Do you consider a compressor pedal a "must have"?

[scottfeldstein]

Engineers must just love you.... ;-)
How does it go when you tell them how to do their job?

Yeah, I trust the people at the mixing desk to do their job. I let them DI me dry AF if that's what they wanna do. I trust that anything I might be doing on my board or with my amp EQ, they can recreate and/or do even better for the recording than I can for live performances. If I didn't feel that way I would probably be working with different people. I mean, I'm not like a session player or anything. I get to pick who I want to record stuff with. So I pick the people I can trust to do cool stuff if I give them a blank canvas performance.

 

[arbiterusa]

Never have or will use one live, never have NOT used one recording. Wouldn’t consider it. Well, not a pedal, something good that the studio has as outboard gear and likes to use.

 

[user3653753]

Way late to the party here, but just my two cents. I was never a "Compressor guy" until I was handed one at a gig by a pedal builder here in Los Angeles. I am by no means a spokesperson for the company, nor am I being paid to say any of this. Just want to be very clear on that. In fact, they're expensive, and really hard to find. So I'm probably the worst commercial for them.

But Just on the pedal's most basic settings, without crushing any of the ceiling of my range, or boosting the nuanced parts of my playing at all, the Miura m2 has become an always-on, and must-have on the pedalboard for me.

It's hard to explain the subtle warmth it adds to my sound, but it was something quite special when I plugged it in for the first time, and remains that way to this day some 3 or more years later.

I had had plenty of experience with compression before for getting very specific sounds in slap, in rock, in R&B, and in pop music for instance. But I had never felt the need for it with my own music as an artist. In hindsight it was pretty closed minded of me to go that long without experimenting, especially considering the number of pedals I have in the house. And it taught me that there's no such thing as a must-have pedal that is true for all players. But there are some must-have discoveries that have become very personal to me.

Janek

 

[chaosMK]

Would never use one but when I mix my bass recordings I always apply some multiband.

 

[M0ses]

Compression is.....different. As an engineer I consider it a highly useful dynamic tool for making sounds work together with better balance without changing their respective "volumes". I can use it to make a vocal sound even, make a kick and snare appear in the mid-centerfield out of nowhere, reduce ear fatigue with a delayed-onset comp, make sure aggressive sections don't cause clipping, etc.

But as a bassist and performer I have never felt the need to use it as a stylistic "FX" style thing and consider that I should strive to have the most consistent delivery in terms of finger technique that I can place my tone "in the mix" wherever I want it without a stompbox's help.

 

[Diver]

yes, I like to slap n strum, it really helps bringing different finger techniques played simultaneously onto the same level of intensity.

 

[ArcadeNate]

I never used one for about 20 years. Then I tried one and now I don't want to play without one. I'm not sure what all the knobs do, but I just put everything at 12 o clock and tweak a little. I like the gain in output and it just sounds better all around.

This post right here. This is what I suspected my experience would end up being if I ever explore getting one of these. It's the graduation that occurs from "what are these" to "OMG how did I live without this and why didn't somebody tell me?"

 

[ArcadeNate]

Lol I started this thread yesterday and walked away from it thinking, "I'll be lucky if anyone cares enough about this to comment." Come back. 3 hours and 10 pages later I finally feel like I know enough to say: yeah, I'll pass for now. Half of the posts on here say "I've never used one." Another third say "I dont use it, but the soundman does, which means I actually do use it but not by choice." And then there's "I use it on two songs to sound like Cyndi Lauper or Tony Levin."

Glad I asked, but this doesn't seem to be as important as even a chorus pedal. Chorus changed my life with the its "singing meat" sound that pops.

 

[NeonVomit]

I don't 'need' one, I can do pretty much any gig without one. I like having it though, it evens out my peaks and tightens my sound up, especially when I'm playing something like black metal and there's a dense overall mix, helps the bass cut through the mix.

 

[lowphatbass]

I used to tell my guitar player that my compressor was my hands. We kind of joked about it....I never completely let-on that I wasn’t at least partially serious. He’s a tech guy and I don’t think he appreciated or respected my statement.

 

[Thombas]

I think I've played 90 % of my live gigs the last 35 years without one. I didn't really knw I missed it until I got an amp with a decent built in compressor (a TC head with "Spectracomp"), which, when used mildly, puts me closer to where I like in the mix, at least when I play rock / pop covers - which is what I do the most. I could easily play gigs without it, but I've become kind of addicted to what it does to the overall sound of the BAND. When recording, who knows what they do to my signal ;-)

 

[FerK]

The Cindy Lauper song, Time After Time, is a good example of what I would call "elephant stomp compression". The immediate compression has so totally stolen the attack (the first striking of the note) that it almost sounds like an organ playing the bass line.

It was a synth bass: Time After Time Chorus

 

[petergales]

One of my basses has a 'wolf' note (I think I'm using that expression correctly?) on the fifth fret on the E string. Whenever I used it the additional volume would almost rattle the drummer off his stool! I bought a compressor (a Seymour Duncan Studio Compressor) and it tamed it so well that the drummer was a happy chappy again.

 

[Basshappi]

Engineers must just love you.... ;-)
How does it go when you tell them how to do their job?

When I was the one paying, it went just fine.
When someone else was paying, they were free to do whatever they wanted.
Now that my band records in our own studio, it isn't an issue.

Having played and recorded bass for almost 50 years I can usually give the engineer a good take straight out of the gate without much need for extra processing and over the years many of them have respected my suggestions and been willing to keep it to a minimum. This is because I do not tell them how to do their job, I work with them and treat them as professionals and they do the same in return.

 

[Julian G]

That's what they do, basically, yes. You set a certain threshold. Everything that is louder than this threshold is made less loud. But it is not cutting off directly at the threshold. If you have a peak going over the threshold, it will be reduced to a ratio: A ratio of 4:1 would mean that a peak exceeding the threshold by 4dB would be reduced to 1dB.

So a high threshold, let's say 10:1, would mean that almost everything is pressed down close to the threshold.

So your signal will be less loud in total. To make this up, you usually give a bit of makeup-gain after the compressor to stay on level. But because of the compressor, everything is getting gain more evenly.

Then you can also set the attack and release time, which basically say how fast the compressor reacts. Everything that is now bold-type are the usual suspects you can find as settings on the compressor. That is all that the thing does. It is important to understand how the compressed signal is working with the rest of your setup, because there can be a lot of fun.



You can have a good sound without compresson. You can also turn a nuanced sound of a great bass to rubbish. It will never mess up the sound like a Metal Zone. But you can have more consistency in the level. And if you have gain-applying effects after the compression then you can keep the input gain under more control.


Many do. But in various ways. Most? Hard to do empirical studies. But it is a very, very common thing and you can find it on the pedal board, in the rack or the amp. But I'd bet money that it is at least half the cases you will find one somewhere. At least only to have it just in case.


No! And you will not need an expensive one tbh. And it is not necessarily an effect that is noticed straight away. But it is good to have. You get control on what the drive is getting. You can even out little volume differences from plucking. Sharp peaks should also go. And for a pumping sound you can even use more than one in different places. Just set the ratio relatively high and the make-up gain to a reasonably high level. It will sound a little artificial, but yeah.

If you overdo compression, you will lose dynamics. Some people mix the compressed signal with the dry signal, at least during recording.


Depends on the club.

Small heay metal basement club setting the PA to 11 filled with 50 yelling metalheads? No.

Jazz club where everyone can hear whether you play softly or not? Yes.

Rockmusic somewhere in between? Yes-ish. Might be nice to have a chorus with very consistent bass 16ths (compression) but articulated fills in the verse (not so much compression).



And of course the compression can be used to shape the sound. But the synth guys usually know really well about acoustic modeling and parameters

[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

That's probably one of the easiest to understand and best descriptions of compression I've ever read. Thanks for that Szaladin.

The only compression I use is from my Spectradrive. I don't have a lot of control over it so it takes a bit of playing around with the toneprints to settle on one that works for you. It's not necessarily a must but on some slower songs we play I avoid any sonic booms from tired fingers plus for me it seems to help cut through the mix a little, which was needed last year as the band I was playing in had three guitarists (and we were not some heavy metal band either!).

 

[monkeyfinger]

This post right here. This is what I suspected my experience would end up being if I ever explore getting one of these. It's the graduation that occurs from "what are these" to "OMG how did I live without this and why didn't somebody tell me?"

My experience went from 'why did I buy this' to 'this is not doing anything' to 'It just doesn't sound as good with it off'

If you are thinking of getting a compressor there are a couple of things you should know.

1. It is hard to learn how to use it well. When I started using one, I couldn't tell it was even working until I cranked the doodoo out of it. Then it sounded awful. After that experience, I didn't use one for many years. That was 30 years ago. I started using one again about 5 years ago. I spent a LOT of time getting to know it. It really requires some finesse to get the most out of it. Now I love it for most things I do.
2. You are likely gong to try a lot of compressors before you find the one that enhances your playing style and dynamics, not covers it.

Check the compressor review sticky thread in this forum for more info.

 

[David Jayne]

If you're wanting to try one I suggest a simple one without attack and release controls, such as this one. The baked-in settings work well enough for most and once you get the hang of it you might want a more complex one but these are a good way to get the idea without endlessly turning knobs while wondering what they do....

 

[scottfeldstein]

Beware the folks who try to moralize the use of compression. "I would never use one because I should control my dynamics through my fingers." Otherwise known as the "compression is a crutch for people with bad technique" crowd. Also I would be skeptical of the "compression takes away all the dynamics and my dynamics are too important to me to have them compressed away!" crowd. Sure, if you're playing upright in a jazz trio, maybe you're that concerned with your precious dynamics. If you're playing bass guitar with an amp in a rock ensemble use a compressor. It doesn't eliminate dynamics, it just tames it some.

 

[2112]

... Chorus changed my life with the its "singing meat" sound that pops.

What a great name for a chorus pedal!

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

I never try to justify my use of a compressor pedal. There are purists out there that will never use one, others out there that that swear by them. Not my job to say who is wrong or who is right. No one ever put me in charge. And I sort of resent those that do. I don't insult TI string users just because I prefer Optima Golds. It is all a matter of preference, style, and taste. And sometimes even budget.

All I can say is a compressor pedal is useful for me, and I have one, that if used judiciously sounds great, and is not readily noticeable.

And I have never been in a recording studio that compression was not used on all tracks, period. Just saying, compression is a common thing and is used in all sorts of settings, including recording, sound re-enforcement, and on live instruments.

Sorry, I'll keep using my MB Compressore.