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Compressor newbie

R

Razzmatazz

Oct 23, 2011
184
2
#1
Hi!

First off, I've read Bongomania's FAQ (thank you very much!) so I was well informed first.

I'm not shure if this is thread worthy but I'm giving it a try anyway. I just bought the MXR M87 last week. This is the first time I ever played with a compressor. My initial idea was to get a fuller sound when playing along.

It took me sometime to get used to it but after a while I began to like the way it sort of "tight fit" my bass sound in a mix. So far, only the ratio factors are still puzzling me, at leat with this pedal. I don't find there's a great difference between the 4:1 and the 20:1 ratios. I tried with differents thresholds, time releases etc. The only thing I noticed is a slight "quieter" signal with greater ratios but it is so subtle that I'm not even sure. I thought it would have been more dramatic to my ears. I did'nt try to get some screen captures of recorded waves files yet, there I might see a "real" difference. Anyway, is it my lack of experience or this pedal might be defective?

Any thoughts?
 
#2
The main thing is that compression is usually supposed to be something you don't "hear". Of course there are loads of exceptions, and certainly you can sometimes hear it; what I'm getting at though is that your expectation should be more about getting control over signal peaks, rather than hearing the effect.

I know that's freaky, why would somebody buy an effect pedal if they can't hear it working, but that's compression for you. :p
 
#4
I agree. To me it all starts to make sense when playing at volume with others. I use finger style most of the time, but go for some slap technique about 20% of the time.

When I play without compression I can hear my instrument weave in and out of the mix that is hitting my ear. Some notes I can feel more than hear, some notes disappear almost completely, some notes shake the paint off the walls, some are so hot that they cut through everything else going on. When I play with compression I find that it's much less noticeable. I can set a volume on my amp that lets me hear just about everything I play just about all the time--but without stray notes blasting through the mix in an unwelcome way. It can also give more sustain to those long notes and/or tame hot note attacks.
 
#5
The 20:1 setting is really a limiter. With a high threshold it will tame your slap playing volume wise, and possibly make it snappier, depending on settings and the character of the pedal. Try alternating between that and bypass, and you should hear the difference. The lower ratios are more for reducing the overall dynamic range of your signal. The attack and release settings are a key aspect in this mode.
 
#7
Samsound said:
The 20:1 setting is really a limiter. With a high threshold it will tame your slap playing volume wise, and possibly make it snappier, depending on settings and the character of the pedal. Try alternating between that and bypass, and you should hear the difference. The lower ratios are more for reducing the overall dynamic range of your signal. The attack and release settings are a key aspect in this mode.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your replies. The more limiting purpose as the ratios increase makes a lot of sense. One of the test I did was to pop some strings very hard with the compressor and there was not much difference between 4:1 and 20:1. For my usual playing 4:1 was sufficient. It might take a very hot signal to see the difference I guess. I'll try other things when I'll have the time.
 
#8
scottfeldstein said:
I play at 8:1. You can kind of see the attack/release knobs in this photo.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

What you can't see is that I'm lighting up some of the meter on just about every note, but avoiding any red lights.

(Pay no attention to the rest of my board, it's in flux and is a mess right now.)
Click to expand...


I ended up with almost the same settings as you last sunday. So far, I tried it with an overdrive unit and they don't go well together. I found out that I really need those peaks, especially with the B3K to make it really shine. Otherwise, I loose some grit and grind.
 
#9
The only thing I worry about putting after the compressor is the envelope filter. It's whole function is to trigger the filter sweep based on variable signal strength. Putting it after has its disadvantages, too, though. Namely that the previous effects hot up my signal so much that the compressor is redlining on every note attack. I haven't quite figured out what's the right thing to do. I figure I have 3 choices. 1) put it before the filters and just make sure the sensitivity is such that I can still trigger it when I dig in, 2) put it after the filters and make sure that the signal isn't too hot when it reaches the compressor, 3) turn off the compressor when using these kind of effects.
 
#10
Razzmatazz said:
Thank you for your replies. The more limiting purpose as the ratios increase makes a lot of sense. One of the test I did was to pop some strings very hard with the compressor and there was not much difference between 4:1 and 20:1. For my usual playing 4:1 was sufficient. It might take a very hot signal to see the difference I guess. I'll try other things when I'll have the time.
Click to expand...
You may have the threshold set so low that it's essentially compressing/limiting everything. I would guess that for your normal playing you might want 4:1, medium to medium-low threshold, medium to slow attack, and release to taste. This will compress most of your signal, but allow some of the note attack through so you don't sound lifeless.
 
#11
scottfeldstein said:
The only thing I worry about putting after the compressor is the envelope filter. It's whole function is to trigger the filter sweep based on variable signal strength. Putting it after has its disadvantages, too, though. Namely that the previous effects hot up my signal so much that the compressor is redlining on every note attack. I haven't quite figured out what's the right thing to do. I figure I have 3 choices. 1) put it before the filters and just make sure the sensitivity is such that I can still trigger it when I dig in, 2) put it after the filters and make sure that the signal isn't too hot when it reaches the compressor, 3) turn off the compressor when using these kind of effects.
Click to expand...

Similar boat here, my filter is before also. I kick on the envelope filter and get distortion. Running, 12:1, release and attack at about 2 o'clock, input just after 2 o'clock. These setting seemt to help me attain more even note volumes so i am not dropping out of the mix when hitting the high notes but once i kick on the filter it gets ugly. i find i have to adjust the attack/release on the fly and the again once i turn the filter off. It's a pain, anyone else going thru a similar experience?

-Shawn
 
#12
Method 2 above--put the compressor after the filter and make sure the filter output is more or less unity gain so the compressor doesn't go crazy--proves workable with my MXR Bass Envelope Filter, but not with the Bass Synth Wah. Mostly this is because the BSW does not have a variable output or level knob. I should probably get rid of it anyway, as my new distortion pedal is synthy enough for me anyway. :)
 
#13
Samsound said:
You may have the threshold set so low that it's essentially compressing/limiting everything. I would guess that for your normal playing you might want 4:1...
Click to expand...

Yep, that was kinda of my thought as well. Or the other way around, the threshold is set at a level where compression is barely kicking in so the higher ratio isn't as noticeable. I would play around with threshold a bit while keeping a moderate ratio, 4:1 as suggested is a good starting point. Honestly, if it's set at a level where you just barely notice it, that's probably about right. It's not that noticeable, but it smooths your levels out a bit, probably fattens your tone up slightly, and makes you tighter in the mix as you stated.

If you want more of a limiter type function use faster attack/release and higher ratio, if you want more of a constant leveling you can use slower attack/release settings.
 

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