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An article on some common compression mistakes and how to avoid them.
Though I’m sharing this, I find that it is not as worthwhile as many of the other articles I have read. This article goes over some of the most bare bones, super general rules for using compression. While I found most of them to be true (all be it borderline insulting to the reader due to the list being a copy paste job of every compression mistake listicle), I found his number one mistake to be quite ignorant.
“1. You’re Stuck in the Past
If I see another shootout comparing a dozen 1176 plugins, I might retire.The 1176 was released 50 years ago.
Sure, it was great for its time. But are there no better tools available today? Has no one improved upon this design over the last 50 years? No other industry romanticizes the past to such a great degree. Publishers don’t do shootouts to find the best version of the Guttenberg printing press. Sure, it was great for its time. But today, we have the internet.
If you’re trying to find the best replica of an ancient compressor, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Many modern compressors blow the classics out of the water. They’re more versatile and sound better.
Are you looking for them?”
This is particularly aggravating to me for several reasons.
One is his false comparison with “new printing methods vs old printing methods”. In print, our focus isn’t on the quality of the words on the page, but the page itself. In music, there’s nostalgia associated with the use of the ancient equipment. Do you prefer reading on off-white pulp paper reminiscent of a young adult novel from the library with times new roman font that can change into a different font as a different character speaks? Or is plain white printer paper and helvetica good enough to convey the story? In music, the equipment isn’t the printing press, the DAW is, the vintage equipment we use is the paper, ink, and design of the page in order to illicit a response from the user of the end product.We use them because so many recordings that mean so much to us used them too, and we just want to add that special sound to our records for the next generation to hear, while getting to add a new perspective to the story.
The second issue I have with this opinion is that after saying that explanation that there are a multitude of better compressors out there and you should use one of those instead of an 1176, he then goes on to talk about a primary issue with compression being cutting off the transients, a problem that didn’t exist to the extend it does in this day and age because pretty much every vintage compressor has a vastly slower attack time when compared to the digital equipment we use these days. My reading of this first point was essentially, “Don’t get hype around the most well built equipment prior to the digital age, in the digital age, we’ve rendered these pillars useless. Now lets talk about how new equipment works too well, creating more problems.” I agree that using classic equipment isn’t gonna get you to the place you wanna go all the time, I love some of my more modern compressors more than some of my analog based plugs for different things. However, when something works (like a compressor that doesn’t cut off transients because it physically can’t), don’t pretend its not worth using.
My final issue is with this line, “If you’re trying to find the best replica of an ancient compressor, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Many modern compressors blow the classics out of the water. They’re more versatile and sound better.” This is quite insulting to the people at Universal Audio who’ve used plug in technology to immortalize almost every piece of popular analog equipment that recording has ever used, so that every person who wants to, can find a piece of equipment from something that they enjoyed, and they can use it themselves for a song they made! This opinion also undermines the beauty that a lot of these records have because of the imperfections from their equipment. Brian Eno said of imperfection:
“Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit — all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them.”
I don’t mean this entire post to be saying that analog modeled plug ins are the only way to go. I believe that any equipment should be used if it works for you. Its the matter-of-fact nature in which this author says that using that sort of equipment and seeking that perfect one is not a worthwhile endeavor. I think it is, because you may find THE SETTING you like to have on your snare because its the setting that was on the snare from your favorite song by your favorite band, and you want to share that magic with others.
Its less a thought on reverb, and more a thought on everything else you could be using instead of reverb. I find that most people tend to overuse reverb when they think that they should be creating space. They don’t realize that reverb isn’t THE tool for creating space, its just the most popular one (thanks to Big Reverb lobbyists). With that being said, lets talk about how to create space within a mix instead of using reverb.
1. EQ: When you’re standing close to something, doesn’t it sound much clearer than something farther away? Its because the high end is the first to disappear as you create distance from an element. So doing a shelf cut of the high end as well as a low pass filter at 16k (Or wherever sounds best) can make a sound seem farther away. It usually will make it sound 3-5 paces further away than if you had left that high end information in it.
2. Volume: This may seem obvious, but how some of y’all are using reverbs, its not obvious enough. Making something quieter within the mix will make it seem farther away, or at least not as close compared to something else. When doing volume changes, its best to follow a 3dB rule (If you want to create a noticeable difference of volume, 3 dB is when most people will be able to tell.)
3. Compression: Compression tends to bring an element of the mix into focus, so refraining from using a compressor on an element can make it seem less in-focus to the common listener. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t use a compressor on the track, but think about what you’re trying to accomplish with the compressor? Taming a performance? or reducing peaks to bring the element into focus? Never add compression for no reason.
4. Delay: Delay, imo, is the perfect tool for creating space that doesn’t muddy a mix. Delay adds the space that reverb does, without the muddying effect of diffusion. Delays help something in focus maintain its focus without the illusion of being too far away. When considering what you’re trying to accomplish, ask yourself “am I trying to make this sound big, or am I trying to make this sound natural?” Delays add the Big, Reverb adds the natural.
5. Stereo Imaging: I almost didn’t talk about this, but I think that a good stereo imaging plug can help make space. When you have an element that you’d like to keep in focus, but don’t think that it should be the main focal element, you can widen its stereo image! This essentially uses a phase shifter algorithm to make the center of an element’s full stereo image to disappear. This creates the illusion of wider sides in the element, and gets that element out of the way of the element of primary focus, in order to better help the image of the song.
A few final thoughts on reverb from a colleague of mine, “When everything has reverb, nothing has reverb.” Most elements in your record do not need very much reverb. Listen to your favorite records, and you will find them to be dryer than you have imagined them to be. My colleagues opinion feeds into my own personal philosophy on adding verb to anything: Add reverb until you can barely hear it on the track you’re effecting (unless using reverb as a full on effect). And pick what tracks you want to have reverb on them. Don’t just add it when you need space. Try literally everything else first.
Good Morning is the first song on Kanye West’s third album, 2007’s Graduation . The song follows The College Dropout and Late Registration ’s academic theme, whilst presenting itself as more mature and focused than it’s predecessor by opening with an introspective song instead of a skit. The so
This is an awesome breakdown of the Kanye track. I want you, the reader, to notice how many elements are in this. I know people who STACK so many things, and SHOVE as much into one song as possible, but look at this, and realize that most songs only have 6 or 7 things going on at once (and at least 3 or 4 things typically). Quality over Quantity is the best saying when talking about this.
A lot of today's biggest names simply crept out from their tiny little bedroom studios... With no more than a simple computer, software and a mic or two in tow. What made them stand out above the rest? What were the best ways to produce high-quality music at home?
This is a very good bare bones explanation of music production from the gear to the final parts of mastering a song. Worth reading to get into it!
I would encourage you to check out this article from patches.zone in which I also helped create the graphics: https://patches.zone/compression-guide/
This video is a great introduction to compression. Compression is one of the most difficult concepts to understand in audio, but the more you understand it, the more you can use it to make your music sound pro.
Ever wondered why you struggle to find more clients? What if I were to tell you there are 5 other areas you need to focus BEFORE you ever think about marketing your studio?
This article has some quality advice for anyone who’s trying to learn the steps necessary to get working in the industry.
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