Should I Add a Compressor?

[fightthepower]

I bought an EBS compressor a while back during the Great Acquiring last year- I was battling the Qtron and wanted to a try a compressor anyway. It's been on my board since but it gets no use. I didn't like what I was hearing in the necessary settings to control the Qtron and decided that a compressor like the EBS probably isn't best suited for the Qtron, where I should have been using a limiter. For what it is, it sounds good, but I haven't yet had a need for it- and therefor it was just another unnecessary bit of processing.

It's been a while that I've had it, and my situation has changed considerably now that I have a band, am more experienced with effects, sound, and bass playing in general, Im starting to see and understand the application of compression both in a general sense, and how it pertains to my application- though Im still experimenting and crafting my bass synth tones and haven't yet felt the need to compress it. Im also not gigging yet and have no experience with live sound, sound guys etc.

Now Im making out beats as well, and have been thinking about the interaction of the kick drum and my bass playing,- and utilizing eqing and compression to get the most out of both. Im also thinking about the heavy sub-bass that I play with, power consumption and speaker frequency reproduction capabilities.. Im starting to get ideas and just starting to understand compression through using it on the kicks in ableton recently. I should probably read Bongo's page again as its been a long time and I doubt I digested much last year when I first bought an effect and found talkbass. I also think that a rackmount will ultimately offer the level of control I'll need.

I feel that compression will become a mainstay in my chain, if at all, after I've dialed in my playing, my tones, and have a clear view of what I need it for and how it will benefit my live sound in relation to the rest of the instruments in the band- and after having some live gigging experience.

I also just got an ebow and am having a blast with it, but using it for the first times at the last two practices, I had a hard time controlling the spikes and distorting the hell out of the recording. Im going to start fiddling with the EBS soon for ebowing, maybe at tomorrow's practice. I think I'll keep it at the end of my chain and go from there, depending on how effective it is and how the other effects are handling the extra boost.

 

[René_Julien]

As far as I can tell, the main difference between overdrive and mild compression is clipping. OD boosts your signal so that it clips, I think compression squeezes your signal first and then boosts it (it may be the other way around). One is designed to clip, the other is designed not to. I could be totally wrong, but this is my understanding. To me, they feel very similar aside from the clipping thing. Of course compressors often have much more control over the squeezing with threshold, attack, ratio, etc. I have heard tell of dirty compressors as well.
Maybe Bongo will chime in and sort me out....

That's sort of right.
I think you grasp it, but can't quite explain it.

I can't either, but I'll try. Bongo will correct me if I'm wrong anyway.

In a way, overdrive, distortion or fuzz also compresses your signal.
The drive effect will cause your signal - your soundwave- to clip. This means the the top of the amplitude is too high and simply explained the top of your amplitude will be cut off, while the form of your soundwave will be the same under that threshold where clipping occurs. The excess energy of that clipping, chipping of the amplitude, will cause your soundwave below the clipping threshold to distort.
Meaning that your soundwave isn't pure anymore, you'll have micro waves (sorry, don't know the correct term, not like micro wave oven edit: harmonics, right??) on your signal. Making it not pure anymore.
Think of it as going up a mountain with smooth surface as your über clean soundwave and a mountain with the top sliced of and the slopes are filled with irregular stairs as your overdrive soundwave.

As a result of this, when you look at the signal over the envellope, this will compress the overall level. The hotter signals will clip and distort more than the weaker signals, but their amplitude will be more equal due to the gain provide by the overdrive or distortion unit.
Hotter signals off course will sound more distorted, lighter signals are mild distorted.


A compressor (tries to ??) leave your soundwave alone. No guarantee on this... but on average your soundwave is left clean there will come no distortion harmonics (those micro waves) on it.
A compressor only "looks" at the enveloppe of your signal, controlling the volume levels to keep it more equal.
(edit: ) And there fore your soundwave will not clip, the shape of the amplitude on top will be the same, only the amplitude level is lower.

I don't know if this is correct:
A compressor will lower the gain to get the volume below the threshold, while an overdive does nothing to vary the gain, making the signal clip and distort.

I don't exactly know how the gain control circuit works on a compressor though.



edit... I tried to scramble some pictures to visualize my crummy explanation.

clipping of soundwave: (this picture shows what I mean but cutting off the top of the amplitude)

distortion harmonics on soundwave: (a pure soundwave would be a smooth perfect sinewave)

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The farther you move away from a perfect shaped sinewave as your soundwave, the more overdriven or distorted your signal is.
The irregularities can go to varies different things, make for some unique color of overdrive or distortion.

 

[bobulibobium]

hey, those diagrams are really helpful, did you make them? helped me understand what you ment alot better, and sounds right from what ive heard

 

[bongomania]

Yeah, that's all pretty much right. The only minor difference I can think of is that compressors very often do change the shape of the waveform, just due to the imperfect nature of the circuit and components used to achieve the effect. But in general the idea is that the wave shouldn't be changed much, and any changes should not be as extreme as those heard in the hard clipping.

 

[Korladis]

I think you're not really familiar with compression.

You may be right about distorting when digging in. I also dig in from time to time, but I don't like distorting.
Different strokes for different folks.

Maybe that's why I'm so fond of compression, because I love a clean sound.

But don't think that a compressor will kill your dynamics per sé.
You can set a compressor to do that, but mine is set so it doesn't kill my dynamics.

I have total tonal control, from sharp attack to thumpy.

I would say I use "light compression",... but that term doesn't mean anything if you don't know what exactly is going on.
My compression ratio is about 1:5, which isn't exactly considered "light" or "a gentle touch".
If I turn ratio up more, then the sound gets squeezed.
This is off course with my bass and my playing technique. YMMV

I use a rackmount compressor with more tweaking options. I have the threshold fairly low.
It's needed for my purpose IME for my passive precision bass.
Especially for the G-string with it's dead spot.
Plus I have bright piano sounding strings, somehow my tube compressor reduces the harshness of the D and G string. (I don't know exactly why it works like this, but hurray for my purposes.)

With an equalizer after it I can tailor my sound even more.
And it still all sounds natural.


I fooled around with my compressor toward settings that get my sound all squeezed and killing the dynamics.
Got some cool sounds out of it.
Set it to hard knee compression and fastest attack (something you should do with a bass guitar signal) and I got a strange envellope to my sound.
Almost like an artificial clean synthesizer bass sound, with a little bit of volume swell, fatness swell after the attack.


You have to decide for yourself if you need the features of a rack compressor... or a simple controlled pedal compressor.
But study up on how it's supposed to work, and if you test one out try to pay as much attention to the sound. How the attack alters and how you get sustain.

I see. I don't really like a clean sound. I like it when my amp distorts, sounds cool. Interesting explanation, but it doesn't sound like something I'd have a use for.

 

[René_Julien]

hey, those diagrams are really helpful, did you make them? helped me understand what you ment alot better, and sounds right from what ive heard

No, I didn't make them. I googled them.
I'm terrible in the drawing department, couldn't draw a stick man to save my life.

edit: I have found no good diagrams of the envellope of your sound to show how compression works, maybe it would have been helpful to show how the compression works.

Yeah, that's all pretty much right. The only minor difference I can think of is that compressors very often do change the shape of the waveform, just due to the imperfect nature of the circuit and components used to achieve the effect. But in general the idea is that the wave shouldn't be changed much, and any changes should not be as extreme as those heard in the hard clipping.

Thanks Bongo.... for once I didn't messed up when talking about compressors.
You corrected me once or twice in the past when I made a foolish statement about compression.

A year ago I knew not much about compression. But I studied up on it (and among other sources, you're site is very helpful) and now I am much wiser. I can't live without a compressor in my chain now.
And I know how to use it now.
For my bass signal... I'm not a sound engineer and I wouldn't know exactly how to use a compressor for professional recordings of other instruments or recordings.


And yes... I think that every compressor will change your tone. Maybe unnoticable with some, and a sort of tone-shaping effect with others.
I think that's why I like my tube compressor. It changes my tone a bit. It warms up my signal, everything else in my setup is really bright sounding.
In theory it's not meant to be a toneshaper, but off course every processor you put in your signal chain will leave it's mark.
And off course, changing the envelope of your signal will have effect of your tone. I should have mentioned that.
But it was for the sake of explaining the difference between overdrive and compression.


I know a lot about electricity and electronics, like in automotive uses. I have a degree in mechanics and electromechanics for engines and vehicles. (I used to work as a mechanic on trucks and diesel power generators, and now have a motorcycle dealership.) I still need schooling every year for this.

I just don't know much about audio technology and audio processing. That's a different kind of animal. But it helps that I understand what electronic components do.
And I'm very anxious to learn more about audio.
If I had more time in my life I'd probably would take up DIY effects and signal processors.

It also helps that I'm kind of a geek when I find something that interests me.

I see. I don't really like a clean sound. I like it when my amp distorts, sounds cool. Interesting explanation, but it doesn't sound like something I'd have a use for.

That's cool.

Like I said, different strokes for different folks. And like anything else with your gear, it's very personal.
If you don't think you need it, then maybe you don't.
But a compressor can be useful to you, if applied correctly. But you don't need to bother with it if you don't want to.
You're a bassist, the most important thing of that is that you are an artist a musician. We don't all need to be sound engineers.

In your case, since you like distortion, a compressor can be handy to even things out in the signal before overdrive or distortion occurs. That your hotter signals distort less and your weaker signals distort more. Will have a drastic effect on your tone.
But you don't need it as long as you are satisfied with your sound.

A lot has to do with your amp and bass, and other effects.
I can see a lot of situation or setups where a bassist doesn't need a compressor in your signal chain.
For example: playing through an all-tube Ampeg SVT you rarely need a compressor... you're signal is naturally compressed by such amp.
A lot of bass amps are like this... and then there are some amps that are the opposite (like mine) and then a compressor can be helpful.

I do want to build a secondary righ with an SVT Pro amp and a Joe Meek One-Q for a fat squeezed sound.
You can go lots of places with your sound if you choose a particular amp and/or signal processor.

 

[Korladis]

Yeah, I'm playing through an all tube amp, though not an SVT. I've heard that they naturally compress the signal a bit. Which is fine.

 

[René_Julien]

Yeah, I'm playing through an all tube amp, though not an SVT. I've heard that they naturally compress the signal a bit. Which is fine.

I just checked your profile.
Nice gear man.

You will get the job done just fine without a compressor.


If I were to play a Rickenbacker through that all tube Mesa, I'd add a BOSS CS-3 as a drastic effect... to sparkle from time to time in mellower passages and make that Rickenbacker shine.
But, like said before, it is all very personal and we may be playing completely different music styles and want to achieve different things.

 

[Korladis]

I just checked your profile.
Nice gear man.

You will get the job done just fine without a compressor.


If I were to play a Rickenbacker through that all tube Mesa, I'd add a BOSS CS-3 as a drastic effect... to sparkle from time to time in mellower passages and make that Rickenbacker shine.
But, like said before, it is all very personal and we may be playing completely different music styles and want to achieve different things.

Thanks, lol, took a long time to get my current rig. I just got the amp, actually, from another TBer. Finally I have the sound I've been looking for.

As it is, I play very different styles from myself at times. My main band is black metal, for which I use mostly just bridge pickup (except for softer passages, which I use the neck pickup for), and I'm also in a folk band, in which for recording I use just the neck pickup.

 

[René_Julien]

Thanks, lol, took a long time to get my current rig. I just got the amp, actually, from another TBer. Finally I have the sound I've been looking for.

As it is, I play very different styles from myself at times. My main band is black metal, for which I use mostly just bridge pickup (except for softer passages, which I use the neck pickup for), and I'm also in a folk band, in which for recording I use just the neck pickup.

I took me a long time to get a rig for myself as well that I like.

I'm in a progressive metal project and my setup is this:

I used to be and overdrive/distortion user. But nowadays I prefer a very clean cutting through sound.
This setup will help me sit in a metal mix very well.


Now, I need other setups for other projects:

- industrial metal
- scandinavian nu-metal
- vegetarian progressive grindcore
- black metal
- superblack metal

- and lounge...

 

[Korladis]

I just use the same gear for everything I play. The only change I make is in EQ settings or which pickup I'm using.