Compression overload

[Uelogy]

hey DUC, im a newbie oo2R owner and ive been playing around with beats, and playing with the bombfactory compression units. my question is, when i use the bombfactories, i find it sounds great when really pumping, so that the AUX track that has the plug in on actually runs into red. ive always been told overload is bad, but when the bombfactories are running, it only seems to sound good when overloading. is it ok to run into red on the aux, whilst still keeping the master below clip?

[albee1952]

Red generally means there is no headroom left(and that the signal can clip at anytime) and digital clipping sounds horrible. Once you see red, you are flirting with disaster(IMHO) so I would bring the compressor output level down just enough to "get the red out".

[Uelogy]

thanks for your reply.
thats what i was sorta thinking too, i guess i will just need to be a little more paitent and practice a bit more with the plugs, and levels. its strange tho, like with the bomb factory AUX going into red it sounds fat, not like digial clipping, but more a analogue buzz/warmth, keep in mind this is the AUX, not the master fader clipping. But i suppose i should heed advice, and practice my technique.

thanks.

[Sonny in London]

There are a great many professional and successful producers who regularly run into the red on multiple tracks in a session, believe it or not.

It goes against every rule, but ultimately if it sounds good, do it. Screw convention.

Always be aware of problems that may arise, but your ears are the final judges.


Sonny

[max cooper]

Yeah, there ain't no rules. Digital clipping will become another color in the paintbox, even though there are those who will say "but that's different, it's not nice distortion like class-A or something."

The primary job of the new school is to piss off the old school. Burn the textbooks (but make sure you've read 'em first!)

Blast them levels!

[rockrev]

Well, in a way that's also the problem. Most CD's today have no life whatsover. They're all red and sound like *****. I love Frances the Mute (Mars Volta) but what a horrible master. Do we really want to pass crap mixes/masters on to the next generation? How about some headroom folks! Going digital provides good clean headroom with a very low noise level . . . why don't we use that then?

rockrev

[gonzo99]

Well, in a way that's also the problem. Most CD's today have no life whatsover. They're all red and sound like *****. I love Frances the Mute (Mars Volta) but what a horrible master. Do we really want to pass crap mixes/masters on to the next generation? How about some headroom folks! Going digital provides good clean headroom with a very low noise level . . . why don't we use that then?

rockrev

Word up!

[RANT]Sick of hearing recordings so squashed that they distort - why bother recording stuff with great gear in a great studio at great expense if you're just gonna trash all the effort the engineer put in? And then there's the lack of dynamics - everything drops out except, eg, main vox and 1 guitar but it's just as loud as the whole band, and then when everything comes back in it sounds small and pathetic by comparison. Good way to suck the balls out of it! Anyways, I'll stop now ...[/RANT]

@ Uelogy: You can always get pumping, "fatness" and distortion without clipping if you set your gain structure and compression correctly. EQ can help here too. It could be that you are confusing volume with "fatness". In which case you can maybe get the sound you're after by altering your balances. Monitoring levels can also have an effect on this.

At the end of the day, though, it doesn't really matter how you do it if it sounds good

An interesting experiment for you might be to bounce a mix with the clipping AUX and then readjust your levels and settings so the AUX is not clipping and bounce that. Then A/B the two mixes with both at the same level (if you need to turn one down/up then do it). You will then be able to really tell which one you like better.

$0.02

cheers,

[JFreak]

You can always get pumping, "fatness" and distortion without clipping if you set your gain structure and compression correctly.

except if you want "that" snare sound with a 1776 in begins to sound "that" only after you hit the red, and nobody knows why... it just sounds good.

[Sonny in London]

Burn the textbooks (but make sure you've read 'em first!)

Great advice.

[Uelogy]

tthats the thing, right, like ive done a few tests with the same mix, and the drums only sound as fat when im running the aux into red, it sounds like a genuine analogue fuzz produced by the BombFactory Compressor, even tho we're in the digital world, it sounds like real analogue, no nasty digi clipping present, confusing hey? when i hear it i think to myself, its almost like this is how the plugin is meant to be used. like its not so much about volume, more about fattness, like if i needed volume i can just ride the faders, but with the comp it really gives the drums a fatty fuzzy warm buzz which sounds niiiice, and it only seeems to be able to get that fuzzyfattness when u overload the comp and destroy the levels. meh, what ever works and sounds good, if everyone followed the texts, then you would never get new sounds anyway.