. I am by no means saying this irradicates the need for any other technique whatsoever. I also welcome you to tell us more about tuning attack/release whilst watching the gain reduction meters or just about any other tips and tricks you have up your sleeve. I think i can still rember you saying anybody who uses parallel compression clearly doesn't understand compression. I also remember you later said how you were investigating said technique and found it working nicely for you in a specific context.

[rhythmtech]

I think i can still rember you saying anybody who uses parallel compression clearly doesn't understand compression


now that one i would like explained - for weightier tracks i love to smash the drumz and bring them in just under the cleaner drums. this is pretty much impossible without a mix control on the comp (which most dont have)

[loopdon]

I haven't really looked into parallel compression to much, tbh. there are quite a few comps with a mix option, though. I think rough rider offers that feature, for example. Or maybe fabfilter's pro-c, which is great i think. I can not afford that, though; and couldn't fully utilize it, if i stay true to myself.

Topics that also haven't been discussed here i think include m/s processing (also stuff like the m part processing/compressing the side signal; as illustrated in the fabfilter pro-c presets by bmanic). Or the ratio of rms/to peak and how to better it --> saturation .... Or controlled clipping on purpose (christian w budde has just recently published a plugin doing this). Or transient designers. Schaak audio have one out which i think is great.

I just enjoy reading stuff like that. No more, no less.

[loopdon]

Links on parallel compression:

http://www.mutantaudio.net/tutorials/parallel_compression_tutorial/parallel_compression_tutorial_ma.html

http://www.hometracked.com/2007/03/31/parallel-compression-for-fatter-drum-tones/

http://www.faderwear.com/guides/parallel_compression.shtml

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=90035

http://benvesco.com/tonemonster/mixing/phat-drums-new-york-style-parallel-compression-part-2/

[Jay Pace]

I've got some interesting results out of parrallel compression.

Kinda like subtle reverb. You put it to a level where you can barely tell its there. But when you take everything away (subtle verbs, subtle compression) you lose masses, and you understand the contribution it was making.

Amazing what results you can get from just simple subtle delays, verbs and compression.

[The_Laughing_Man]

Haha, Loopy, well, we all change our minds, less we remain rigid and stagnate.
I think my comments about parallell compression were more to do with the context of original discussion.

I have used it myself and do for some types of muysic, and I think it is an appropriate technique for specific uses, I`m just not so sure it`s something that works well with techno. It seems to work better on slower material for some reason. Hip Hop, minimal, Dubstep. Seems better with more spacious material as well.

There are ways around not having a mix control on your plugins.
Running 2 channels of your final tune and only compressing one for example.

It`s definitely worth playing with anyhow.

I`m not saying never use visual reference, it`s just that this article, which seems to be about heavy dance music mix compression, if you read it carefully, doesn`t actually tell you anything.
It assumes you know all about compression, atack, release etc, and just says "use visual plugs to mimic", but if you already know what it assumes you do, then you shouldn`t actually need to reference visually anyway.

As a rule, a good way for setting your compression is to mute everything but the kick.
Watch the gain reduction and tune the release until the meter is hitting back to zero just before the next kick.
Then tune your attack appropriately for whatever effect you are looking for, I prefer a little delay on the attack to allow the nose of the sounds to pass through uncrushed.
Put everything back in the mix and adjust threshold and ratio.
You`ll generally get a nice sucky pump this way, just don`t overdo it.

[loopdon]

Now that's more like it :lol:

Thanks or all the advice given. I just think this place needs some input from time to time.
The tips you give on compression are sound i think. And of course that's something that should be done by ear most
of all. I actually didn't really find the compression aspect of the mentioned article worth a lot. I just found it helpful
whilst balancing the volume of my bassline to the kick. Of course you can do that by ear. But as we all know ears tend to get used to stuff
very quickly. So by constantly (more or less) A/Bing with a well-mixed tune of a similar style first of all by ear
(and in my case with an aditional visual supplementation) i think i can get some nice sounding stuff.

[The_Laughing_Man]

Refering mixes you think or know are well ddone, repeatedly is always good to tune in the ears

[ORIS]

Links on parallel compression:

http://www.mutantaudio.net/tutorials/parallel_compression_tutorial/parallel_compression_tutorial_ma.html

http://www.hometracked.com/2007/03/31/parallel-compression-for-fatter-drum-tones/

http://www.faderwear.com/guides/parallel_compression.shtml

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=90035

http://benvesco.com/tonemonster/mixing/phat-drums-new-york-style-parallel-compression-part-2/

Nice one Mr Don. :smile: