Author Topic: anybody got compression experience?  (Read 217 times)

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breezy_again

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anybody got compression experience?
« on: August 26, 2023, 08:11:16 PM »
i bought a dbx266xs yesterday to use in mixing down my dj mixes. i want them to be as loud as can be without clipping and distorting.
does anyone have advice on how to best adjust the settings?
i mixed down something earlier and it sounded good enough but i feel like it could be better. i pretty much winged it and it never clipped but i think the sound could be fatter.
theres enough musicians who skate here to where i figured it wouldn't be a bad a place to ask. i didn't want to clog up the post your own music thread either.

club

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Re: anybody got compression experience?
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2023, 10:01:39 PM »
I dont have any experience with analog compression or mastering. If youre not opposed to it you could always record your mix into a daw and add your compression and master in there. I use a chain of multiple different types of compression when i master my shit, id experiment with adding things along side what youre using now to fatten things up. Thanks for the compliment in the other thread though I appreciate u

breezy_again

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Re: anybody got compression experience?
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2023, 10:37:05 AM »
I dont have any experience with analog compression or mastering. If youre not opposed to it you could always record your mix into a daw and add your compression and master in there. I use a chain of multiple different types of compression when i master my shit, id experiment with adding things along side what youre using now to fatten things up. Thanks for the compliment in the other thread though I appreciate u
thanks for the reply. i ended up digging out my old recording textbook from 95 and reading the dbx instructions 4 or 5 times and got a better idea of how to set it up. i know in the end it will just take tinkering with it a bunch before i master what i want from it. thankfully i have about a dozen ideas for mixes in my head to get out.

Rasmus

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Re: anybody got compression experience?
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2023, 09:07:23 AM »
For me, one of the main things I look for, when I'm using a new compressor, is how fast it's attack curves are. I generally want to avoid that I'm squashing the peaks too much, so it's about finding that sweet spot, where the transients just poke through, and then dip it. I do this by starting with the attack at almost limiting speed, and then slowly work my way backwards until the beats begin to have some air again.

Just be aware that you are always colouring stuff a bit. And if you compress more than around 3 dB then it will be very noticeable

breezy_again

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Re: anybody got compression experience?
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2023, 05:18:25 AM »
For me, one of the main things I look for, when I'm using a new compressor, is how fast it's attack curves are. I generally want to avoid that I'm squashing the peaks too much, so it's about finding that sweet spot, where the transients just poke through, and then dip it. I do this by starting with the attack at almost limiting speed, and then slowly work my way backwards until the beats begin to have some air again.

Just be aware that you are always colouring stuff a bit. And if you compress more than around 3 dB then it will be very noticeable
solid advice, thank you Rasmus