Compressor hooked up wrong? help!

[SamuelAdams]

i have a mackie 32 - 8 bus mixing console and just bought a 166 XL DBX compressor/ limiter / gate

i have a mic going into my mackie, then a 1/4" coming out of the direct out of that channel going to the compressor -

then it goes out from the compressor into pro-tools

the signal is not as strong as it shows on my board when it records into pro-tools and its all distorted and garbled even tho the strength of the signal is far (half) below where it would be distorted ...0...



my ratio is 2:1 on compressor output gain is 0 fast attack fast release and threshold is at 0. my gain on my board is all the way maxed out (thats what i usually did before i got compressor and it sounded good)


HELP!

[Mikeren]

Nice gear. You are right about being hooked up wrong, too.

Start by connecting your compressor with an insert cable to the mixer channel's insert jack. That's a single TRS plug to two mono 1/4" plugs. This will "tap into" your input--run it through the compressor--and right back to the same signal flow heading to the channel's fader.

Your Mackie's direct outs are post-fader and post-EQ, meaning anything you do on that mixer channel strip is what you record. That includes the newly "inserted" comp. In tracking, less is more. So start with EQ flat, Fader at 'U' or 0, set your input trim per Mackie, and comp. as is.

OK, step two..compression. It's not an effect you hear (unless used poorly). It's a tool to automatically turn down the volume if things get too loud. I wouldn't use your DBX's gates for recording, they're more for live sound. You can mute in PT, anyway.

You set a very reasonable ratio, now the key is the threshold. Imagine a track waveform with the loudest bits appearing as spikes above the average height. If you've recorded properly, nothing reaches 0dB, even the spikes. (The difference between the quietest (shortest) parts and the loudest (tallest) is your dynamic range).

Now, lower your threshold and you will begin to dip an invisible ceiling into the peaks. If you are limiting, you will actually chop off the peaks. Compression is milder because as you lower the threshold, you only turn down the peaks above the threshold based on your ratio. A ratio of 4:1 means for every peak 4dB above the threshold only 1dB will get through.

Use of Attack and Release are dependent on your sound source and intended use. The cool thing is now your squished, less dynamic track can now safely be turned up with the comp's output control to a greater overall level. Long live Rock and Roll! Really, the DBX and Mackie websites have all the info. you need...I must sleep now.

Hope this helps, really

MR

[SamuelAdams]

i really appreciate ur time, i knew all this already about the insert but its been such a long time my mind got ghetto. makes perfect sense and thank you!



1 more thing tho. what about people who like to back off a mic and get closer and they repeat this while singing, i use to set my threshold at like -40 with a output gain of like +20 and ratio of 2:1 so it would squash the heck out of loud sounds and if they were soft it would limit it with the output gain, am i doing this correctly? u said ur only using it right if u dont really notice the compressor. well what if i want to do limit / compression at the same time this way, it would then be very noticable yea? or do i have the wrong piece of gear for what im trying to accomplish here?

how do i make the sound, sound consistent all the way thru. which is what i was tryin to do with the above method.

[soundmind]

Please don't take this as a facetious reply, but having a professional vocalist would help a bunch. Otherwise, you have to start trying to do their voice modulation for them...as you described above. This is a real sledge hammer technique and removes all the finesse out of the recording AND the performance. I've recorded lots of amateurs who had beautiful voices and didn't know how to "play" them. I'd tell them to STOP DOING THAT!!! and sometimes it'd actually work. I've never been able to solve this technically, just diplomatically.
Good luck.

[countach74]

Also, some mics don't react as drasticlly to volume levels fluctuating. I've heard that the Shure SM-7 is excellent when it comes to amateur vocals because it keeps the signal real even.

[kelsey]

It´s all about the end sound. if that squashed to hell sound is what you want in a track, squash it to hell. I´ve used this technique on overdubs or doubles to get a cool effect, although, I often prefer to do this in the mix, so I have control and can undo it a bit.

as far as people who like to move around while recording(if you can´t get them to stand still), you can try to use an omni directional mic, and add another inch or two away from the vocalist. This will help a lot in leveling the difference of volumes when the vocalist moves, without losing the dynamics of the performance. It also add´s a certian air to the performance which might or might not be wanted, just gotta try it.

Hope that helps.
Peace
Kelsey

[NotRude]

An Omni mike is a great idea, as long as the room is acoustically balanced and pleasant "sounding" a very dead room will sound flat and lifeless on an omni and a very live room will make for a nightmare in the mix as removing ambience is alot harder than adding. Of course the dead room is the lesser of both evils as you can add artificial ambience to the room and compensate for the flatness by EQing some life into it, but you will never be more pleased than when you have a roon that sounds good to begin with.

Also a "professional" vocalist will actually do her/his own acoustic "compression", rather loudness compensation, precisely by moving back and forth closer and farther from the mike, but this is a technique that takes a long time to pefect and vocalists usually do live when holding mike in their hands, it's a little tougher to do right with a suspended mike, but vocalists that know their stuff have mike technique, in other words are in total command of their instrument which is not only limited to their vocal chords and body resonances but also to the mike and how they use it.

I beg to differ with the poster that said compression is not an effect. Maybe the design intent of a compressor is that of leveling a signal, but compressors have been used as effects since their introduction and are very much responsible for very specific sounds that go way beyond the simple leveling of a signal. Hearing a compressor pump is not necessarily a bad thing depending on what you are using it on and whether or not you intend for it to provide that "effect"