Lots of EDM progressive house drops involve many layers to make them sound full. I often read that, when layering leads together, it's a good idea to group them together in a bus and EQ and compress them. I understand the concept of bussing and its benefits, but I don't understand how/why compressing leads together is a good idea. Is it just to accentuate the transients? Or is it to kind of squash all the sounds together so that they sound as one? Because these 2 options seem like very different styles of compression.
Compressing Layers
- Thread starter Jarvis14
- Start date
Ametrine
Audible Chocolate
Personally, I don't group layers together to compress. I prefer working on each sound individually because they require different levels of compression. The upside to doing it this way is you get an unrivaled level of customization. The downside is your CPU can start taking a hit if you over a large number of separate mixer tracks with compressors running on them.
But I say try both methods and see which you think is best.
But I say try both methods and see which you think is best.
UncleDutch
Record. Mix. Repeat.
Grouping layers to a buss and compressing them together helps bring their respective ASDR curves in closer relation to each other. It has nothing to do with squishing them. Hope this helps.
Thanks. What about compression that DOES squish a sound tho? For example, compressing a synth bass with a high ratio, 0 attack and 0 release will give the bass a condensed sound, like it has tightened up. It will probably also distort quite a bit, but my question is, is compression used ONLY to alter the ADSR envelope? Or is there a commonly-used type of compression like the one I just described where it completely disregards transients and just condenses/tightens/squashes a sound?
You should only compress anything if there is a reason to, which is that you want to change the dynamics of the thing.
Compression can make a group of things sounds more cohesive (in the sense that they get squashed together) but it might introduce other, more serious, mix issues.
The usefulness of compression depends on the sound not the situation.
Unfortunately that idea isn't easy to communicate on a "what all the pros are doing that makes them pros / how to X / learn to make hit record in 10 steps" type internet post.
High end producers or mix engineers may well use group buss compression, but what those websites miss out is that they also spend a lot of time making sure that the parts fit together organically first. Then the compression does, as Bandcoach says, maybe less than a dB of compression now and again. I think group compression is more of a way of distributing compression around the track rather than all at the master buss.
Compression can make a group of things sounds more cohesive (in the sense that they get squashed together) but it might introduce other, more serious, mix issues.
The usefulness of compression depends on the sound not the situation.
Unfortunately that idea isn't easy to communicate on a "what all the pros are doing that makes them pros / how to X / learn to make hit record in 10 steps" type internet post.
High end producers or mix engineers may well use group buss compression, but what those websites miss out is that they also spend a lot of time making sure that the parts fit together organically first. Then the compression does, as Bandcoach says, maybe less than a dB of compression now and again. I think group compression is more of a way of distributing compression around the track rather than all at the master buss.