Members Shamdog Posted November 13, 2009 Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 Keep me from messing everything up, plz. I've read all about how you can go crazy with one and make thinga worse, not better. I'm just going to smooth out some vocals...Honest. Any generic advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gregidon Posted November 13, 2009 Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 Get a good one - vocals are arguably the most important part of a performance, don't muck it up with a crappy compressor. Read the manual. Work on mic technique - Often times compression is used to try to compensate for poor mic technique, which is a losing battle. If you can, spend some time learning better mic technique, then use the compression on top of that. Less is usually more - too much compression makes things sound lifeless. Compression directly cuts into your gain before feedback, if you start having trouble with feedback, cut back the amount of compression you are using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted November 13, 2009 Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 If you are anywhere near the limits of gain before feedback, you will not get much benefit from a compressor and likely to make ithings worse. This is the primary criteria for determining the potential success. If you have feedback problems now, any money spent fto resolve this will be much better spent IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shamdog Posted November 13, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 Thanks, guys. I'm not the singer (rhythm guitar) and my guy does need to back off the mic a bit when he belts it out. Shouldn't be a real issue. I'm picking one up for $40 and probably can re-sell it for at least $30, so I figured for $10 it would be worth the experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StompBoxLover Posted November 13, 2009 Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 I'm picking one up for $40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shamdog Posted November 13, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 And it's a Bherringer. Have fun:facepalm: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members banddad Posted November 13, 2009 Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 If you can, put the compressor into the FOH speakers only, as an insert on the vocal channel in need. Keep it out of the monitors so that the vocalist can hear what they are really doing, and minimize feedback. This is easy with my A&H board, don't know about other boards so much. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shamdog Posted November 13, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 Will do...Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Real MC Posted November 13, 2009 Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 If you can, put the compressor into the FOH speakers only, as an insert on the vocal channel in need. Keep it out of the monitors so that the vocalist can hear what they are really doing, and minimize feedback. This is easy with my A&H board, don't know about other boards so much. Inserts on my A&H GL2200 are pre-aux meaning the compressor IS in the monitor. I have run compressed vocals through monitors for YEARS and have experienced LESS feedback. It depends how you dial it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flanc Posted November 13, 2009 Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 Inserts on my A&H GL2200 are pre-aux meaning the compressor IS in the monitor.I have run compressed vocals through monitors for YEARS and have experienced LESS feedback. It depends how you dial it in. Inserts on the Mixwiz are post-aux. Edit: At least my 2yo Mixwiz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted November 13, 2009 Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 And it's a Bherringer.Have fun:facepalm: just pull it. when i find a rack with behringer comps i just pull them - this after years of trying to get them to do something productive; they do not. maybe, maybe the ultra old original composer but nothing newer. problem with the B comps? they dont do what they say, the knobs are for decoration, the GR meters are useless. they crush the response of the signal. terrible. only things worse are the dirty thirty. its better to pull them out of the loop as they harm signal. get a DBX or better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chickentown Posted November 13, 2009 Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 I'll just say that my first comp's were TC Electronic C300 and they were very, very nice sub-$100 (used) units with pre-sets for different sources. I found it to be a pretty painless learning experience inserting these on my mixwiz for vocals and drums. For full disclosure, I have four of them for sale on in the HC classifieds, but would praise them regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members georgestrings Posted November 13, 2009 Members Share Posted November 13, 2009 And it's a Bherringer.Have fun:facepalm: You can probably get an Alesis 3630 for the same amount, and that would be atleast a little better... I didn't pay much more than that for any of my DBX 266's - and they're MUCH better... - georgestrings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shamdog Posted November 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Ok,ok - Now that you have talked me out of the Bherringer... What's the difference between the DBX 266 and the 166? Thanks, again, as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 About $100 Seriously though, the 166 is just a better compressor. It also has a limiting function (which you can do with the 266 by setting max compression, but it's not as good). The 266 has a gate function, which you wouldn't use for vocals much, but would be useful if you used it on drums (toms, kick, even snare in some applications). I've owned both and think the 266 is pretty good bang for the buck. Certainly better than the Behringer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 Must be something wrong with my $70 MDX1600 - seems to do exactly what I expect of it . One channel on the kick mic using the noise gate and limiter only and the other channel on the keys using the noise gate (one keyboard is a noisy $100 Yamaha ) and the compressor at ~5:1 to help level out the patches. HUGE improvement over using nothing . Out of 6 vocalists in the band I mostly work with there is only one I'd like to hang a limiter on - kinda funny he used to be a big time sound guy (Atlantic City and tours) and is convinced the board is somehow messing up only his channel . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 seems to do exactly what I expect of it try a real one set the same way and taking off the same gain reduction; night and day. trust me, i owned behringer comps and thought they were fine for a while too so i know what you're talking about. now i pull them out if i find them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chickentown Posted November 15, 2009 Members Share Posted November 15, 2009 this is really good:http://www.prosoundweb.com/videos/video/an_introduction_to_compression/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted November 16, 2009 Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 try a real one set the same way and taking off the same gain reduction; night and day. trust me, i owned behringer comps and thought they were fine for a while too so i know what you're talking about. now i pull them out if i find them.To me they are "good enough" as I only use them to tame problems and not to "produce" a studio sound (and then only with other folk's rigs) - in fact if anybody has an MDX1600 they want to dispose of cheap PM me . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TimmyP Posted November 16, 2009 Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 About $100 Seriously though, the 166 is just a better compressor. It also has a limiting function (which you can do with the 266 by setting max compression, but it's not as good). The 266 has a gate function, which you wouldn't use for vocals much, but would be useful if you used it on drums (toms, kick, even snare in some applications). I've owned both and think the 266 is pretty good bang for the buck. Certainly better than the Behringer. The 166XL's Peak Stop is a clipper. Sounds bad. (They modeled it in the DR480, and it sounds bad as well). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted November 16, 2009 Members Share Posted November 16, 2009 The 166XL's Peak Stop is a clipper. Sounds bad. (They modeled it in the DR480, and it sounds bad as well). It's a soft clip type circuit and is a desireable method of managing overload for some applications. There's a couple dB of compliance in it, and for guitar and bass it's a highly desireable feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cappttenron Posted November 17, 2009 Members Share Posted November 17, 2009 I have older JOE MEEKs I kinda like but they are little more pricey. I only use it when I am having problems I generally try not to use them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shamdog Posted November 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2009 So in the end, which do we prefer, the 166 or the 266? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rezrover Posted November 18, 2009 Members Share Posted November 18, 2009 1066 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted November 18, 2009 Members Share Posted November 18, 2009 i find the 166 to be a better unit but it does allow more opportunity to screw up the signal in the wrong hands compared to the 266. i have found the 166 limiter to sound just find on a variety of sources; just dont use it to dive bomb and you wont hear artifacts. i have an old original 166 (power cord permanently attached) and it is really colorful. the new ones are not so wild sounding, at least to my ears. i like the wild sounding old 166 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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