How do you usually set attack and release times on your compressor when manual controls are available?

[becosfx]

We’re looking for broader input on how bassists set attack and release times on compressors with manual controls (and also on preferred “auto” options, or reversible timing options like “fast/slow” or “slow/fast”, if applicable for a particular device). We’re trying to better understand the range of timings bassists tend to use. We’re especially interested in the reasons behind your choices, if you wish to elaborate: are they based on your playing style, the type of music, or a specific outcome you’re after? If possible, please include a rough estimate (in milliseconds) of what you feel to be “fast” and “slow” (or “slower”) for both attack and release times, unless your knobs are marked and the values can be deduced. Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[Jokubas]

If I'm after enhancing my attack, I go for like 9-30ms attack time, depending on how I want it. 9 is like micro pokey, increasing it just makes it bigger. I guess if I play fast stuff, then I want it bit faster too.
I sometimes like setting attack for compression by turning the output down, so the signal is soft and/or buried in the mix, then the attack jumps out more obviously.
Fast attack for me is like what, 9ms and less?
As far release goes 50ms is fast, 200ms onwards is sloow.
I mostly use HX Stomp's comps and/or plugins in a DAW. Want a becos mini pro real bad though haha.

 

[RattleSnack]

I use compression at the digital mixer, for drum kick, snare, and bass guitar. Too fast attack kills transients and I really don't want that. IMO that wrecks dynamics and that punch of perfectly aligned drum kick, bass guitar, and other rhytm instruments in live show.
For bass, anything shorter than around 20ms for attack is too fast. I set it typicaly 20-22ms. I feel release is much more forgiving, around 200ms or a bit less is good.

P.S. Just to add context: I play in a cover band, club gigs from 100-250 people. Very mixed music: rock, funk, disco and some synth music (80's and 2000's). Band plays ampless and with IEM.

 

[gonzkal]

Release always (moderately) fast. If limiting at the end of a chain, then fast attack. If compressing at the start of the chain, e.g. for snappier transients, then slow attack.

 

[geobassix]

I am glad to see that a pedal builder care asking bassists such a question, thank you very much.

Irrespective of the music genre or technique, I personally dislike squeezing notes and prefer what I describe as popping notes.

That means attack slow enough to let the initial attack transient through and release fast enough to reset before the next note I play.

Not to sure how it translates into milliseconds as not all pedals have that level of details or in a consistent way.

My two cents, hope it helps...

 

[lomo]

My main comp goal is punch and #2 priority is overall note equalization. On my Empress I set the attack very slow, release very fast (not interested in sustain), ratio at 4 and a 60/40 wet/dry mix with the side chain filter pretty high to let much of the lowest notes through (somewhere between 10:00 and noon). If I want it to be more of an effect I'll flip the ratio to 20 and increase the wet content. 99% fingerstyle/ 1% slap. BEAD 4 string always played with an HPF before the comp cutting below about 55Hz.

Edit: No FOH for bass on my amateur gigs

 

[yodedude2]

very helpful thread, thanks y'all 8)

 

[micguy]

I don't compress on my signal chain when playing bass, but when I have done compression on bass (at FOH), I set attack time at 100 msec, and release at 500 msec or so - that grabs the meat of the note, adding sustain there, but lets the intitial attack of the note come through unaffected.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Not a clue. My comp has a single "Attack" (...& Release) knob which, per spec, ranges from 3-23 msec. I keep it at the half-way mark where it just lets the initial transient creep-thru. I'd be happy with two well-engineered 3-way switches for each: fast-medium-slow...and a rescue blend for when I screw THAT up! KISS...in my universe, there's a threshold of diminishing return plus I have the tendency to over-analyze in the sterility of my practice space.

Riis

 

[Windreaper]

For live use, compressing a full-range signal, mostly rock/metal/similar genres:

Usually start with the attack at 40ms, as it fully lets through the first cycle of the waveform, then work down from there to get the right amount of grab. I'd personally consider below ~15ms fast for bass guitar, and the most useful range around 20-30ms as I like to preserve some of the transient, but some might like it lower for effect.

For release, I find 100ms is a good starting point (another method would be to set as fast as possible and work up from there), talking about range 50-200ms is usually where I set it, but more often 100ms and below. Shorter when using the compressor to fix something and longer for effect/sustain.

You might want a different range of values for mix/FoH, as suggested by @micguy, but the above works for my personal goal of improving string/note balance while preserving punch. Basically, getting the bass to feel right to me before the FoH engineer does their thing to make the bass sound right in the room.

 

[Ritter667]

I don't really sue compressor pre production, but when I do I set it around 20ms, to make sure the full transient of the attack gets through untouched.

If you set the compressor right this way, you can actually emphasis the attack this way, if you wish to, by bringing down the level of the signal after the initial attack slightly, and make the bass sound snappier and punchier.

 

[micguy]

You might want a different range of values for mix/FoH, as suggested by @micguy, but the above works for my personal goal of improving string/note balance while preserving punch. Basically, getting the bass to feel right to me before the FoH engineer does their thing to make the bass sound right in the room.

From the point of view of a FOH person - if you're going to be doing gigs on a regular basis where the sound in the audience is through a PA, a FOH person would MUCH prefer you NOT compress your signal before sending it to FOH. If what you have done compression wise doesn't work, it's very hard (OK, essentially impossible) to undo compression that is already applied to a signal.

FOH has a better chance of making you and your band sound good if you don't compress first. I know that may be an un-popular view around here, but if you want your band to sound good, it's best to work with the FOH person.

 

[Windreaper]

From the point of view of a FOH person - if you're going to be doing gigs on a regular basis where the sound in the audience is through a PA, a FOH person would MUCH prefer you NOT compress your signal before sending it to FOH. If what you have done compression wise doesn't work, it's very hard (OK, essentially impossible) to undo compression that is already applied to a signal.

This is going off topic, but from the point of view of a former FoH person - it's good if it sounds good. Every engineer I know prefers a mix-ready tone from the bass player's board when given a choice, with emphasis on mix-ready. Nothing wrong with the tool itself if you use it sensibly for tone sculpting.

For the rock/metal gigs, I also split the signal at 200Hz and do the compressed clean lows & dirty mids studio trick, which would be difficult for the FoH engineer to pull off. I consistently ask the house engineer to show their settings after the gig and get compliments for the tone needing little adjustment: Typically filtering out lows below ~60Hz, maybe a little off 200Hz depending on the room, and -1-2dB around 1kHz if sounding too harsh. Some compress the signal further, some do not.

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

My goal is just to have the compressor enhance the sound and not be a noticeable effect. I have mine set at a 4:1 ratio with the attack at 11:00 and release at about 1:00.

 

[DaveAceofBass]

My goal is just to have the compressor enhance the sound and not be a noticeable effect. I have mine set at a 4:1 ratio with the attack at 11:00 and release at about 1:00.

View attachment 7268386

I was doing some research on this, as I have the Empress as well and felt it was squashing mids. On the Empress, the time of the attack increases as you turn the knob clockwise (counter intuitive), so the more the knob is turned clockwise the slower the attack. So if you want a slower attack to allow transients through, set the attack past the 12 o’clock mark, around 1-2 o’clock. Likewise, the time increases on the release as you turn in up, so if you want a slow attack and fast release the release knob should be turned counterclockwise (around the 9 o’oclock mark for a faster release).

 

[DaveAceofBass]

We’re looking for broader input on how bassists set attack and release times on compressors with manual controls (and also on preferred “auto” options, or reversible timing options like “fast/slow” or “slow/fast”, if applicable for a particular device). We’re trying to better understand the range of timings bassists tend to use. We’re especially interested in the reasons behind your choices, if you wish to elaborate: are they based on your playing style, the type of music, or a specific outcome you’re after? If possible, please include a rough estimate (in milliseconds) of what you feel to be “fast” and “slow” (or “slower”) for both attack and release times, unless your knobs are marked and the values can be deduced. Thanks in advance for your input.

My guess is most bass players want to enhance tone, even out attacks (like when slapping), but maybe not as squashed as a guitar player. Lows don’t need to be over compressed as you need to hear the dynamic of the articulation.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

The only correct answer to this can ever be "it depends".

The best sounding attack setting will depend massively on the song/genre, the playing style, and on what exactly you want to achieve.

I typically use 10-15 ms attack as a general starting point and adjust from there, although I rarely go faster than 10 ms. I generally find that aggressive playing can often benefit from fast attack settings to avoid overly "clacky" notes with high gain reduction, while softer playing can benefit from slower attack settings to make the attack of the notes more distinct. I rarely go slower than 30 ms though. Of course it always depends on whether I want to increase or soften the attack of the notes.

The release time will also depend massively on what I want to achieve, and on the tempo of the song. For a general "all purpose" setting I usually end up around 120-130 ms but sometimes I go much faster for a more "bouncy" feel, or considerably slower if the song needs a slower "pulse". I rarely go slower than 300 ms though. I've never been a huge fan of auto release settings with bass guitar, but some compressors have better auto release modes than others.

It's also worth noting that two different types of compressors can behave VERY differently even when they're adjusted to the same attack/release settings. In some cases, settings that are seemingly "wrong" can sound great. For example, the SLOWEST attack setting on 1176 compressors is 0.8 ms and the fastest attack setting is INSANELY fast! But 1176-style comps (and 1176 clones) are still very popular for bass. I use 1176 compressors for bass myself, but mainly to catch peaks and typically combined with a slower comp that takes care of the actual dynamics shaping. But still, it's a good example of settings that "shouldn't" work but they do. Trying to use these ultra-fast attack settings on bass guitar with other compressors will often sound very bad.

On a pedal comp I think it makes sense to narrow down the attack/release range, because if the range is too wide the knobs will become extremely fiddly to dial in. For me personally, I would probably be happy with (roughly) attack 1-40 ms and release 40-400 ms. But it would depend very much on the style of compression and the "feel" of the compressor.

 

[depalm]

it totally depends on what you’re doing. Recording, mixing, playing live, kind of venue you’re playing, tempo of the song/track, music style, playing style, instrument action …. there are so many, many situations that it’s impossible to get a “perfect exemple” of compression on bass.
It really depends on the situation you are.
Most of time, people don’t have a clue on how to use compressors.

 

[dalahorse]

The one thing I don't like about the Markbass Compressore (tube compressor) is that there are no printed values on the faceplate. According to the manual, the attack range is 2-50ms and release 100-700ms. So I'd estimate my attack is set around 20ms and release around 500ms. I will nudge the controls if I detect any audible dipping or swelling.

My primary compression goal is tame aggressive playing while letting softer playing through mostly unaffected. I play various types of rock and metal with about 50/50 pick/fingers. I run tube distortion (about 75/25 wet/dry blend) in front of compression about half the time.

 

[HelpImaRock]

My compressor is a BOSS BC-1x. There's no attack knob and the release is at noon. Sounds good to me.