Vocal Compression
Use a volume rider or automation to minimize the amount of work a compressor needs to perform on a vocal track. Increasing compression will bring vocals forward. Use a moderate ratio like 4:1 along with a fast attack.
Sidechain Vocal Tamer
The first step in this technique is to create an auxiliary track for the vocals to go to. This track will remain muted but will act as a sidechain input for a compressor. Apply a band bass equalizer to this auxiliary that cuts out everything below 600 Hz and everything above 4 KHz. Most of the harshness in vocals is between 600 Hz and 4 KHz, so compressing vocals with these frequencies as an input will help to tame the harshest elements of a vocal recording. Create a second auxiliary track for the vocals and put a compressor on it with your preferred vocal compression settings. Make sure that the vocal compressor has a sidechain input. Route the output of the 600 Hz to 4 KHz band pass into the sidechain input of the vocal compressor.
Drum Compression
Run the kick, snare, and toms into an auxiliary bus and add some parallel compression. Be sure not to include the hi-hat and cymbals as it is best to minimize the compression they receive.
High Frequency Percussions
Sidechain compress shakers and high frequency rhythmic information with the high frequency information from the vocals.
Snare Compression
Try using a slow attack and a 2:1 ratio.
Joe Barresi Snare Trick
Put transient designer on the snare with no attack and with the release turned all the way to the right.
Guitar Compression
Try using a fast attack, 3:1 ratio, and very low threshold. Guitar compression should be minimal so that it’s barely working. Some audio mixers do not use compression on guitar at all.
Ambient Guitar Vocal Ducking
Ambient guitar vocal ducking requires two mics. The first mic always stays on and is never ducked. The second mic should be a room mic, at least three times as far from the amp, but a further distance like ten to twelve feet in a semi dead room tends to work better. Put a gate on an ambient guitar mic track (keeping the close mic in the mix at all times) and set up the gate to only have the extra track come out in the mix when the singer is not singing. Be sure that the release on the compression is very slow so the guitar doesn’t come pumping in after the vocals stop.
Bass Compression
Use a volume rider before using compression to minimize the amount of work performed by the compressor. Use heavy compression in parallel. A medium attack should be used, and for parallel compression the ratio should be at least 4:1, but can be higher.
Bass Compression with Frequency Bands
Break the bass into three frequency bands. The sub frequency band should be a mono band that ranges from 20 Hz to 50 Hz, the second frequency band should range from 50 Hz to roughly 600 Hz, and the third frequency band should range from 600 Hz to 6 KHz – 10 KHz. A compressor should be put on the sub frequency band and the kick should be ran into the side chain input.
The MCDSP AE400 Active Equalizer is a multiband equalizer that allows each band to be triggered internally or externally. This can be used to compress the sub frequency band without breaking the original track into different auxiliary channels.
Kick Compression
To maintain low end, set the kick compressor’s attack between 30 and 60 milliseconds.
Using parallel compression on the kick also helps to maintain low-end and retain the transient. To use parallel compression, create an auxiliary channel, send the kick drum to it, and apply compression. Both the compressed track and the dry track should be sent to the drum bus.
Kick Drum Transient Clampdown
If you want your compressor to clamp down on your kick drum here’s what you do. Put a compressor that has a sidechain input onto the kick drum track. Copy the kick drum track, sans the compressor, and slide it so that it plays about twenty milliseconds ahead of the original kick drum track. Mute this new kick drum track so that you don’t hear it. Now run this new track into the sidechain input of the compressor on the original kick drum track. This will ensure that the compressor catches the kick drum transient as long as the kick attack is faster than twenty milliseconds. One must also consider whether or not they want the transient to sneak through before the compressor can clamp down on it. A recent trend is to use parallel compression so that instruments get thicker without damaging the transient.
Removing the hi-hat from the kick drum
Try using a de-esser to remove hi-hat sounds from a kick drum.
Overhead Mic Compression
Feel free to smash these with compression. Try the 1176 4-button mode. Take some of the high frequency cymbal wash out with EQ. Bring it up just loud enough to give the drums a greater sense of depth. More compression on the overheads brings out the vibe of the room.
By Jack Johnston
Jack Johnston has a Master’s of Arts in Applied Linguistics from the New School University, a Master’s in Business Administration from Western Governors University, and a Master’s in Management and Leadership from Western Governors University.