Good compressor and tips/tricks? (Help!)

[Polarlys]

I won't ask for an in-depth guide on compressors, as there are most likely houndreds of them on youtube alone, but I will however ask for a good one and possibly tips and tricks..

My current choice is the Fruity Limiter. The reason why is because it's somewhat simple (I'm bad at this, mind you) and not to mention the visual display. Did I make a poor choice? Any 'better' ones out there which actually shows you visually what you're doing?

Also, any do's and don't's? I think I know what clipping sounds like (and I think I'd want to avoid that for the most part), although I'm still somewhat unsure. Anything else you guys think I should try out, and what to eventually avoid? Thanks in advance!

[Polarlys]

I'd like to build my way up, beginning with the simpler tasks. I assume this would be for mastering and drums.. I'll check out blockfish when I'm ready to saturate and whatever else you can do with these things :P

[CitricAcid]

I don't use FL, but Fruity Limiter sounds to me like it's a limiter. A limiter is a kind of compressor, but you'll also want to find a regular compressor, too. The main difference is you can control the compression ratio; limiters have a compression ration of (ostensibly) infinity.

I can't recommend a compressor, since I've only ever used the one that comes with Cubase.

As for tips, check out this YouTube channel. He gives tons of audio mixing advice and has several videos on compression techniques:

http://www.youtube.com/user/PensadosPlace


Regarding clipping, that doesn't have anything to do with your compressor. If you're clipping, it means turn the volume down. And yes, clipping = bad.

[Polarlys]

It has these small buttons on where you can toggle either "LIMIT" or "COMP". I can control the ratio when comp is toggled, so I'd assume that fruity limiter is both a compressor and a limiter?

[S.P.P]

I've never used the fruity limiter for compression, but the fruity compressor does a very good job, and fruity multiband compressor seems to be excellent - especially for a stock plugin.

My advice for visually seeing it is: take a look on Youtube at the compressor for Logic Pro 9 (I'm not sure if Pro X has the same GUI), and take notes of what each knob does, and how the diagram on it changes. You can then draw your own diagram so you can take a look at see what the controls are doing whilst using the fruity plugins. :)

[the4thImpulse]

And clipping isn't bad, dont listen to the haterz.

Clipping on the master is bad, it can damage your speakers, any processors in the signal path (amplifiers, parametric EQs.. anything between the master output and speaker), and your own ears. Don't clip on the master.

[Polarlys]

And clipping isn't bad, dont listen to the haterz.

Clipping on the master is bad, it can damage your speakers, any processors in the signal path (amplifiers, parametric EQs.. anything between the master output and speaker), and your own ears. Don't clip on the master.

Thanks, that wasn't the most obvious thing in the world. That helps.

lold.

And I think I'm getting the hang of it, actually. I expected this to take eons as I struggled With this before :o

Also.. These things ate up my already nommed cpu.. Mastering is gonna be a pain With a cpu usage of over 90% at almost anything.. Gah

[S.P.P]

CPU at 90 for mastering!? Are you mastering the project or the exported audio file?

[itroitnyah]

The attack and decay knobs on Fruity Limiter can be fun to play with. It's a bit hard to explain what they do, but in a nut shell the decay increases the amount of time before the compressor starts to have an effect on the audio that is surpassing the threshold, meaning that if I put the threshold at -4dB, ratio of 2:1 and attack of 120ms and had a constant sine playing at -2dB, the sine would play at -2dB and gradually go down to -3dB over the course of 120ms. You get the idea. For the decay, it's just reversed. Play around with the attack and decay knobs, they can do wonders for you.

[Injustrial]

I use the Fruity limiter a lot. Almost every single mixer track has its own, sometimes 2.

What I usually do, to make my basses louder and compressed, is simply brick walling it. Keeping the ceiling at 0 db, I raise the gain until it starts sounding too compressed. Then I fiddle with the attack, decay and ahead knobs until the audio stops ducking. The compressor part of the plugin is usually used for mastering for me, since I find it easier to use than the Fruity compressor. It's a pretty nice stock plugin. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done

[Polarlys]

CPU at 90 for mastering!? Are you mastering the project or the exported audio file?

The project :P I've actually never even thought of rendering anything and then master it.. I suppose I really should to that instead of having 45378543 synths and 3475345367573 plugins active at all times

[S.P.P]

Definitely the better idea mate. :)

[ChocolateChicken]

You'll get clipping whenever the volume of the track goes above the 0dB threshold, and FL Studio will make this obvious because it will change the color of the track to RED when it clips. Just remember RED is bad and you'll be fine.

The Fruity Limiter's compressor is excellent and has a great visual display on it.

Try sidechain compressing your basses to your kick drums to give your kick drums more room to punch through. I don't know how to sidechain compress in FL Studio because I now use Logic Pro, but it's a pretty easy thing to do and there are definitely tutorials you can look up on youtube that tell you how to do it. I know Image-Line has one on their official youtube channel too!

Some compressors distort the sound when the attack time is at 0ms or when the release time is less than 10ms, so listen carefully and try to avoid those settings on compressors.

Usually when I compress drums, I have the attack time at no faster than 20ms. Typically I have the attack at 20ms for my drums because I think it is the best attack time for snares and stuff, but there are other producers who would disagree and I encourage you to mess with the compressor to see if you like different attack times than me. Remember, it's what sounds good to YOU that matters.

When you compress kick drums, you reduce the low end and the bass in the kick drum.

When compressing peaks, you should usually not EQ a track after you've compressed it because EQing changes the dynamic range and will introduce new peaks in an audio track, which will undo the compressing you've done. EQ should come BEFORE compression for this reason.

HOWEVER, when putting EQ and compression on drums, the order depends on the sample and what sounds better to you.

[ChocolateChicken]

(MLR doesn't let us delete our own posts)

[HMage]

Try not to compress kick drums, especially electronic kick drums.

Bad advice. A well-placed compressor on kick is usually what differentiates a good mix vs mediocre mix.

HOWEVER, when putting EQ and compression on drums, it doesn't matter which comes before which.

Bad advice as well, compressor after EQ will put a bit more emphasis on the equalizer and make EQ's effect more prominent, also compressor will react differently to EQ'ed waveform because peaks will be different. If you change EQ you will have to adjust your compressor again.

[Polarlys]

Try not to compress kick drums, especially electronic kick drums.

Bad advice. A well-placed compressor on kick is usually what differentiates a good mix vs mediocre mix.

HOWEVER, when putting EQ and compression on drums, it doesn't matter which comes before which.

Bad advice as well, compressor after EQ will put a bit more emphasis on the equalizer and make EQ's effect more prominent, also compressor will react differently to EQ'ed waveform because peaks will be different. If you change EQ you will have to adjust your compressor again.

.. Yeah, no offense to choco, but getting a punchy kick is a lot easier with the compressor..

I had also found out the latter part myself.. Seems kinda logical
Seems like I'm underestimated, but I suppose that's good.. Inb4 super basic advice I didn't know of

[Injustrial]

I've noticed that I'm getting some pretty good results in my kick if I compress it first, then EQ and add a tiiiiny touch of reverb and plenty of distortion at the end. (Reverb after distortion, of course)

Could just be my style of music, but hey

[ChocolateChicken]

Try not to compress kick drums, especially electronic kick drums.

Bad advice. A well-placed compressor on kick is usually what differentiates a good mix vs mediocre mix.

But wouldn't the compressor in this case simply be attenuating the low end and emphasizing the attack transient? In this case, I would either EQ the attack transient, or compress the attack transient as a separate layer from the low end, thus achieving punch in the transient while leaving the low end untouched.

(EDITED)

Bad advice as well.

I think I should have been more clear on this bit of advice, and I have already edited the post. What I meant was that IT DOES MATTER because you will get different results from which order you put EQ and compression on drums and it all depends on the drum sample you are using. You will not be able to get the same drum sound putting compression before EQ than if compression came after EQ. Once again, I am only speaking about drums here.

Basically it depends on the drum sample, and you will get different results putting EQ before compression or after.

[ChocolateChicken]

I've noticed that I'm getting some pretty good results in my kick if...

Could just be my style of music, but hey

You gave almost no advice regarding compression. Don't derail the thread.

[HMage]

Try not to compress kick drums, especially electronic kick drums.

Bad advice. A well-placed compressor on kick is usually what differentiates a good mix vs mediocre mix.

But wouldn't the compressor in this case simply be attenuating the low end and emphasizing the attack transient?

That's what post-compress gain (makeup) knob is for.

[Injustrial]

I've noticed that I'm getting some pretty good results in my kick if...

Could just be my style of music, but hey

You gave almost no advice regarding compression. Don't derail the thread.

Just as a counter to your claims that you shouldn't compress your kicks