I have been trying to figure out how to effectively use compression to smooth out my sound without taking too much of the punch out of the low end. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am using an older Ashly unit. Soundwise it is very transparent (doesn't have the coloration you find in stomp box units), but I can't seem to find the right balance between a little compression to sweaten vs a lot of compression that squishes the lower notes too much.
Here are links to two really good articles on compressing/limiting. This one does a great job of covering the basics. He's posted a lot of examples of his work on Homerecording.com and they sound fantastic. http://www.echostarstudio.com/thecompressor.html This one includes goes into more detail and also includes audio samples that explain the concepts in the text. That went a long way in helping me understand the concepts, at least after I listened and re-read quite a few times. http://www.geocities.com/shailat2000/ Hope they help. These guys are far more knowledgable than me and do a much better job explaining the concepts than I can.
Get the Really Nice Compressor from FMR Audio. I did tons of research and this got rave reviews across the board as the best compressor for under $1000.00. Let me put it this way, don't worry about the compressor nazis with the RNC, because they won't even realize you're using it! I bought mine direct from FMR and paid $180.00 plus $8.00 shipping by next day air. Here's the url: http://www.fmraudio.com Good Luck!
I play bass as hard as I'm gonna attack it and then I play normally and take note of the levels on the threshold for each level of playing. Then I take an average of the two. The sound ends up punchy and gets compressed when attacked hard. Overall the output level stays pretty much even.
Thanks for the input everyone! After much experimentation and contemplation, I have removed the compressor from my stage rig. The reason being, when I play harder, I WANT the sound level to go up! What I noticed was that passages in songs where the rest of the band got louder, I played harder too, but got buried in the mix. It takes a little more control when playing without a compressor to regulate the sound, but overall that is the point, controlling one's sound with hands and brain instead of devices. Actually, I have gone back to using the built in compressor on the Eden head, which really acts more like a limiter if my hands and brain get too carried away. It was a good exercise to learn about compressors, and I can see the need for them in some situations, but for live dynamics, I prefer to be as naked as possible.
