Should I get a dedicated compressor

[Parzival]

Mine too except I’d limit it to not understanding compression or compressors. Your technique has zip to do with compression because compressors can’t compensate for poor technique. Many times a compressor will make poor technique even more obvious than it would have been otherwise. Especially when it comes to bass technique essentials such as muting and clean note attack.

It’s just constraining to me. I can feel it no matter how low I set it.
IMO, and it’s just my no good opinion, compression is for leveling out the band at the end of the line, whether that be in the studio or at FOH. Putting it on the pedalboard ahead of the amp and FOH just doesn’t sit with me.

 

[amper]

the most common use in studios is to make up for players with bad dynamic control

I disagree. In my experience, the most common use of compression in studios and in live audio reinforcement has little to do with the lack of good technique and lots to do with the fact that music with too wide a dynamic range must be played at a lower average SPL, because otherwise the peaks will be too loud.

Amplified musical instruments have a much wider dynamic range than is actually useful or desirable for reproduction.

Listeners perceive a louder average volume as "better" and more exciting because of the natural psychoacoustic response of human hearing. Our ears are not linear, and have differing frequency responses at different SPLs. This is why chasing epic tone at bedroom volumes is a lost cause, and this is what caused the "volume wars" in the digital era, where the average signal strength of digital recordings of popular music is approaching -3 to 0 dBFS, but people keep buying records, even though audio purists will tell you they sound bad because there's no dynamic range, no contrast.

Compression does what even the best, most polished technique played on the finest instruments through the most rarefied gear simply cannot.

 

[40Hz]

It’s just constraining to me. I can feel it no matter how low I set it.
IMO, and it’s just my no good opinion, compression is for leveling out the band at the end of the line, whether that be in the studio or at FOH. Putting it on the pedalboard ahead of the amp and FOH just doesn’t sit with me.

Like I said in my first post, compression is a personal thing that depends on a variety of factors. It took me a long time (I be but dumb sometimes) to really get my head around compression and what it could do for me. And I now appreciate for what it is. But it’s not a panacea by any stretch. And even though I own a half dozen compressors, I don’t use, or feel the need to use one all the time. In fact, I run a compression pedal maybe 25% of the time when playing live. When I’m recording in my DAW I always run two channels. And one is always a raw track. The other will have whatever pedals I might be using. Occasionally I’ll have a compressor on that track if I’m using it as an effect. But most times I have a DAW plugin handle any compression I think a track could benefit from. But even there it’s not an automatic thing to use for me.

Compression is just a tool. It’s not a necessity even though it’s often handy to have those times you do need it. But if it doesn’t work for you, or it doesn’t work for you towards the front of your signal chain, then that’s all good too. I respect anyone who gives something a reasonable try before rejecting it. That’s called being smart about your gear choices.

 

[rev_D]

* the most common use in studios is to make up for players with bad dynamic control)

Virtually all recorded bass in the studio gets compressed during mixing, guitar and keys/samples alike.

 

[Drop1]

Virtually all recorded bass in the studio gets compressed during mixing, guitar and keys/samples alike.

Im aware, but that was never my point. Youre now talking about compression in the context of mixing. That was never what this thread was about. If you want to talk about mixing , my point still stands.
Id rather record someone with the ability to play even than someone who can't control their darn note volume. I'd rather kiss someone's playing with a little compression and let their natural playing come through than squash it to death right from the beginning to reign in bad dynamics.
With a good player, I have options. I can use a little compression or a lot. With a loose play, I have to use a lot more compression up front , which then limits what I can do with the sound later. Kind of hard to unsquish something. Some players that are great live performers don't do so well in the studio, to the point I need to go in and do surgery, cutting the notes apart and manually adjusting the volume of certian notes before even thinking about feeding the signal into a compressor. Other players can play smooth as glass. (Love those dudes) which leads me back to my original post in this thread. I still think learning a new technique into a compressor is a bad idea as it let's you get away with uneven playing. How can you learn dynamic control if you have a machine making all your notes the same volume?

 

[rev_D]

Im aware, but that was never my point. Youre now talking about compression in the context of mixing. That was never what this thread was about. If you want to talk about mixing , my point still stands.
Id rather record someone with the ability to play even than someone who can't control their darn note volume. I'd rather kiss someone's playing with a little compression and let their natural playing come through than squash it to death right from the beginning to reign in bad dynamics.
With a good player, I have options. I can use a little compression or a lot. With a loose play, I have to use a lot more compression up front , which then limits what I can do with the sound later. Kind of hard to unsquish something. Some players that are great live performers don't do so well in the studio, to the point I need to go in and do surgery, cutting the notes apart and manually adjusting the volume of certian notes before even thinking about feeding the signal into a compressor. Other players can play smooth as glass. (Love those dudes) which leads me back to my original post in this thread. I still think learning a new technique into a compressor is a bad idea as it let's you get away with uneven playing. How can you learn dynamic control if you have a machine making all your notes the same volume?

That's a long post and I agree fully with certain parts of it.

But the quote I was referring to is quite different and simply states "* the most common use in studios is to make up for players with bad dynamic control)" which I would argue is false.

 

[RitterSport]

Man, step away from the computer for a couple of days....

Thanks everyone! The advice is a bit bewildering, but I'll read through it carefully, play with my son's guitar compressor, try different emulations on the Zoom B1 Four, and continue to practice without it (except when tapping).

 

[5StringBlues]

 

[RitterSport]

Haha! It can be a subtle effect for sure.