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Post by soundmanjim on May 30, 2006 12:31:40 GMT 1
just wondering. when playing soundman, what channels do you guys gate/compress? Obv i gate snare and kick (if theya re a bit nasty) and toms if i have the spare gates, compress the vocals and bass guitar channel. i have a compressor on every monitor send and another one on the f/o/h channel. is that excessive? how about you lot?  |
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Post by LT on May 30, 2006 16:51:50 GMT 1
Hey Dude,
Right if it was me i always, gate Kick, Snr, Toms.
Compressions wise, Bass, Vocals obviously. I never put an outboard comp over sends, but being a monitor engineer all MONS sends are active and run through DP224s which have limiters etc on. So yes i do think it might be a tad excessive.
Why do you run your sends through Comps???
Anything else you need just give me a shout.
LT
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Simon Ryder
Boss
Bringing out the best through sound
Posts: 212
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Post by Simon Ryder on May 30, 2006 17:06:41 GMT 1
Hi Jim,
I would go with limiters rather than comps on the monitors and particularly FOH. Set the limiter to system protect and leave out the compression. Nothing I find more frustrating when putting out a HOT mix (certain bands just have to be loud - thats just the way it is) than fighting a compressor when tring to sail the vocal out above the instruments - you turn the vocal up and nothing happens!
Ok not all bands need want or justify ridiculous volume though certain acts that I have worked with demand it as part of their contract: Aphex Twin, Extreme Noise Terror etc.
When mixing on someone else's system I would always request that such compression be removed (though of course the limiters stay where they are).
As for ever placing a comp across my mix voluntarily, I tend not to as it is very hard to obtain the dynamic range required to make a mix sound interesting if it is compressed.
Of course I comp vocals, bass & occasionally guitars. I gate drums and anything else that needs it. I de-ess vocals where ever possible too.
The othrer thing I have been known to compress are keyboards where the player uses ridiculous numbers of patches at highly variable volume levels. I tend to compress these guys heavily so I can forget about mixing his appalingly set up instrument and concentrate on mixing the band. This applies to crappy backing tracks as well though mercifully this happens to me very rarely these days.
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Post by soundmanjim on Jun 3, 2006 14:37:34 GMT 1
interesting! thanks guys!
the compressors in the monitor sends are actually switched to 'limit' mode but when i looked at the amps (europower 2500) they have limiters in them any way so i may as well take them out and use them in my 'going out' rig for comping individual channels. much beter idea.
keys, yes i have had probs with keyboards getting carried away definately!! all those different patches at different levels!
just recieved my dbx 1231 and my 266 compressor so they are going in tomorrow morning!!
i got the dbx 266 for foh but even there the qsc amps i use have limiters in them too, plus 30/50hz cut. still, i can use the 266 for a bit of decent vocal compression!
ah, thats a question. ive switched in the 30hz cut, should i not bother with the 50hz or should i switch that in too on the foh qsc's?
perhaps i should get a limiter on the foh so i can get a grip on the foh levels (ive had a bit of grief from the club next door about noise) but that may not be a problem as im now using my big system at other venues and may well bung the hk's back in the venue as they are at just the right level for the size of the hall and limit themselves. we shall see.
thanks for that guys!
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