How many compressors?

[Jfever]

i have a hardware compressor and use it on various things, one being bass but I don't have a patch bay and would like to know if I should compress before it becomes digital with a pedal and then use my hardware compressor later on be it to mix the kick with the bass and/or bass alone. Are redundant units bad?

 

[seamonkey]

Interfaces have plenty of dynamic range, yes even 16 bit, but many can do 24bit
So record everything, all the dynamics, hold off the compression for later.
Or You can split the input, one goes to a raw track, and one goes to a processed track.
It usually turns out better if you wait until things are in the mix to start adding compression and other processing.

In the DAW try out a multiband compressor. It's a very natural form of compression.

Side chaining a compressor with other instruments, especially bass drums can really bring out the bass part while keeping things in balance.

 

[Jfever]

Yes so far I have been doing that (compression after) and didn't want to needlessly get a comp pedal