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Post subject: Compressor questions
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:03 pm
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Okay Professors of Compressors... Please explain what they are use for...
Thanks in advance...

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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 8:55 pm
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In one word, sustain. They level out your playing dynamics. The notes you pick hard, get compressed, the notes you pick lightly, get attenuated. If you hold a note and the settings are correct, it will attenuate to feedback.
I like them and use them often. But you have to play around with the settings to get a sound you can live with. Meaning not too much clacking from pick noise and not too much noise overall. If you have something that is noisy before the compressor, the compressor will attenuate the noise and make it worse. So never put an overdrive or fuzz before a compressor.

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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:47 pm
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+1 to the previous person posting. I use a compressor to add some sustain when I'm playing modern Christian rock, but not so much for post War II blues.

I also think it help give me a nice '70s funk vibe when I play rythem.


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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:23 am
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Tone Press parallel compressor (unique design...blend dry with a high quality compressed signal - now imitated) sounds awesome with just about any Fender combo I have heard. I work with guitarists who use it through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 410, Fender Pro Jr. and a vintage Fender Super Reverb. Pick your poison, it should work well with it.

http://www.barberelectronics.com/CompactTonePress.html


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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:49 am
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I've been using compression for ages but I'm a bassist. Anyway there are different KINDS of compressors and some are better than others. I prefer an optical compressor like the Aphex Punch Factory over all others. I also have used the MarkBass Compressore which is a tube type compressor. I mostly gig with the MarkBass because it sounds better live than recorded. The Aphex does both well and is way simpler to setup. Before the Punch Factory I was using a Keely which is a VERY good compressor also. On bass they keep me from overpowering everything else and smooths everything out.


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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 7:01 pm
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Drew365 wrote:
In one word, sustain. They level out your playing dynamics. The notes you pick hard, get compressed, the notes you pick lightly, get attenuated.
Um... I beg to differ. "Attenuated" means reduced in level. With that one change, then, yeah.

Heavy compression is what makes TV commercials seem so much louder than the programs. The peaks may not be louder than the program, but all of the mid and lower levels of the commercial are bumped up towards the peaks.

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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:36 am
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John L Rose wrote:
Drew365 wrote:
In one word, sustain. They level out your playing dynamics. The notes you pick hard, get compressed, the notes you pick lightly, get attenuated.
Um... I beg to differ. "Attenuated" means reduced in level.

Thank you. Beat me to it.

To the OP,
Compression was traditionally used in recording studios and on radio and television stations as a means of controlling signal levels. It amplified the quiet segments and quieted the loud segments for the benefit of the sound engineers. It's long been used by bassists for the same purpose. Compressors started showing up in rock n roll guitar rigs in the 70's and gained a lot of use in the 80's mostly as a way to modify high gain sounds. When a wet, high gain signal is firmly compressed you get a smooth soaring whistle-like tone when soloing in the upper registers of the fretboard and in particular, with the neck pickup. I've never found it to be of any use playing rhythm but it is almost necessary for certain kinds of lead work.

Also useful for surf.
Run lots of reverb and add compression.
Some serious surf guys will even install a compressor unit right into the cabinet of their amp and place the unit inline on the reverb circuit, ie: between the amp and the tank.

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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:53 am
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I just want to add my own $.02 on this for what it's worth...

Over-all I agree with what's already been said, but personally I think it's just a bit too "nutshell" regarding the explanation...or at least the use. The example of use in commercials is right on the money...i.e. why commercials sometimes seem to "scream at you" even the though volume level is the same. One thing that I think got missed though is it's use as a master tool for recordings in general and how this differs from the way a guitar player may use it.

Compression, like EQ, is really one of those things that's nearly an art unto itself. I wanted to mention this specifically as there seem to be a lot of people these days who really mis-use it. I recently did a critique for a local artist where his recordings were just squashed flat with compression...everything on every track was pretty much jacked right up to 0db. Looking at just the wave forms, there was virtually no dynamics at all...they were damn near flat all the way across. Sadly, I've seen a lot of recordings in recent years that tend to be like this. If I had to make a guess, I'd suspect that it's mainly the proliferation of home recordings out there...after all, unlike the old days where you usually had to go into "a studio" to do any type of serious recording (and send said work to a mastering house afterward), these days anyone with a copy of Cakewalk or Garage Band can lay down their own tracks. There's nothing wrong with this in and of itself, but it seems that a great many people really don't take the time to LEARN how to use the tools correctly. They figure out how to setup a track and how to hit the record button...and that's the end of the thought process. While some really great music has come out in recent years because of this...music that the world may never have gotten to hear otherwise...A LOT of garbage is out there too, and sadly a great many people really don't seem to know the difference.

In a studio/mastering situation, compression can indeed be used creatively to "polish the proverbial turd"...I've used it like this extensively for some videos I did of my last band, where the sound essentially came off camcorders (since the bass player has yet to figure out how his hd recorder actually works, LOL!). While it's nothing I would consider as even remotely professional, using compression I was able to bring the levels up and balance the sound out a bit so that the vids could at least be used as promos. The proper use of compression, usually along with some creative EQ work, can often save an otherwise poorly recorded track and it can take a already great track and make it something truly spectacular.

Likewise, you'll often see compression used in a studio rather extensively on drums...particularly with bass and snare drums...this is a great example of it's use for leveling a track. No offense to any drummers out there, but more often that not, a lot drummers tend to have the over-all dynamics of elk in heat! There's a few folks out there who really do have great technique, but there are just as many (particularly weekend warriors) who just "hit from the shoulder", etc. and the dynamics of their playing is just all over the board...compression is wonderful tool to level all that out a bit.

Now it's important to remember here that this particular use of compression is a bit different from how a guitar (or bass) player might use it. The concept it essentially the same, but in this case the use or application can be rather different, particularly whether you're playing rhythm or lead. It can be used to level out someone's playing (i.e. their dynamics) but as someone already suggested, the first example would be that of sustain. Think examples like Carlos Santana, where the lead player will hit that -1- note that just rings out FOREVER (a live version of Santana's "Europa" comes to mind). In this case it's not used to specifically level a signal, as much as a creative sound shaping tool. Yea, a lot of that does come down to the guitar and the amp (LP's are known for the great sustain and Carlos is notorious for his use of PRS guitars), but with some good compression, you can get a decent Strat to do the same thing. It can be a very powerful creative tool to say the least.

As someone also eluded to, a great deal does come down to how you use it. Too muchcomp on a lead guitar and yea, it starts to jack up the sound of the pick hitting the strings or any other "noise", which doesn't typically sound all that great. For a rhythm guitar however, this can sometimes be desirable, depending on the situation, as it tends to produce a rather percussive like effect. I've seen a few solo players in my day who use it like this...no drummer but there's still "a beat". Same goes for the use on a bass...I've seen situations where the bass player is REALLY tight with the drummer and the compression on the bass guitar seems to really re-enforce the drums. In any case, in this capacity I view it as "a tool" and as with most things, "the right tool for the right job"...you wouldn't typically use a chain saw to cut delicate scrolling with wood working :-)

On the note of "the right tool", while this is rather obvious, I would also point out that not all compressors are created equal. For my guitar work (both rhythm and lead) I have a decent Boss pedal that I've used rather extensively on stage. It's a really great pedal for guitar work but I would NEVER use it for something like recording vocals in the studio. In this case, I would actually use my wife as an example...she's an incredible vocalist, with a rather tremendous dynamic range. She can go from a whisper-like "soft and gentle", to totally spiking the meters in a mere heartbeat, LOL! In this case, I have an older, but decent Peavey rack mount compressor/leveler that I use (mainly because I haven't broken down to buy a good tube preamp for her yet). It has a decent sound and does a good job of keeping her dynamics under 0 (although I do typically tweak things a bit further with PSP Vintage Warmer once the tracks are down). Now that said, if I were to get more into the mastering side of work, I probably wouldn't use that Peavey for such use...if I did this more as a full time thing, I'd probably break down and buy a 610 and/or an 1176 instead. That said however, if I had an 1176, you'd never see me using it with my guitar on stage...that's what the Boss pedal is for. Again, the right tool for the right job.

To sum this up with one of my rather infamous analogies, in my mind stuff like compression, as well as eq, reverb, etc., is a lot like how women use makeup. If used correctly it can take an otherwise ordinary woman and make her beautiful and it can make an already attractive woman truly stunning, however if too much is used (at the risk of being a bit lude), it can make almost any woman look like a REALLY scary $5 hooker!

Anyways, while the general description of what compression is and does is essentially the same regardless of the application, what you use and how you use it, really depends on the situation.


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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:04 am
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lomitus wrote:
Compression, like EQ, is really one of those things that's nearly an art unto itself. I wanted to mention this specifically as there seem to be a lot of people these days who really mis-use it. I recently did a critique for a local artist where his recordings were just squashed flat with compression...everything on every track was pretty much jacked right up to 0db. Looking at just the wave forms, there was virtually no dynamics at all...they were damn near flat all the way across. Sadly, I've seen a lot of recordings in recent years that tend to be like this.

Yup. I like to think that the heavy-handed use of compression in so-called "digitally remastered " releases is one of the factors causing the "CD versus Vinyl" holy wars. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war .

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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 6:01 am
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I'd like to remind of another kind of use for the compressor besides the above mentioned sustain.
Anyone heard what comes out of this combination:
Strat, middle pickup > compressor > tape echo > Vox AC15..? :wink:


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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:07 pm
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Something just occurred to me today. If you have a lot of compression, it reduces the range of control you get with the guitar's volume knob(s). That could be a problem if you are trying to balance your level with the rest of the band mid-performance.

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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:25 pm
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As a Strat player, with professional drum training and playing traps for half a century, I agree with lomitus that some drummers wouldn't know dynamics or accents from a triple parradiddle, preferring to beat them like a carpenter hammers nails.

Unfortunately, we percussionists get a bad rap from that. Maybe if more drummers would learn the guitar (or keyboard), and if axe players could learn the difficulty in stick response at lower levels, more understanding would be beneficial? Plexi screens are helpful nowadays. Still, compression, eq, and at times reverb and/or delay can sometimes give a drum performance icing on the cake. Subtle use, however, is the key.

As for compression in broadcasting, here in the Great White North, government slapped regulation on commercials being louder, and inconsistent, where compression later became the norm. With newer TVs they tend to take care of that in a similar way. Shazam! Now broadcasters enlist the eq to cut through to the viewer.

Some mixing pros will tell you that a compressor would be the one thing that their choice of boards would have (aside from having an outboard compressor).

+1 on sustain and surf. 8)

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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:53 am
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Fender Strat Brat wrote:
I agree with lomitus that some drummers wouldn't know dynamics or accents from a triple parradiddle, preferring to beat them like a carpenter hammers nails.

Unfortunately, we percussionists get a bad rap from that. Maybe if more drummers would learn the guitar (or keyboard), and if axe players could learn the difficulty in stick response at lower levels, more understanding would be beneficial?


I just wanted to add an extra $.02 here as I've been on both sides of that coin.

When I first started playing drums back around the turn of the century (that still sounds weird), I had already been playing guitar for a good 15 years or so. I had originally gotten the drum kit just to have down in the studio...having gig'd (with drummers) for a while, I knew how much of a pain in the arse it is to haul a drum kit around. That said, I am...well...me. If it's down in the studio, chances are I'm gonna start screwing around on it! LOL!!! A short time after having gotten the kit (Pearl Forums in case you're wondering), my band lost our drummer (gave him the boot actually) and I decided to hop on drums until we could find a new drummer so we could keep regular practices going. Well, two months after this we scored our first gig, so I ended up staying on drums.

Yea, honestly back in those days I really just hit the damn things like a jack hammer...I really did "hit from the shoulder". To this day I've never had any formal lessons as a drummer...I really just sat down and started hitting the things along with mp3s (particularly a lot of Keith Moon) and that's how I learned to play drums, LOL!!! I tried to pay attention to my dynamics...having been a guitar player for a while, I knew the importance, however when I'd really get into a tune, all bets were off.

Then in 2002 after the band had been gigging for a while, I was in a pretty bad car accident...got rear ended while sitting at a dead stop by a lady doing 35 in a Chevy half ton pickup. In a nut shell, my head snapped over the headrest in my van...seriously hyper-extended my neck and shoulders and such. I spend a good 4 months doped out of my mind (Vicodin and Flexarill...wheeeeeee!), then another 4 months going thru pt. During that 8 month period, I really couldn't play drums AT ALL...the band only did one show during that period and yea...2 in the morning after the show, I was sitting on the edge of the stage in tears because I was in soooooooooo much freakin' pain. After I got thru the pt, I sat back down at the drums again and found I just couldn't hit from the shoulder like I used to and it was at that point that I FINALLY started focusing on technique instead of raw power....it really made a huge difference in my playing.

I think the biggest issue is that a lot of drummers...at least weekend warriors like myself...just don't think too much about it. If you're playing a "quiet" song, you play softly and if you're playing a hard rock tune, you go at it like those elk in heat (LOL) and I don't think too much thought really goes beyond that (it never did for me anyways). And for playing live, this is usually fine. Live and studio however are two very different things. If you listen to isolated drum tracks, while a given beat may be dead on, quite often the dynamics are all over the place (particularly the right foot)....hence my comments about drummers and compression.

That's not really intended as a crack against drummers at all. I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect that it's mostly because when it comes to drums, for most folks it's all about "the beat". Most singers and horn players usually have a strong sense of dynamics, as do some guitar players (some...not all). The drummer's primary job however is to "keep it tight", so rhythm simply takes precedence over dynamics.

Anyways, call that a buck and a quarter...don't spend it all in once place :-)


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Post subject: Re: Compressor questions
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:04 pm
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For the most part you are bang on about studio versus live drum performance, lomitus (loved your story); but, even live drumming may require dynamics and accents (also known as dynamic accents by some).

Take for example when the audience did (or maybe still do) ask for Wipeout. Without dynamics/accents the expected surf beat will be bland, and unlike the original. There are many other similar songs and scenarios.

Maybe a band just needs a beat omitting technique . . . maybe he's/she's just a good looking dude or dudette . . . but, most great bands have great drummers that understand the whole . . . hence the many bands with drummers leading a band (ask Ringo).

I remember my buddy saying to me, "Oh, look, the drummer can sing!" Lol. Then I mentioned Mick Fleetwood, Dave Clark, Phil Collins, Levon Helms, Don Henley, Dave Grohl and many, many more. I'm betting there's a compressor (or several) with each of them, and lots of dynamics, especially to drive those skins around the vocals.

Keeping a beat is difficult for drummers and frustrating for other musicians to be sure, and the drum machine was born while the metronome sat waiting for practice and, perhaps, to help keep a beat for recording. Thank God for good bass players, unfortunately, really good bass players are not always easy to find.

Drum machines and synth/sampled drum tracks have improved (even I use them). However, drum machines are boring to watch. :lol:

But, back to the subject at hand - I couldn't do without compression for both my traps and my axe any more than guitarists and vocalists can do without dynamics.8)

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