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Multipressor


japanarian

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When using a compressor, trusting your ears is difficult. What I do after I think I've gotten a good setting is set up the original uncompressed track right next to it. I match the volumes and A/B them. Even inside a mix, you may be surprised to find that you prefer the uncompressed track. Unless you're using it properly as a tool to tame wild transients, etc.
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Just mess with the ratio and threshold like a normal compressor

 

You can change the little meter to "gain change" to see the pumping effect, go for your desired squashness.

 

I've been able to get non distorted rap/hip hop at an average rms of about -12db with multipressor and ad limiter.

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For starters, you try three bands with a very modest compression ratio (1.2 for example) and a low threshhold (e.g. -30db). This will often give a little punch to the mix without causing drastic effects or artifacts.

 

Be sure to set the parameters separately for each band. That is, click on each one and make the parameter changes. Moving a parameter slider only changes the currently selected band.

 

And, as always, let your ears be your guide!

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When using a compressor, trusting your ears is difficult. What I do after I think I've gotten a good setting is set up the original uncompressed track right next to it. I match the volumes and A/B them. Even inside a mix, you may be surprised to find that you prefer the uncompressed track. Unless you're using it properly as a tool to tame wild transients, etc.

I do the same, except to A/B I simply adjust the master gain of the multipressor to have the same perceived volume as the track with the multipressor bypassed, and simply Option-Click on the multipressor insert on the channel strip.

 

I also recommend you click on the square below each band's meter on the right of the GUI to listen to each band individually.

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Holy cr@p! I didn't expect this many replies in such a short time, this is awesome! I thank all of you guys, I really do appreciate the help. From a quick read, looks like all sound advice. Gonna take me a bit to digest and apply it all...but...I'll beh baaack.

 

The J.

:)

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  • 10 months later...

I'm back :)

I'm starting to get to know compressors a bit better, and now I think I'm ready to give the multipressor a whirl. I'm hoping to use it to master a new track. The one thing I'm not too sure how to go about doing is deciding how many bands to use and how to split up the frequency spectrum(for example, how wide should the mid-range(s) be?). Should I be using the Multimeter or similar or is there a better way? I'm wondering if you guys have any suggestions. Thanks.

 

The J.

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I don't have Logic in front of me at the moment and haven't really explored the Multipressor yet, but if it's like a standard multiband compressor, I suggest starting with 3 bands.

 

Many people have many different techniques for using compression. I teach audio engineering to beginners, though I don't have the years of experience some people on this board do. If you'd like to try the approach I use, do this:

 

First, if you can, solo the uncompressed frequency bands one at a time, and move the "walls" between them from side to side to separate your signal into:

 

Lows - rumble of the bass and kick drum only. Keep this range low enough that you cannot understand any words and cannot clearly hear any midrange instruments (piano, guitar). Usually the upper limit is around 120 - 240 Hz on my projects.

 

Mids - this is the main body of your song, where the main solo elements live. Vocals should be fairly intelligible when you set the range, but not crisp. Try to avoid any sizzle of crash or ride cymbals in this range.

 

Highs - I try to reserve this range for cymbals and sibilant vocal sounds. On my projects, the low boundary of the high range is nearly always between 4 KHz and 10 Khz.

 

The other parts to deal with are the attack and release times of each range, and the ratio and threshold of each range.

 

In general, for a natural sound you'll want a slower attack/release on the lows, medium on the mids, and a faster time on the highs.

 

For ratio and threshold, if you want to just get the mix to congeal or homogenize a bit, I suggest a relatively low ratio (1.2:1 or so) but a very low threshold (-30dBFS, maybe, depending on how hot your signal is), so a large amount of the dynamic range is compressed gently.

 

On the other hand, if you just want a few peaks to be reduced and the overall level brought up proportionately, use a higher ratio (maybe 3:1 or higher) and a higher threshold (depends on your peaks; maybe around -6 to -10 dBFS).

 

Be aware what happens to your sound when you compress it. If you're trying to get a LOUD mix, you may be sacrificing more sound quality and musicality than you think. Remember that you have no control over the volume your song is played at - only the listener has the final volume control.

 

For an entertaining and informative video (if I do say so myself), please see this

.

 

More information on the "loudness war" and other mastering tips can be found on Grammy award-winning engineer Bob Katz' Web site. I highly recommend his articles as well as his book, Mastering Audio: the Art and the Science.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Matt

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...one additional question. My main goal is to basically keep up with other electronica out there. If someone ends up dowloading my music and putting it into a playlist, I wouldn't want it to stand out by sounding mousey compared to the rest. So in addition to using the limiter(s), I'm hoping the multipressor can help me boost the level just a tiny extra bit. I'm wondering which method is more advisable for my purposes? Low compression ratio/low threshold OR higher ratio/higher threshold? Thanx again.

 

The J.

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You should use the Ad Limiter if you want to give your song "loudness".

Another thing is to get it mastered correctly. Just because there is "mastering" software out there does not mean that it is quality! Mastering is a trade that a beginner cannot pick up overnight because they got a free download of some site.

Also from the replies it seems that the advice is Press the better buttons..You would be better off reading a few pages on multi-compression, then you would KNOW what was happening to the dynamics of your mix.

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