Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Stuie]

Hi All

I Have been using the Acp88 for about 2 years now, nice unit basic but doesnt cut the mustard when you give it some hard stuff. The gates sometimes click when pushed to far. Have played with the dbx1046 (nice), 266xl (v basic), 160a (must have)

What is better?

I have looked mainly at the aphex stuff (Drawmer is dreamy but have a look at the price tag). I am looking at 6 channels of compression min.

How i use the compression
1 Main Vocals
2 Back Vocal 1
3 Back Vocal 2
4 Bass Guitar
5 Kick Drum
6 Accoustic Guitar (depends on mood)
7 Free
8 Get out of jail for free

your thoughts on this one

Cheers
Stuie

[Tim Padrick]

On vocals, put a (cheapo) EQ in the compressor sidechain, so the comp is grabbing the loud, high notes instead of the low notes that are being boosted by the mic's proximity effect.  (I max 1K and up, and bottom everything below 1k.  Be sure to turn the EQ's gain way down so it does not clip).

The harder you compress, the more you need to slow the attack time to keep it from sounding "squashed".

Using sidechain EQ as described above, I run the ratio at about 2:30 and the attack time at about 1:30.  I set the threshold so it misses only the quietest notes.  This makes for a very even, smooth vocal that keeps the lyrics audible but never "in your face".  (For vocalists who are less dynamic, a faster attack usually works a bit better.)

So long as you don't use the two fastest attack settings, the gate should not click.  (Sometimes the second fastest setting will work without clicking).