Compression Thoughts

About compression (From various internet articles...)

Four main aspects...

Threshold - This is the rise in dbs that determines if the comressor engages. When the rise reaches the trheshold then the attack occurs.

Attack - the time that the compression waits until it begins to decrease the gain of a signal when the prescribed threshhold is reached.

Ratio - The amount of gain reduction 3:1 means that for every 3 db rise the compressor will only raise the level by 1.

Release - How fast or slow does the compressor return the gain back to the actual/original level.

Knee - What is the shape of the change hard of soft (may not apply to some compressors)

So…compressors are about smoothing out the dynamic peaks to allow the entire track to be raised up in the mix.

The BIG problem with compression is that it can kill the emotional and esthetic dynamics of a track in additon to introducing unwanted audible changes in gain if poorly used.

Most of the articles I have read say….fix dynamic issues in tracking and avoid harsh use of compression. That goes without saying. Vocals are the toughtest to keep a intimate dynamic sound AND not clip. So there two ways…

One sing to stay within the confines of the levels set. Easier said than done. I found in singing Spinning Things I have to edge closer to the mike during soft parts and lower the timbre of my voice to highlight a gentle passage. In more loud parts I move back slightly and turn my head slightly to prevent any SSs or P-pops of B booms…

The other way is to go ahead and belt it out any old way you want and let the engineers fix it with compression. How it works out is up to the listener. Seems most are putting the burdon on the musician to keep the perfromance smooth to a certain degree. But all agree SOME compression is very useful.

So…I am now understanding compression. I was jaded by past experiences by a compression happy techs in combinations with inexperienced recording musicians. (young wacky punkers, thrash types)

So rule of thumb to be useing for this project...

Best perfomance goes on the disk.

Better musical performance by the musicians the easier it will be to mix. And that means controlling dynamics while still keeping the emotion going...

I guess I think of it as staying within a described dynamic range. Soft and loud but not too loud or soft...layer the instruments in the song to create the dynamics. Sometimes the notes not played are as important as the ones played.

Spinning THings Studio Session 9/28/04

m1 picked up some sexy Mackie monitors for the Cat Box last night. We set them up and went to work on re-mixing Spinning Things initial recording. M1 showed that seom light compression and the slightest of echo on the vocals brought it out. And we tweaked the piano with a small room eVerb model.

The issue is we are using a Proteus 2000 sound module and it likes to present a stereo two channel signal. We were running out of inputs and figuring we would ultimately use a real piano in the final tracks. SO the two channel signal is collapsed in a Roland keyboard amp mixer and set to the MOTU 828 as a single mono line signal. WHich sounded rather dead. So we added some eVerb and reintroduced the the stereo to it. Probably a reasonable solution for the short run. The organ doesn't seem to suffer as much from this and in many cases sound better and is easier to mix when it is a simple dry signal.

The lead guitar is a problem in this song so far. The distrotion sound is very heavy on the mid-range and without bass it is even more evident. A tweak of eq here and there with a guitar plate reverb with lower hi-cut seemed to help. Additon of the bass when the full ensemble plays on thursday will do much to balance those mids. I'm using a MXL 2001 on the guitar cabinet but I am thinking of switiching it back to the sm57 in close on the cone and using the MXL 2001 on the snare and high hat.

the Mackie HR624s are showing us a true picture of what we have and I am quite pleased that the basic raw tracks are as good as they are. A testement to MXL microphones, good mics, cheap. Definately a step way up from dynamics alone.

Here is the microphones now in use in the Cat Box Not a huge number but they are getting the job done:

AT-3520
MXL 2001
MXL V69 Mogami
MXL 990
MXL 991
SM-57
SM-58

Spinning THings

On saturday September 25th m1 brought these lyrics over and at the same time I had been working on some chord changes. It just so happened that the two ideas blended well together. We spent about two hours trying various things and edited the lyrics as the melodty started taking shape. Below is the orginal lyrics as written and the revised lyrics after a few run throughs. Clicking on the link when active will get you a early pre-production version of Spinning Things with piano, guitar and vocal.

A note about the proproduction mix. Recorded live into the MOTU with a MXL990 mic on vocal and a MXL2001 on guitar. I think the guitar mic was a bit too close to center line and thus the sound was skewed to the mids a bit too strong. The Piano was run through a keyboard amp mixer and sent to the motu 828 as a mono signal. I put a little eVerb, small hall room on the master channel and that was pretty much it. If you are lucky you will get a really early take on this before I dubbed the vocals in and fixed the lyrical flubs in the pre-mix.

Spinning Things

Humming goes the spinning things
Of blurry roads and distant trees
And lines on maps, and gasoline
Fast food stops and tears unseen

Treading on the miles passing
Impatiently as hours passing
Dropping baggage on the way
Drifting through another day

The one you loved is
Miles away
The spinning things
Take you away
The distant dreams begins to fade
The one you pushed, pushed you away

Listening as the day dreams
Blowing through your silent screams
The humming noise of spinning things
And endless paths of mingled streams

Swerving through the thoughts that frighten
Thunder claps and darkness lightens
On the road you might have been
To make the turn you understand



Spinning Things
(c) 2004 Fisk/Odland

Humming goes the spinning things
Of blurry roads and distant trees
Feeding on the miles passing

Fast food stops and unseen tears
lines on maps, and gasoline
Dropping baggage on the way

The one you loved is
Miles away
The spinning things
Take you away
The perfect dream begins to fade
The one you pushed, pushed you away

Listening as the day dreams
Blowing through your silent screams
And endless paths of merging streams

Swerving through the thoughts that frighten
Thunder claps and darkness lightens
On the road you might have been

Soul Amp

Well...here it is:

Mike FIsk (m1) - Keys
Brad Odland - Guitar, Vocals
Steven White - Bass
Mike Nettesheim (m2) - Drums, Percussion