Hi guys
Im still listening to a lot of tutorials and when they talk about mixing vocals (except for rap) they use Copression with slow attack (probably 20-30ms)...can anyone explain it to me, why is that good?
if we go 15+ms we allow transient to pass it, but we will compress the sustain of the vocal...? and by that we didnt acomplished louder vocal (if we wanted it)...but reduced signal after transient...with makeup gain we cant compare cuz we didnt work with the peaks...so any explanation about it would be really good, cuz like you see i cant get it 100% :////
here is how i think about it, practically:
View attachment 46277
RED = TIME (slow attack)
BLUE = TRESHOLD
GREEN = NEW SIGNAL
Thanks in advance
That's a Great Question jocasrb.
With vocals if the attack is too fast, then when the singer makes consonant sounds like k, t, or plosives like p, and b the compressor will clamp down and squash those sounds because consonants/plosives are louder. This will create a thin sounding vocal since our hearing is naturally sensitive to changes in consonants/plosives.
As an example when someone is lying and we sense it, aside from obvious changes in pitch, on a much subtler level their plosives and consonants change in time an duration as well. Snapple Fact, Check.
Anyway, so you're probably ready to move up to the next level and
start thinking of a compressor as an automatic volume fader. It's an automatic volume fader doing what we're all too lazy to do with our fingers. I like my fingers, I don't care to have them riding a fader all day when they could be fingering my keyboard or my other keyboard so that the one keyboard gets jealous.
The reason a 15-30ms attack is great on vocals is because it allows the consonants/plosives to come through more naturally. If you want more control over the consonant/plosive sounds you can follow that compressor up with another that has a fast 0-10ms attack and a higher 4:1 or 10:1 ratio and use that compressor specifically to shave off plosives/consonants without affecting the sound as dramatically. This is all done in the context of everything else playing... mostly.
The point of this is youre using the 1st compressor with the 15-30ms attack/release as a leveler, which means you're using it bring all the crazy volume difference of your rap vocal to the same volume level so it sits pretty like a gold brick in the center of your mix and doesn't dance around all crazy like.
The 2nd compressor is used to surgically squash or remove the plosives or consonants you feel might be sticking out in the context of the mix after you've leveled the volume of your vocal.
If you want to learn more I've got an intro to compression video here:
Intro to Compression Part 1: The Controls - YouTube
Then there's another video of compression in action:
Intro to Compression Part 2: Compression in Action - YouTube
I'll be up front, none of those videos demonstrate compression on vocals but it isn't any different than what you'll learn in them.
...and since you read this far here's a nugget. The perfect settings for practically every vocal on a compressor is 15-30ms attack, release 10-30ms, ratio 2:1 and threshold brought down until you have 4-6db of gain reduction. Like, literally, every vocal, my voice in every one of the tutorial videos I've made is compressed with those settings and I think it sounds nice, but then again I try to love myself more and more everyday so im biased or... just positively delusional.
Hope that helps
- Nathan