About compression and tempo

[reg3n]

sup guys, i'm kind'a always so interested in compression since i think it can really make a difference in tone, so i was wondering... about tempo and compression, i've seen how some ppl manipulate the attack and release depending on the tempo... (for guitars) can't really figure out how, and if i have in mind threshold + ratio... omg the little i knew about compression just goes away...

any ideas or tips on this?

/edit/ this is what i'm doing right now:

tempo is 140, so i set the C1 compressor's attack to 4 and the release to 70, so 4*70=280 , and 280/2=140, and it sounds nicer, kind'a follows the tempo... if i overdo the compression it's really noticeable, but i mean.. there must be a better explanation than my "it sounds nicer"... i guess...

 

[joeymusicguy]

the idea is to set the release to the main beat pattern of the song

if most of the hits are quarter notes and there's not a lot of eighth note wankery between them, then you'll want to set the release to the length of a quarter note

you could get interesting results by setting it to half of this if you wanted every half bar to "swell" in and other shits like that

 

[Metaltastic]

It may be blasphemous in that it totally counteracts the "tune it with your ears" idea - but can anyone provide me with a formula to calculate delay time for various intervals of a set BPM? Sure would save me some hassle

 

[joeymusicguy]

It may be blasphemous in that it totally counteracts the "tune it with your ears" idea - but can anyone provide me with a formula to calculate delay time for various intervals of a set BPM? Sure would save me some hassle

there's a chart, somewhere

my dad had it printed out once...

google for it, cuz its not exact math i guess

 

[crosstalk]

First thing that came up on Google.

http://www.thewhippinpost.co.uk/tools/delay-time-calculator.htm

Looks pretty cool!

 

[reg3n]

there's a chart, somewhere

my dad had it printed out once...

google for it, cuz its not exact math i guess

thanks a lot for that info man, and... as stupid as it sounds... i dunno how to search for such a table T_______________________T

 

[Yhanthlei]

Comeon guys, it's not that hard ^^

Tempo is beats per minute, so say 120 beats in one minute.
That's 120 / 60 = 2 beats per second.
So 1 beat is half a second, 1/8 note is 0,25 seconds...

 

[reg3n]

i made this test in sonar,

http://files.getdropbox.com/u/799706/withc1.mp3
(nevermind my shit riffing)

so, it's compressed with the c1, i tried to make the compression strong enough to be noticeable, so i kind'a like the result when the drums and the guitar go together, but when it goes guitar only... it kind'a... sounds weird...
so i guess it'd be for example:

Tempo= 120 , 2 beats per second, Release would be 500 miliseconds?

 

[crosstalk]

i made this test in sonar,

http://files.getdropbox.com/u/799706/withc1.mp3
(nevermind my shit riffing)

so, it's compressed with the c1, i tried to make the compression strong enough to be noticeable, so i kind'a like the result when the drums and the guitar go together, but when it goes guitar only... it kind'a... sounds weird...
so i guess it'd be for example:

Tempo= 120 , 2 beats per second, Release would be 500 miliseconds?

This is just me thinking, but wouldn't you need to figure in the attack time? So if for example your attack time was 30ms, then your release would be 470ms for 120bpm. Just a thought that may be meaningless.

 

[reg3n]

This is just me thinking, but wouldn't you need to figure in the attack time? So if for example your attack time was 30ms, then your release would be 470ms for 120bpm. Just a thought that may be meaningless.

oh shit... makes sense for me!, i'll render that song again

 

[darthjujuu]

does that guitar even need compression? i know lots of metal engineers do it, but i know lot's also insist that high-gain guitars usually don't need it. the overcompressed sound desired here, comes from the master bus compression and/or mastering, doesn't it? does high-gain chainsaw guitar really yield peaks/transients that need taming? or am i totally in left field here and about to get flamed

 

[Fox Mulder]

the idea is to set the release to the main beat pattern of the song

I never got to understand why it doesn't apply to attack.

 

[reg3n]

does that guitar even need compression? i know lots of metal engineers do it, but i know lot's also insist that high-gain guitars usually don't need it. the overcompressed sound desired here, comes from the master bus compression and/or mastering, doesn't it? does high-gain chainsaw guitar really yield peaks/transients that need taming? or am i totally in left field here and about to get flamed

haha naw man it's not i want to squash the guitar more than it already is, but the kind'a thing i'm asking is for like... empowering... the... thing haha dunno what i just tried to say =D , i mean, the question was for overall compression anyways, just using it for the guitar and the drums here for testing

so here's the new one, really noticeable change in the drum's overhead (it's the same filename, but updated file)
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/799706/withc1.mp3

 

[reg3n]

I never got to understand why it doesn't apply to attack.

i just tested having attack in mind and it kind'a sounds better for me... damn i can't find a way to make the compression like TOO obvious so to easily notice the release...

 

[reg3n]

any ideas?

right now we're in the "Tempo= 120 , 2 beats per second, Release would be 500 miliseconds MINUS the attack" or could anyone make an example with this info? (tempo, bps, attk, rls)

 

[DanLights]

Sorry can't contribute, but I'm really interested in hearing an answer from someone

 

[reg3n]

anyone?

 

[LeviathanMetal]

Oh there is one very important thing which is the key to this entire thing.... oh what are they called..... oh.... errr... ah! Ears. lol

 

[Melodeath]

Calculating by including attack time doesn't really make too much sense. Compression is not just attack and release. There's a "hold" period of gain reduction, unless of course the planets align and the threshold is set just right for one particular transient.

 

[smy1]

I really never thought about calculating it, but what I do on the master bus is this:

1) lower the threshold so that there is an insane amount of gain reduction at all times
2) look at the needle/GR meter
3) change the release time until the needle/GR meter moves in time with the music (however I define "in time" depends on the song and my ears)
4) then bring the threshold back up until I have my desired gain reduction (usually between 2 and 6db)

Attack time is usually 30ms (on the SSL G-Series compressor) to keep stuff punchy ...