Question on how to compress 2 kicks?

C

CowboyClyde

New member
Hey all,

I have 2 kicks on 2 different tracks that I layered just cuz it sounds good.
Kick B is also bussed to a sub bass track.
I want to compress the kicks but should I compress each kick differently or do I just bus them to a new Aux track and compress them together?

Thanks
 
The answer lies in the sounds you use and what you're trying to achieve. Why do you want to compress them? Have you considered that you might not even need to? Either way there's no technical reason why you couldn't use both methods.
 
There's a lot of youtubes out there about compression. A lot of very good engineers talking about compression.
IMO, I always turn on the master bus compression after I've added a few instruments. Compressing individual instruments, I only turn to when absolutely necessary. When a sound is sometimes too soft or too loud. Or, when I want a special effect. Like in EDM, the pumping effect, achievable through a sidechain for example.
 
CowboyClyde said:
Hey all,

I have 2 kicks on 2 different tracks that I layered just cuz it sounds good.
Click to expand...

K. So why are you compressing it? Do you think it will sound better than it already sounds? What are you even trying to do by compressing it?

If you have access to an ADSR envelope you probably don't need to compress it.
 
Also, remember that if you overcompress, you will kill the low end of your kicks.

Unless you've created your own kicks there usually isn't a need to compress.
 
Generally, the way I approach it is I blend the two kicks first. If it sounds fine, but the overall dynamics aren't quite right, then I'll group them to a buss and compress the buss. If they don't sound fine blended, then I'll go and compress individually. Most of the time though, I find I can group them on a buss and compress the buss. Typically, for non-acoustic drums (ie. drum machiens, drum samples, etc.) there's typically not dynamics in the performance (ie. hip-hop, EDM, most pop, etc.) so if I'm compressing, it's actually to increase dynamic range by creating an stronger attack transient.

Bottom line, you can do it either way. It just depends on what you are starting with and what you want to end with.
 
CowboyClyde said:
Hey all,

I have 2 kicks on 2 different tracks that I layered just cuz it sounds good.
Kick B is also bussed to a sub bass track.
I want to compress the kicks but should I compress each kick differently or do I just bus them to a new Aux track and compress them together?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Does the kick need to be compressed is the first thing you should figure out. From my experience I would say be as light as you can with the compression, use higher thresholds. I would consider some eq before compression.
 
CowboyClyde said:
Hey all,

I have 2 kicks on 2 different tracks that I layered just cuz it sounds good.
Kick B is also bussed to a sub bass track.
I want to compress the kicks but should I compress each kick differently or do I just bus them to a new Aux track and compress them together?

Thanks
Click to expand...

It depends on the source material but you can do both.

Shave the peaks of each layer.

Get your sound of your liking by "playing" with your layers.

When done, send all layers to 1 group track and treat this like only one instrument.

Add plugins if needed to the group track for final sculpting.
 
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