Compression

[titchyblackcat]

Can someone help as to how i set a compressor on the HD Bean for keeping a rythm track level volume.

I'm doing so at the minute using Tube Comp but i'm just twiddling till it sounds OK but with out knowledge of what i'm doing.

Any help with the settings and how to use them would be appreciated.

Also are the different compressors radically different in what they're doing. ?

[titchyblackcat]

Ah !

I've always put the comp before the amp i'll move it to the back end now.

Thanks for your help, i'm off to tweak.

[BillBee]

The is  a difference in the types of comps - the Tube works good at the back end and the red works good up front (I like the red based off the MXR Dyna Comp).

 

Just an FYI:

 

<from an older thread >

 

This thread is pretty good and saves me typing :)

 

http://line6.com/sup...ew/thread/55381

 

Here is a snippet:

 

A common story to explain a compressor is something like:

 

There's this little gremlin.

 

His job is to listen to the music and turn down the volume when it gets too loud.

 

The "Threshold" is how loud the volume has to be before a red light comes on and the Gremlin grabs the volume fader and brings it down.

 

The "Ratio" is how much the Gremlin brings it down. The ratio is "how many decibels out:how many decibels in". So, a 1:1 ratio means that for every 1 db that comes in, the compressor lets 1 db out. A ratio of 4:1 means that for every 4 db that comes in, 1 db is let out. A ratio of 20:1 is the same, but this is considered a limiter.

 

The "Attack" is how long it takes the Gremlin to see the red light, get off his chair, grab the slider and pull it down. Long attack times let the transient or peak of the audio through before lowering the volume. This can accent the "punch" of a sound by making the transient even bigger compared to the rest of the signal. A shorter attack time will eventually cut off the transient too-which is what a limiter would need to do.

 

The "Release" is how long the Gremlin keeps the fader down after the audio gets quieter than the threshold, and the red light goes off. If the release is short, then the sound will pump more-meaning that the sound will get quieter on a peak and immediately louder again after the peak is over. A long release time means that some of the notes after will be lowered in volume still, even though they are below the threshold.

 

Compressors often have a "gain" knob at the end. Keep in mind that Compression ONLY make things quieter. The gain knob is there to bring the sound back up in volume after you squished some of the peaks. Since you altered the peaks to make them quieter, the average level of the peaks is closer to the level of the quieter parts. Mountains are now hills. Turning up the gain makes the whole track louder overall. This makes the "sustain". The quiet parts that faded out are now louder and it makes the note seem like it lasts longer.

 

That about sums up how they work. The differences in settings and types of compressors can have a big difference on the sound. For example, an Opto compressor (it literally uses a light bulb to trigger the compression) is slower than say a digital compressor to attack and release. This makes vocals sound pretty sweet. You can increase the punch of a bass or drum by using a slower attack but longer release. You can kill a transient with a high ratio, low attack setting.

 

An Expander is basically the opposite. The controls are pretty much the same but instead of making the sound quieter, it makes the sound louder past the threshold.

[titchyblackcat]

Thanks i'm treading carefully at the moment just using the tube comp

I'll try the red comp in the future

[fobsternd]

So how can get more sustain?

[pianoguyy]

The sustain from a compressor isn't real. It doesn't actually make the string vibrate longer. 

But, it produces a perceived sustain. 

 

It does this by lowering the volume of the loud notes. 

 

I hope you can see the font manipulating I am about to do... 

oooooooo

 

if you look at the O example without a compressor, you have a significant drop off in volume from the first and last note. 

But now imagine you have a limiter that only lets the O get so loud. it would look like this

oooooooo

In this example, you don't have such an obvious drop off. 

It isn't real sustain, but it makes you think it is.