Obvious examples of compression in recorded music?

[Maurice L]

I was listening to Doobie Brothers' Last Train Comin', wondering how they got that sound. Compression?


I know compression is used all the time, but are there obvious examples of compression being used on bass? (Such as for example compression on guitar for the intro of Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers)

 

[chiphaleonbass]

Anything Vulfpeck; all heavily compressed

 

[Veldar]

I was listening to Doobie Brothers' Last Train Comin', wondering how they got that sound. Compression?


I know compression is used all the time, but are there obvious examples of compression being used on bass? (Such as for example compression on guitar for the intro of Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers)

RHCP are pretty heavily compressed in general, take scar tissue for example Flea plays very quietly in the bridge section but it's just as loud as everything else

 

[J Posega]

Almost everything recorded in the last 20 years is heavily compressed. Google "loudness wars" to learn about the silly antics engineers got up to during the iTunes/Napster heyday.

The bass on the majority of Peter Gabriel's So is heavily compressed.

 

[crguti]

turn on the radio and listen to whatever comes out.

 

[Zbysek]

I agree with others that almost every recording nowadays contains compressed bass.

On the other hand, I would usually consider "obviously" compressed bass track a mistake. Compression should be there..but should not be obviously audible...IMHO

 

[RJ]

I agree with others that almost every recording nowadays contains compressed bass.

On the other hand, I would usually consider "obviously" compressed bass track a mistake. Compression should be there..but should not be obviously audible...IMHO

Sure, maybe. But you can also get some fun interesting sounds when using stuff the ‘wrong’ way. Heavy compression can be a great effect, like anything, when done well.

 

[BrentSimons]

"So" by Peter Gabriel jumps to mind? Tony Levin's bass lines are heavily compressed for effect on that album.
Also anything on Rush's "Moving Pictures". Geddy is very compressed on that album and it sounds fantastic!
Hope this helps,
Brent

 

[BassBrass]

Everything...even material recorded before compression was invented is now compressed in order for it to be played on media. Even hearing aids have compression built in.

 

[skycruiser]

Everything...even material recorded before compression was invented is now compressed in order for it to be played on media. Even hearing aids have compression built in.

Conflating two different types of compression.

 

[Bass4Brkfast]

Coldplay's Adventure of a Lifetime is a good example.
The mix is highly compressed and it's pretty obvious, it stays the same volume throughout even in the first verse where a few things drop out of the arrangement.



It becomes slightly quieter in places where one might expect a volume increase, like the first beat of the chorus where the crash cymbals hit and the arrangement gets busier again.

 

[Lowbrow]

The bass on The Ramones debut album.

 

[sunbeast]

A lot of Tony Levin’s work with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, etcetera uses heavy compression as an effect (giving the bass a sort of swelling/breathing sound) both on bass and Chapman Stick. But yeah pretty much all modern pop/rock music has heavily compressed bass

 

[ardgedee]

Hüsker Dü's recordings were brickwalled before brickwalling was an audio term.

There's nearly no dynamic range whatsoever, there's only either silence or full volume. It makes the music exciting, but also kinda punishing over the long term.

But yes, most things recorded in the past fifty years, and nearly everything recorded in the past thirty years, is compressed. See the Wikipedia article about brickwalling.

Recordings with no compression whatsoever are mostly the domain of the audiophile sector. Check this recording of Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt to get a sense of it, keeping in mind that Youtube has imposed a fair amount of compression on the audio, without regard to the quality of the file uploaded (You will never get HD audio out Youtube). I've compared this side by side with the original CD and it's kinda dull and mushy by comparison, but still way more dynamic than the Hüsker Dü track above.

 

[bigjames]

Compression is something I am trying to learn more about, but admittedly it is still somewhat mysterious to me. Is compression when playing live a common thing? Would you apply it in your signal chain (e.g. bass to compression pedal to amp / FOH) or would it be applied by the engineer for FOH? Or both?

 

[pbass2]

Sure, maybe. But you can also get some fun interesting sounds when using stuff the ‘wrong’ way. Heavy compression can be a great effect, like anything, when done well.

Like in dance music, when you have that pumping bass that's sidechained to the kick. Such a killer and very effective effect. Compression wasn't originally intended to be used in such an extreme way.
Of course you can also use sidechaining on bass (or anything) very subtly in a more organic style to get things to speak out and interact a certain way in the mix, without sounding obviously effected. It's not always just about leveling or reducing dynamics.

 

[darkwasthenight]

Compression is something I am trying to learn more about, but admittedly it is still somewhat mysterious to me. Is compression when playing live a common thing? Would you apply it in your signal chain (e.g. bass to compression pedal to amp / FOH) or would it be applied by the engineer for FOH? Or both?

Depends where you're playing. If you're in a venue legit enough to have a dedicated FoH and rack (or digital mixer as is increasingly common) then the engineer is probably compressing drums, bass, and vocals at some point.

Some bass players like the feel of compression in front of an amp but that's personal taste - a badly set compressor can make you feel like you have less dynamic control, whereas one set well can reduce 'digging in' for more volume and make notes pop out smoothly even in fast passages. It's a useful tool to learn to use.

 

[bigjames]

Depends where you're playing. If you're in a venue legit enough to have a dedicated FoH and rack (or digital mixer as is increasingly common) then the engineer is probably compressing drums, bass, and vocals at some point.

Some bass players like the feel of compression in front of an amp but that's personal taste - a badly set compressor can make you feel like you have less dynamic control, whereas one set well can reduce 'digging in' for more volume and make notes pop out smoothly even in fast passages. It's a useful tool to learn to use.

Yeah, I need to do some research and learn to use it. From the sounds of it, it would be very useful for me, especially in specific situations.

 

[bassliner50]

turn on the radio and listen to whatever comes out.

True, with the exception of classical, and jazz produced pre 1970.

 

[Bass-ball]

Google "loudness wars" to learn about the silly antics engineers got up to during the iTunes/Napster heyday.

The bass on the majority of Peter Gabriel's So is heavily compressed.

Those are two different forms of compression.

The former is the result of a clipped waveform in a final digital master, where the signal was expanded and ran out of headroom so the top of the waveform was clipped, and you can hear it sometimes as a "crackle" or "pop" even when not much is going on. It's an unintended effect of trying to sound "louder."

The latter is a deliberate attempt to use compression in the recording process, despite being mastered perfectly. You even cited Peter Gabriel's "So" album, which was mastered very well, and has almost no digital compression in its waveforms - here's proof. The early incarnations of the album are wide open and dynamic, even though Levin's bass was "heavily compressed" in parts of the "So" album. Latter 'remasters' began to reveal clipping resulting from loudness expansion due to the loudness wars.

Think of the former as a mastering technique, the latter as an effect.

TL;DR: you can have an incredibly compressed bass on an album that is mastered perfectly with practically zero compression in its final master, just like early releases of Peter Gabriel's "So."