Re: [linux-audio-user] LADSPA hints - Linux-audio-user

23 May 2005

--- Paul Winkler &lt;pw_lists(a)slinkp.com&gt; wrote:
...
  On Sun, May 22, 2005 at 10:34:30PM +0100, tim hall
 wrote:
  I want to use SC4 to essentially 'flatten
out' a  vocal take. I know such 
  approaches are generally frowned on around here, 

 are they? 
To frown on compression as a mater of principle is an
act of ingnorance and laziness. Wow, waking up at 3:00
AM makes Ron a frightful boy. Fortunately I'm probably
only scaring myself so there's no need for confession.
Whew!

...
   but the take
has a large 
 dynamic range and it simply won't sit right in the  mix any other way. I'm

  really not sure where to put the threshold and
 compression ration to achieve 
  this kind of effect and I could do with some
 guidelines on attack, decay and 
  knee settings. It's a pop song, and yes I
really  do want it to sound like 
  that. any ideas?  
 Sure, here's what I do. 
 Start with the compression ratio around 4-5 (that's
 plenty - it may
 be more than you need but that helps you dial in the
 other controls). 
 You won't actually hear any compression until you
 turn down the threshold 
 level, so do that now.  Gradually turn it it down
 until you start hearing 
 (and seeing on the meter) some gain reduction
 whenever the voice 
 is actually singing.  When you like the sound, add
 some makeup gain
 until the overall level is good.

 The default attack/release settings are maybe slow
 for vocals, so I turn
 them down a bit - attack to about 20, release to
 about 150.

 So far I have not needed to tweak the "knee"
 parameter.

 For my own stuff I don't tend to like really obvious
 compression except 
 as an occasional deliberate effect. So once I've got
 a sound I like, 
 I then tend to reduce the compression ratio
 gradually until I think it could
 maybe use a little more, and at that point I leave
 it alone :-)
 Maybe come back to it later and see if I still like
 it. 
That's all sensible to me. And the reason we return
later is because at some point in the song the vocal
dynamics/volume reaches a level where it drowns out
another instrument that should be heard. Any of the
paramaters can be tweaked to correct the problem but
knowing why we use compression is the key to
understanding what to do.

Until we use compression as an effect or tone shaper
all we're doing is using it to control volume. One of
my forumulamatic uses is with close mic, low volume
vocals where the mic is your lover's ear. I like to
smack/compress the shit out of that stuff. If the
speaker is touching my ear the volume better not jump
up and hurt me or the mood will be gone and that song
will be sleeping on the couch.

ron

...
  But if I'm trying to sound like pop radio, I
might
 go the other
 way and set the compression ratio to something
 severe like 10:1.

 There's some good guidelines to be found all over
 the net...

http://www.alesis.com/support/faqs/masterlink_comp_app.html
...

http://www.digido.com/portal/pmodule_id=11/pmdmode=fullscreen/pageadder_pag…
...

 -- 

 Paul Winkler
 http://www.slinkp.com

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