[sdiy] Advice

[Richard Wentk]

At 15:07 03/02/2004 +0100, Ingo Debus wrote:

>Am Montag, 02.02.04 um 20:33 Uhr schrieb Cornutt, David K:
>
>>The other problem often seen in home recording is that the
>>playback level is low, the mix is noisy, and the sound is
>>indistinct and lacks dynamics ("punch").
>[...]
>>Second tip: do try a compressor,
>
>Seems a contradiction to me. A compressor lowers the dynamics, so it's no 
>good if dynamics are already lacking.

If you use it while recording, you can raise the RMS level and that will 
help minimise the noise.

But - people often confuse punch with what really should be called body. If 
you remove the dynamic peaks, the perceived weight and body of a sound 
(e.g. double bass) increases, and this gives the mix more of a kick 
overall. Hence punch.

The real point of compression is that given the limitations of most 
speakers, there's no point trying to accurately reproduce the peaks anyway. 
Studio monitors can reproduce peaks accurately (more or less) but nothing 
else in the world can, so that headroom is effectively wasted.

In any case you literally *can't hear* the peaks on many percussion 
instruments, so again, removing or taming them - whether by limiting or by 
bringing the decay part of a sound up to the original level - is not as 
destructive an act as it might sound.

>IMHO many recordings lack dynamics *because* of the over-use of compressors.

Longer term dynamics, in terms of cresc/dim matter more than accurately 
recorded peaks.


A lot of synth music uses very slow fades and once a sound reaches a 
certain level it stays there. You get a much more musically interesting 
result if you ride the faders on a bar or phrase basis. It adds an extra 
level of information that can do a lot to make a dull mix much more 
listenable and lively. Sometimes all it needs it maybe 3dB of variation on 
the master fader.

Richard