compression | Home Studio Corner

Tag Archive: compression

Stuck in the Past – Going for that “Vintage” Sound

Do you know the reason we rave over those “vintage” recordings?

Imperfection.

40 years ago, they didn’t use tubes, transformers, and tape by choice. Nope, it was all that was available to them at the time.

The “sound” of so many of our favorite recordings from that era came from running the audio through gear that couldn’t faithfully and accurately reproduce the signal. Each piece of gear added something to the sound — warmth, low end, smoothness, punchy-ness, even noise.

In short, it was near impossible to get a clean, accurate recording. The gear added to the sound.

by Joe Gilder in Gear, Recording • 9 Comments - Leave a comment!

Why Control Surfaces Aren’t Worth It

Get this.

When I used to sell recording equipment, I can’t tell you how many times a “studio owner” would call me asking about one of the big, $10,000+ control surfaces for Pro Tools.

They would straight up tell me that they just wanted it for the look, that they might not even actually USE it.

(In case you don’t know, a control surface is something that looks like a mixer, has faders and buttons, and is used to control your recording software. It allows you to — among other things — move the faders in your software with your hands rather than a mouse.)

I regularly get questions from people wanting to know which control surface they should buy.

My response? DON’T GET ONE.

by Joe Gilder in Gear, Mixing, Recording • 35 Comments - Leave a comment!

Recording Wannabe’s

Remember that post I wrote a couple days ago?

The one where I said stealing plugins makes your mixes worse?

(It definitely got a few people fired up.)

Let’s dive a bit deeper into that, shall we?

Some people thought that I was saying that people who steal plugins aren’t capable of learning how to use those plugins effectively…that there’s some magic force field that causes everything to sound like poo.

That’s not what I’m saying.

I’m talking about deeper issues.

by Joe Gilder in Gear, Mixing • 8 Comments - Leave a comment!

A Compression-Less Mix? Blasphemy!

Here’s a comment from one of my brand spankin’ new Mix With Us — www.MixWithUs.com — members.

Javier wrote:

“Ok, this is my very first attempt to mix anything…I did not do any compression at all.”

That’s like sweet music to my ears.

He’s new to recording and mixing, and instead of using compression all willy-nilly and messing up the mix, he decided to ditch compression altogether. He focused on simple things like level balance, panning, and EQ.

And you know what?

His mix sounds GREAT, especially for his very first mix ever.

He avoided the classic rookie blunder of overdoing things. He took the “less is more” approach to heart, and his mix sounds worlds better than my first mixes did when I was just starting out.

So often, when I’m critiquing mixes for Mix With Us members, I have to make comments like “There’s too much compression on the lead vocal.” or “There’s too much reverb on the guitars.”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with any of that, but I’d personally rather err on the side of too little than too much. (With anything — EQ, compression, number of tracks, etc.)

How about you?

Want some tracks to practice your mixing skills, followed-up by a mix critique by me?

It’s all hiding behind this link:

www.MixWithUs.com

Joe Gilder

by Joe Gilder in Mixing • 0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Four Horsemen of the Compressalypse

Let me introduce you to four friends of mine.

Okay, they’re not friends. They’re actually evil beasts who live to destroy your mixes.

They’re the Four Horsemen of the Compressalypse:

#1 – The Non-Compression-ist

This is the guy who will tell you that compression is evil and should be avoided at all costs. Using compression will ruin your mix.

He instills fear in your ability to get the compression setting right. He encourages you to just move on and forget compression altogether.

#2 – The Random-Knob-Twister

This guy just tells you to go for it. Pull up a compressor and turn those knobs. The less you actually LOOK at the compressor, the better.

The goal here is to act like you know what you’re doing, and randomly pick a setting that you think sounds good (even if you don’t know why).

#3 – The Limit-the-Mix-Bus-and-Call-it-a-Day-ist

This one is all about the limiter, which is an extreme form of compression. He whispers in your ear, “Your mix will sound professional if you just slap a limiter on your mix bus and make things as loud as possible.”

#4 – The Compressaholic

This horsemen might be the most dangerous of the four.

He understands how compression works…but he simply can’t stop using it.

He’ll tell you that you need a compressor on every track. “It doesn’t really matter what the track sounds like without compression,” he’ll say. “The only way to get that punchy, full-sounding mix is to compress the daylights out of each individual track.”

*****

My advice to you? Avoid these dudes like the plague.

They fail to mention the truth — that compression is a valuable and powerful mixing tool, but only if it’s used properly.

For a safer way to compress (including my step-by-step approach), gallop on over to:

www.UnderstandingCompression.com

by Joe Gilder in Mixing • 2 Comments - Leave a comment!

The Michael Scott School of Recording

I gotta admit, I’m a huge fan of the TV show “The Office.” (More specifically, the first five or six seasons…not such much the latest stuff.)

If you’re not familiar with the show, it essentially centers around an idiot boss named Michael Scott, who is constantly making bad decisions.

In one episode in particular, it’s “Pretzel Day” at the office. This guy shows up once a year with a pretzel cart and gives out free hot pretzels to everyone in the office.

Michael waits in line all morning for his pretzel, and when he finally makes his way to the front of the line, he has to decide what toppings he wants.

The pretzel guy rattles off at least fifteen different options.

Michael shyly replies, “Is there any way I can get…all of them?”

The guy proceeds to give Michael “the works” — more sugar than any human should ingest in one sitting. Needless to say, a sugar rush is soon to follow…and more hilarity.

But what can a bumbling boss on a sugar high teach us about recording?

We all have a tendency, like Michael, to overdo things. We eat too much sugar. We watch too much TV. (Oops, busted.)

When it comes to recording, it’s easy to take a good song and add so much garbage on top that it becomes a big mess.

This is especially easy to do with compression.

Compression is like sugar.

You get a little taste of it, and you fall in love. “This makes everything sound better!!”

So you compress more and more — track after track — until you realize that suddenly your mixes aren’t sounding good anymore. They sound dull and lifeless.

Is more compression the answer?

Negative Ghostrider.

You need to back it down. Show some moderation. Take a simpler approach.

I’m a firm believer that “less is more.”

And it seems to have paid off for me and my mixes.

More here:

www.UnderstandingCompression.com

Joe Gilder
Home Studio Corner

P.S. Have you heard about Dynamic Range Day? Okay. Stop what you’re doing and check it out here:

DynamicRangeDay.co.uk

My buddy Ian Shepherd puts this on every year, and it’s awesome.

You can learn all about WHY dynamic range is important in your mixes (and why too much compression is a bad thing), plus there’s a huge giveaway. Prizes include free copies of two of my videos: Understanding EQ — www.UnderstandingEQ.com — and Understanding Compression — www.UnderstandingCompression.com.

by Joe Gilder in Mixing, Recording • 3 Comments - Leave a comment!

Umm…You Might Be Getting in the Way

I got this email a couple days ago, and it was just too cool not to share with you.

Michael (one of my customers) wrote:

Understanding EQ changed my whole world a few months ago, I have started Understanding Compression this week and the quality of my mixes has taken a giant leap. My friends and clients have been letting me know I’m on the right track.

You know what’s so cool about this email? The thing that fills me with warm fuzzies?

The fact that Michael’s friends and clients are noticing a difference.

Wanna know why that’s cool?

Because friends and clients are usually completely oblivious to the recording process. They don’t care about compressor ratios and EQ curves. They don’t care about muddy-ness or crossfades.

They just know when something sounds GOOD.

They know if they would actually voluntarily listen to in the car on a road trip.

Why? Because the technical stuff (the recording, the mix) isn’t getting in the way. Nobody cares if you used parallel compression on the drums. They just know whether the drums make ‘em wanna dance or not.

Your job is to get out of the way.

If you’re doing your job, the average listener will be able to listen to the MUSIC and not the recording.

Now I’m not one to say my training videos are “world-changing,” but I seem to get a lot of emails like the one above. People are having lots of “ah-ha!” moments. Their recordings are getting better, and they’re having more fun.

To learn how to “get out of the way” with compression, clicky-click here:

www.UnderstandingCompression.com

by Joe Gilder in Mixing, Recording • 3 Comments - Leave a comment!

5 Compression Mistakes That Keep Even “Smart” People Stuck

Here are some of the top compression mistakes that I’ve come across.

If you’re guilty of any (or all) of these, don’t worry. I am, too.

Here are five compression mistakes that keep even us “smart” folks stuck.

1. Waiting until the end of the mix to add compression to the mix bus.

This is the easiest way to unravel a great mix. If you want to compress the entire mix (which is totally fine to do), make sure you add the compressor to your mix bus EARLY in the process.

Then make all your mix decisions while listening to the mix THROUGH that compressor.

by Joe Gilder in Mixing • 18 Comments - Leave a comment!