Members olejason Posted January 25, 2007 Members Share Posted January 25, 2007 I work at a small club on the weekends running sound. I'm still very much learning the ropes of everything so bare with me if I'm being stupid here hehe The club has two 2 channel compressors. The club owner set it up so that the Kick, Bass, and two vocal channels are compressed. It seems like I would get a little more mileage out of what I'm working with if I put the compressor on a subgroup for the drums and a subgroup for the vocals. Will that work? Obviously, I'd lose a little versatility in having to compress all the drums and all the vocals the same but I think the gains I would make in being able to compress everything would be worth it. Thanks for the helpJason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gadgetx23 Posted January 25, 2007 Members Share Posted January 25, 2007 I would avoid having anything on the same compression channel with the kick drum. Do you need to compress everything? I would suggest the kick on one channel and a subgroup of vocals on the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted January 25, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 As noted in another thread earlier, compressing more than one instrument means you have to be okay with one loud instrument reducing the volume of everything in the group. That's pretty much unacceptable for drums. Also, does the compressor have gating set up as well? If so this scheme won't work at all, or you lose the gating. It's generally the same for vocals, one loud singer reduces everyone's level. This probably isn't the desired effect, is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members solomaniac17 Posted January 25, 2007 Members Share Posted January 25, 2007 why dont u just use a soft compression thru FOH , and run the system mono.. that gives u the second compression channel to put on what u would like.. I usually find compressing, snare drums are priority than anything else live. and then bass, and kick. find which combination works best. for your second channel of compression if u try that method. bass + snare, leave the kick...Kick + bass, leave the snare??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cyber_Chyld Posted January 25, 2007 Members Share Posted January 25, 2007 Yes, running compression on groups makes sense for many reasons: 1. (the biggie for me) If your running monitors from FOH, putting the comp on a group means the monitor send is uncompressed. You'll find you can get the monitor louder that way 2. If I'm doing multiple bands, it saves on patching between bands. 3.You'll find more As the guys have said before, as a rule only compress 'like' instruments together, otherwise things will sound odd! If I were you I'd set things up thus: GRPS. 1&2: Comp 1&2 over the drums (link as stereo) Grp. 3: Bass Grp. 4: Vocals I find that using this method, I'm rarely in need of more than four comps to do a gig (rarely do I need more than 6 EVER). Gates on the other hand? Different story, needed eight on one gig before christmas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Real MC Posted January 25, 2007 Members Share Posted January 25, 2007 I've had better luck using compression on vocal channel inserts rather than vocal group inserts. It's easier to get equal levels for harmonies. My experience with compressed vocals in the monitors is there are way less feedback problems. And you can still run them loud. Not many boards have inserts on the groups but they are HANDY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wztonz Posted January 25, 2007 Members Share Posted January 25, 2007 IMHO the obvious question is what kind of compressor? A cheap comp will do more harm than good in many cases. When compressing groups of instruments, the loudest one will dictate the compression effect, everything else will have to follow it. I rarely use subgroups except for drums, or when there is a massive number of inputs for a specific player, keys, percussion etc. I'd recommend, assuming your console has channel insert points, you use them on the two channels that need dymanic taming, or group instrument types (keys or drums or vocals) and compress them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rbts Posted January 25, 2007 Members Share Posted January 25, 2007 I wonder what it sould sound like with all the compressors turned to the "off" position. Just because there are some compressor units physically present, and the other guy was using them, does not mean that they are really necessary in any particular circumstance. This is really just what someone else was saying I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members olejason Posted January 26, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 26, 2007 Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to do a little experimenting and see what works best in the room. It is a cheap behringer compressor btw... so you're probably right about it being more harm than good if I put it on things that don't absolutely need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wztonz Posted January 26, 2007 Members Share Posted January 26, 2007 It is a cheap behringer compressor btw... It's best use is a blank panel. IMHO, you're better off without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.