compressor

How to use MultiTrack DAW
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anamarias
Posts: 12
Joined: May 22nd, 6:59 pm

compressor

Post by anamarias »

I am sorry to ask this strange question but I am a singer recording with this daw and I feel it is hard to record on my own versus singing live with accompaniment and being recorded. I feel my voice is too loud and it is hard to sing consistently well with the headphones. i am just not used ot do it since i am also the one monitoring it. I am using an IRig pro with an xlr sennhesier condenser wired 865 mic. mic sounds great.. i just want the feel to be live. like as if i was being recorded singing, making my voice seem far away. i know the reverb can help with this

i want my voice to sound a little far and not too loud on top of the track.. i also dont want to send the filew to the pc for mixing..... i am using a karaoke track.. i want it to feel like when i sing with someone playing and then being recorded so i dont attempt to see imperfections making me record over and over again.... like the feel that i am far away, not too close... i feel my voice is too loud and its hard for me to sing perfectly hearing eveyrthing just so close....

should i lower the output and keep the gain at 0db?

how do i use compressor on the eq?

i dont have a popfilter too and use windscreen since it is a wired mic i am holding with the irig with my ipad
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martygras
Posts: 201
Joined: November 1st, 7:14 am
Location: Oregon, USA

Re: compressor

Post by martygras »

Hi anamarias,
You sound like a newbie, which is fine because we were all newbies at one time. I'll try to get you started.

Reverb & delay:
Reverb and delay are effects that add reverb and echoes to your vocal track. To be more specific, they add reverb and echo while you play or record the track, but they are not recorded at the same time. You can adjust the effects right up until you are ready to do a mixdown.
To add reverb and/or delay to your track, start by tapping the FX button and select the "Bus" tab. Increase the value of the "Send" knob to around 11:00 or nearly straight up. This sends part of your audio to the aux bus which goes through the reverb and delay effects loop and returns to be combined with your original audio at the outputs. To change the reverb and delay sounds you have to tap the meters at the bottom of the screen labeled "OUT" then tap "FX Bus" and change any settings to get the sound you want. Experiment here. I recommend setting the "Mix" knob at 100%.

Compression:
Compressors are a bit hard to understand, but basically they raise the volume of quiet sounds and prevent overload when a signal gets too loud preventing distortion.
To add compression tap the "FX" button on your track, then select the "Comp." tab. Lower the Threshold slowly while playing the audio. You should hear the quiet audio become more audible.

There's a lot to learn, but this should get you started.
Good luck,
Marty
iPad Air, Akai EIE (the red one), Griffin Studioconnect, Alesis IO Dock, Blue Yeti mic.
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harisonzamperla
Posts: 54
Joined: June 1st, 8:45 am

Re: compressor

Post by harisonzamperla »

Anamarius, the compressor basically just compresses the dynamics. For instance ever notice in films how the dialogue will be too quiet to hear sometimes but the gunshots and music are so loud you have to turn it down because it's super loud? Well basically compression would make the quiet sounds louder and the loud sounds quieter creating an average sound level. Imagine mountains and valleys. The compression makes the valleys higher and the mountains lower.

So whatever the loudest sound in your recording is going to determine your maximum volume. For instance if you yell on part of the vocals and its really loud (maximum volume, loudest noise in the recording) then everything else is going to sound quiet in comparison. That's the ratio setting comes in. That's how much it compresses everything to an average volume thus raising the overall volume of the song.

The threshold is how quiet or loud the volume has to get before the compressor kicks in.

The attack is how quickly it turns the volume(up or down to compensate) and the release is how long it takes before it "releases" the volume adjustment back to normal.


Try 50% on the threshold and ratio knobs (12oclock) for a nice overall volume. A more subtle recommended setting is 50% on the threshold and 1:30:1 on the ratio.

If this seems confusing don't worry. Itll make more sense and you use it.

Also compression can be overused and kill dynamics (loud and quiet parts) if you use it too much.


Hope that helps
gosmo_kefree
Posts: 7
Joined: November 1st, 7:39 am

Re: compressor

Post by gosmo_kefree »

Just gotta say Harrison, that's a very clear, succinct run through of Compression. Nicely explained ;)
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harisonzamperla
Posts: 54
Joined: June 1st, 8:45 am

Re: compressor

Post by harisonzamperla »

No problem. It confused me a lot at first and I couldn't find a good explanation
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