Do I really need a mic compressor?

H

HOLSTER

Guest
i did research on it and i dont understand wat it is.. it sounds liek its just a pre amp?

if i got a pre amp i still need a compressor... im just tryna make a good home studio..serious one... so will i need a pre amp and compressor? if so name a good one... not really worried bout price..keep it real tho! LOL i aint got a rich family or nuttin! haha... but yah gimme some good names of one... and plz make sure you dont tell me to buy one and i get it home and dont need it!
 
A preamp is basically something that amplifies sound.

A compressor is something which squashes the sound ,effectively making the loudest and quietest parts of a recording closer in volume,

A hardware compressor on your input is
a great thing to have but if you are a beginner it isn,t really necessary and could cause a lot of problems.


I would advise you to just plug the mic into the preamp and then into your audio interface then use plugin compression after you have made the recording. This way you can learn what compression is all about without ruining your best recordings by having a cheap or improperly set up compressor on your input path.

When used on the input path compression is normally referred to as being subtle or transparent and is used to keep the signal at a constantly "hot" level so as to get the best out of your a/d d/a convertors and get a good average level on "tape" but it is very easy to overdo and almost impossible to remove.

For a good quality compressor you could spend between $500 and $1500 at the lower end of the market and i think at this stage you could find a more important use for that kind of money
 
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aaihgt thanx alot man.. i really appreciate it.. ima work on the **** i was gonna get... then use native gold wave plug in...get used to it then buy a compressor? sound ok?

lol
 
Definately..

Good hardware compressor manufacturers are; dbx, drawmer ,tl audio,focusrite, tube tech, thermionic ,universal audio and avalon but a lot of these are very expensive.

Once you have the hang of the rest of your gear you could think about some of the lower priced focusrite or dbx stuff.

However if you haven,t bought a mic pre yet you could consider something like the focusrite Trackmaster or Voicemaster channel strips which combine mic pre, compressor and eq in one box.($350-$700 or so)

Then you would already have a compressor ready for when you know enough to record with it properly.
 
hey thats sounding kinda good man??? can you gimme more info on that.. thro out some names or suntin? good names... i want good ****.. im trying to start a nice studio!
 
Take a look at the Bellari RP503.
Its a great Preamp compressor with the added bonus of a tube. Its worked wonders for my vocal recordings. Reasonably priced too, i paid $125 on ebay for it.

Ian
 
Consider the Presonus Eureka, too. It's a mic preamp, compressor, and EQ in one box.

For starting out, you might want to go with this kind of a "channel strip" concept.

-Hoax
 
I was just about to post something similar. Basically I want to look into getting a hardware compressor. Right now I am working with a MXL 2001 mic although I plan on getting a SP C1 in the next month and the Yamaha MG 10/2 Mixer. I'd like to know about some good hardware compressors. I hear good things about the RNC but I cannot find anything on it and I dont even know who makes it to look up any information on it. If anyone has any ideas for good compressors please leave some links and if anyone has a link to the RNC please link that one also.
 
the Behringer VX-2496 is a reasonably priced unit for people just starting out. It's about $150, and has a pre-amp and several other functions (compressor, etc.). I had the older model, VX-2000, for a while and loved it. It's very easy to use as well, so you can learn a lot from it. I'm sure you can find some VX-2000's on ebay for cheaper than $150. The only noticable difference is the optical input/output.
 
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