Original Message 1/35                 Date: 28-Jan-01  @  10:35 PM   -   How would compression improve my track?

Jez

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if you've got the time and have'nt heard my track 'disconnected' yet then please give it a listen....the reason being....

I've been told the grooves are cool but that the drums need to be compressed..is it that important...can it be improved during the mastering or can only eq make the main difference to a final .wav...it just annoys me that I bought my Alesis 3630 after I wrote it...

this is'nt a shameless plug...I just need some advice...

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Message 2/35                 Date: 29-Jan-01  @  06:29 AM   -   RE: How would compression improve my track?

teemu

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Right, I listened to your track and the people who told you that the drums need to be compressed were absolutely right. They sound rather bland and boring and don't really drive the track along which is what drums are supposed to be doing.

And no, you can't improve that really during the mastering stage. You can use multiband compressing of course but it's no substitute for a balanced mix, it can't do miracles.

Now, just route your drums (or at least the kick and the snare) through the 3630, set the ratio an treshold somewhere in the middle and turn the attack up a few notches for a starting point. Fiddle around with the settings until it sounds good. That should do the trick, assuming the 3630 works like a compressor should.

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Message 3/35                 Date: 29-Jan-01  @  04:17 PM   -   RE: How would compression improve my track?

Booz

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Just listened to the track (nice one by the way) and totaly agree with whats been said above but remember dont compress all the drums straightaway sometimes its to much, I usually begin with the snare and take it one step at a time.

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Message 4/35                 Date: 29-Jan-01  @  04:31 PM   -   RE: How would compression improve my track?

Jasper

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Jez - as well as the 3630 (I use mine for bass) - there is a compressor fx on the a3k.

It's good enough for hats etc, cos once you compress other stuff, you'll find that the hats are starting to sound weak.. I was told to compress em all together - which works for certain styles.

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Message 5/35                 Date: 29-Jan-01  @  04:53 PM   -   RE: How would compression improve my track?

pulaski

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hey jez...

i know what you're saying about compression...i often hear that the way you get drums to be fat and punchy is through compression. but i think it's also important to remember that compression basically only alters the dynamics of sounds and doesn't necessarily add beef to your sound, so that what's more important to getting a fat sound is the raw material you're starting with. in other words, you can't just take any kik drum sound, run it through a compressor, and expect it to sound punchy and fat. i borrowed a compressor once, and maybe i'm just clueless, but my fairly solid 909 kik definitely lost some of it's thud when i ran it through the compressor. basically what i'm saying is it seems that compression has the most pleasing effect on drums when the drum sounds you are starting with are really full, perhaps overpoweringly so and need some taming and squashing to sit in the mix right. i haven't experimented a lot in this realm but this is just how i've come to understand it. so what i'm saying is that if you're unhappy with your drum sounds i would work on the drum sounds (layering, etc?) before running for the compressor. just my meager .02

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Message 6/35                 Date: 30-Jan-01  @  12:21 AM   -   RE: How would compression improve my track?

Jez

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what so I should arrange my tune first..then stick the compresser down an auxliary pot..set the overall threshold etc....
then sort of mix 'through' it, equing at the same time as revolving the aux pot to get the best sound...or should I do my mix first then add some compression right at the end...the thing is don't wanna spend ages doing a mix without compression, then add it and it fucks up all the equing...so I'll have to do it again....I'll probably only use it on the kick, snare and hi's so as not to overdo as is the case with some people (Jasper - I usually do use the a3k compression on the hats...)..

I spent 3 hours today listening to tunes in Vinyl Junkies (in London - hey I have to put my doll money to someuse) and I noticed, particularly with hi-hats and clap type sounds in house and techno that, the volumes of each indivdual sound seems to be turned up full on the mixer and compression is used to give it a sharp kind of clipping downwards as it reaches the peak, which enhances the groove and sort of pushes it out of the way as opoosed to it just finishing...its hard to explain but I think you get what I mean...it gives life to grooves somehwat more...

I want that Peace Division type sound....I'll give it a go...thanks for the feedback...I still think the track is still worth getting mastered anyway..even though the drums are'nt compressed...

all the best

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Message 7/35                 Date: 30-Jan-01  @  12:26 AM   -   RE: How would compression improve my track?

Jez

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oh and my said as well that you have to compress it for a soundsystem (as opposed to it 'just sounding cool') or else it'll blow the thing up and you'll then end up getting beats from the bouncers...which we don't won't now do we?

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Message 8/35                 Date: 30-Jan-01  @  08:05 PM   -   RE: How would compression improve my track?

pulaski

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hell yeah...peace division's drums are probably the best i've heard in house music and it's good that they often showcase em by using such sparse arrangements around them so that you can really focus on the drum sounds. hell, they could make a track with just kik high hat snare and some shakers and have it sound interesting. so definitely a good thing to shoot for. i think i also know what you're saying about the hi hats. on records i often hear the hats sounding like one continuous sound, like they're blended or something so that you don't hear the individual hat sounds but rather a scissor-like or "rubbing sandpaper together" kind of sound. i wonder if this effect is achieved using compression. i hear it on almost every record so it must not be hard to get that sound.

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Message 9/35                 Date: 02-Feb-01  @  02:19 PM   -   RE: How would compression improve my track?

Jasper

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you mean that metalic kind of scrape rather than a tshh sound.. I got it by using really heavy compression.. like -48db/infinity ratio using a long decay closed 909 sample. I also layered a linn drum closed hat and a dmx closed hat - the dmx hat is far more metalic than the 909 btw. classic house drum machine.

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Message 10/35                 Date: 03-Feb-01  @  02:30 AM   -   RE: How would compression improve my track?

Jez

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whoa thats pretty complex Jasper...you obviously know how to program your drums...how do you do all this layering?
Do you key map each sound on the a3k to the same key within the same bank or somehow glue them all together using soundforge or a program like that...then smaple into the beast and then add compression...I always wonder how I hear these new sounding hats, but never know how they achieve that result...a lot of it is down to compression I reckon

cool thread!

I've been experimenting this week with my alesis..strapping it over the whole mix etc...but just using it as an auxiliary FX on drums is the best way to make the groove flow I reckon....I use a high attack: 150ms and totally turn down the release...I take it your always supposed to set the threshold and output to 0db..

have any of you heard the flip side to 'feel my drums' by Peace Division? Classic stuff...
I've been trying to track it down all week but it's sold out everywhere...I can't wait much longer I'm tellin you...

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