Compression Basics 1176 into LA2A on Vocals CL1B on Keyboards

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Train your ears in just minutes a day: https://quiztones.com • Get Unlimited Premium Mix Training: https://theproaudiofiles.com/members • The first in a series of videos on compression. This one covers controlling vocal level with an 1176 into an LA-2A and compressing keyboards with a CL1-B // 5 Things to Listen for When Using Compression: https://theproaudiofiles.com/5-things... • More compression videos from Ian Vargo: http://bit.ly/compressionseries • — • Transcript: • Hello, Ian Vargo here with The Pro Audio Files. • Today is the first in a five part video series on compression. We recently released an article on the five things to listen for when using a compressor, and first up is one of the most common uses for compressors, which is the control of dynamics and taming peaks. • So firstly, let's take a look and listen to this vocal performance. We've got a good amount of dynamic range, a relatively quiet level in the verse. It's a little bit louder as we enter the chorus, and then at the end of the chorus, we have a climax in amplitude, so to speak. • Let's take a listen. • [music] • Let's move forward to the chorus. • [chorus] • So the goal here is to bring the level of the verses a little bit closer to the level in the choruses, and to also — there are a couple of lines that really poke out in my mind, particularly, “Wrap my” just seems a little bit like it's sticking out more than the rest of the lines. • So what we're going to do is apply the classic 1176 into an LA-2A technique. • Let's activate the 1176. I've got a pretty fast attack and fast release time, and I'm going to set my input and output to a point where the loudest parts of the vocal performance are brought down, but the quietest parts are not affected. • Let's take a listen to the verse. • [verse] • Let's move forward to the chorus. • [chorus] • Okay, so as you can hear, when the vocal gets really loud and expressive, we have compression being applied. • What you're hearing now is only a piece of the final puzzle. It does sound a little bit quiet. We are going to use the LA-2A — the gain feature here — to bring up the overall level and use the peak reduction — I'm going to set it to a point where we have about — between one and up to three dB at any given moment. • Let's take a listen with the two together. • [mix] • And let's move forward. • [mix] • Alright, so what we're hearing is definitely a smoother, more even vocal performance. Sometimes when you have a lot of compression applied, sibilant sounds, like this right here, I believe it's a D, let's take a listen. • [mix] • I'll show you what I did. • I automated volume and clip gain, because sometimes, when you apply a lot of compression to a source, sibilant sounds become extra harsh. • [mix] • That really pops out. • So what I'm doing is zooming in a little bit, using clip gain to bring it down about five dB, and then volume automating down a couple dB as well, and it sounds smoother. • [mix] • Alright, so as you can hear, this is definitely a tried and true technique for a reason. We have the 1176 taming the highest of peaks, and the LA-2A giving some general compression and overall smoothness to the signal the entire time. • Next, I'm going to show you how to use compression to even out the dynamics of a keyboard part. • Let's take a listen to this with no compression whatsoever. • [mix without compression] • Okay, it sounds nice, but there are a couple of notes, a couple of phrases that seemed to poke out a little bit to me. They stick out of the mix and sound less pleasant in comparison to everything else. • In particular, right here and right here just seem to pop out a little bit. • So I'm going to use compression to tame those transients. Let's take a listen. • We've got the TubeTech CL-1B, which is a collaboration between Softube and Universal Audio. It's one of my go-to compressors, because it's versatile and it works quickly. • Let's take a listen. • [mix] • So if we pay attention to the settings, I've got a relatively fast attack. I want some of the transient to be allowed through the compressor, but I want to catch it pretty quickly. • Let's take a listen to what it would sound like if I had a slow attack. • [slow attack compression] • And if I had an all the way fast attack... • [fast attack compression] • It starts to sound a little bit pumpy and unnatural, so I dialed in a setting I was happy with. • I'm using a relatively slow release for the purpose of — if you look at the waveform, the sustain and the decay happen a little bit too quickly, so I wanted to even it out and make the note seem like it sustained a little bit more, so I used a pretty slow release to help emulate that effect. • I've got about a five to one ratio, and the threshold and gain are both set to the default settings, whatever they were when I loaded up the plug-in, which is one of the reasons I like this so much is it just works so quickly.

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