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Gear / Technical Help => Battery Boxes, Preamps, Mixers, ADCs, and Processors => Topic started by: plucks on November 19, 2004, 06:16:44 PM

Title: compressor, limiter, & gates
Post by: plucks on November 19, 2004, 06:16:44 PM
so i'll be running sound with JBK in a couple weeks...it seems that there is some outboard gear with the mixing console, but i have not had a chance to ever mess around with these types of products.  I feel pretty confident in the mixing capabilities, but I don't know how running a gate or compressor will affect what comes out of the PA.
Is there any advice for running these types of outboard gear?  things to look out for, common settings or anything like that?

thanks in advance!
Title: Re: compressor, limiter, & gates
Post by: Brian on November 19, 2004, 06:48:45 PM
using a little compression on vocals helps the gain before feedback ratio, if you will.  If the venue can put out some bass but the bass guitar sounds kind of "floppy" you can copress that.  other than that you probably won't need to use it on anything else unless you want to blow the roof off ;)

I like minimal copression ratios....somewhere between 2:1 and 5:1.  set an average attack with a quick release and se the threshold a few db's under the average the dB of the vocals without compression.  this is usually a good place for me to start when i do live sound.  you might have to make some minor adjustments. 

hope that helps!

Brian
Title: Re: compressor, limiter, & gates
Post by: Tim on November 19, 2004, 07:00:42 PM
Phlucks & JBK

hey guys, what night? I'd be glad to come out with you guys and show you some stuff. I did this for about 2+ years... setup and tore down little mackie/yamaha pa's and some big monster pa's. Worked house at a 900 person club and a 250 person club, worked in a 4k+ seat theatre and did some 3500+ outdoor gigs...

call me, this is something that I'm actually pretty skilled/knowledgeable at.
Title: Re: compressor, limiter, & gates
Post by: OOK on December 04, 2004, 02:11:18 AM
personally I wouldn't go over a ratio of 3:1 compression...................................with 5:1 you take alot of the dynamics out....
honestly 2:1 should be fine.....................have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OOK
Title: Re: compressor, limiter, & gates
Post by: jpschust on December 06, 2004, 09:54:33 AM
all your compressor, limiter & gate questions are belong to us:

http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/articles3.htm
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=6403
Title: Re: compressor, limiter, & gates
Post by: Chuck on December 08, 2004, 08:21:18 PM
If you have any extra compressors available after compressing the vocals and maybe the bass, try running the snare compressed. I used to solo up the snare and try different compression tricks on it. That's just me though. I always felt having a good snare drum sound was key in having a good club mix. I found that compressing the snare drum, then sending that signal to the reverb made the snare sound fat.

What kind of music is it?
Title: Re: compressor, limiter, & gates
Post by: bluegrass_brad on December 08, 2004, 09:43:18 PM
Gate the drum mics (but not the overheads) to avoid bleed.  Be careful with the compressors.  If you compress too much you can make a note hang and youll get the wonderful, wonderful sound of frequency takeoff...
Title: Re: compressor, limiter, & gates
Post by: Tim on December 08, 2004, 10:46:23 PM
careful with compressors on vocals... the return into the monitors can cause feedback :)
Title: Re: compressor, limiter, & gates
Post by: BobW on December 13, 2004, 11:45:59 PM
Gate the drum mics (but not the overheads) to avoid bleed.  Be careful with the compressors.  If you compress too much you can make a note hang and youll get the wonderful, wonderful sound of frequency takeoff...

Jimi Hendrix made it pay, so did Jerry, or was that the real reason for the Wolf ?      ;)