Bass compression settings

[Ermz]

I know this would vary somewhat between project to project, as all things do, but I wonder what are the common bass guitar comp settings that you guys gravitate towards?

In the past I used to normally use an attack time of 7ms or so to really clamp down and control the bass, but I found that many times this didn't give the bass much definition. Release times depend on the speed of the material being played usually.

My gain reduction tends to vary from about 5dB to 12dB depending on how dynamically controlled the player is.

The kind of bass guitar sound I love in a metal release is the one on 'Doomsday Machine'. Totally controlled, tight, adding lows, and plenty of sub lows too. I also like a more loose and prominent low-end like on Nightrage's 'Sweet Vengeance'. These two albums, along with Clayman are usually my reference for metal low end.

 

[Aaron Smith]

I can't think off the top of my head what exact settings I use on the compressor, but I do clamp down on it pretty good to level it out, and recently I realized that I really like the sound of a limiter in line after the initial compressor. With the limiter set to consistently "flatten" the signal the majority of the time (so the meter doesn't move a whole lot), it brings the bass up to the front really nicely. The key, obviously, is to make sure that you're not making the tone worse...as long as it doesn't sound bad, I would say smash it all you want!

 

[Ben Johnson]

Your beard is slowly taking over your head.

 

[Aaron Smith]

Pretty soon I'll look like this guy!

 

[Metaltastic]

Pretty soon I'll look like this guy!

uke:

 

[Zack Uidl]

That would suck!

I do the same thing Aaron does. I don't have the exact settings saved though since I do it differently depending on the project.

 

[beyond dead]

Pretty soon I'll look like this guy!

the hair gel industry must love this guy. the good news is : old spice hair and body wash is STILL right for him!!!

 

[wishtheend]

Pick bass usually gets around 6-8db reduction, but as mentioned I have gone up to 12db for finger style that was pretty all over velocity wise. But a Waves RBass after for some low enhance and then just a slight roll off towards the bottom to clean up for the kick

 

[~BURNY~]

As far as attack/release go, you should be aware that it totally depends on the compressor you are using. I'm surprised that you ask for it to be honest.
Try to dial the same settings on several compressors and compare the result, then you'll understand what I'm saying :zombie:


Don't laugh at me but I'm usually using a well known deesser to control the attack independantely from the "body". You'd get the same result with a multi-band compressor though.
Then I add a wide band limiter. I set the threshold so it just leaves a tiny bit dynamic and try to avoid added distortion from the limiter.

 

[ahjteam]

As far as attack/release go, you should be aware that it totally depends on the players playing style.

...fixed


edit:

my suggestion:

Take 2 bar of the average playing and loop it, get familiar with it for a few rounds. Then put the default settings for the compressor you are using. If you know what you are doing, use a multiband compressor, otherwise just go with a fullband compressor. Use ratio of 4:1. Adjust the threshold so that you first squash the whole thing, so that you get about constant 6dB reduction with 4:1 compression. Then solo the track. Then to the other adjustments. Set the attack to 1ms. You might notice that the pick/finger-attack of the player gets pretty dull. Start slowly increasing the attack, 1ms at a time. When it starts to sound good, bring it back 1ms and do the same with release. First to 10ms (or to the same as the attack if it is larger than 10ms), then wide up at 1-5ms at a time. Then set the ratio to 6:1, check the amount of reduction, adjust the make up gain accordingly and unmute the soloed track. Should sound nice, tight and constant.

On a multiband I prefer to do it so that you get about 6-12dB reduction all the time on the low end, because then it means that you get a lot less problems on the dynamics on the low end.

 

[~BURNY~]

^^
Yeah it goes without saying. Ermin isn't exactly a total noob.

 

[JBroll]

If I'm going to be doing distorted bass, I'm going RAT->interface. That doesn't leave a need for much compression, so I'll feed that into a guitar impulse and actually use the 'dry input' to control the upper fizz and hi-pass the thing, and possibly throw something like THD on there.

For cleans, I keep meaning to build that damn optical compressor I tweaked for this stuff but haven't gotten to it yet, so I usually throw a clipper on there to tame the nasties (I back off about 1-2dB after first hearing the clipping, with the softness dimed) and then compress that a bit less with a slightly slower attack than what's been posted here - 3-4dB. I like to send that to get processed with the rest of the guitars, as I'll toss a low-threshold and low-ratio compressor on those to make things seem more connected and the bass just sits better that way.

Jeff

 

[Ermz]

I'm just asking because I'm curious as to what other people use to pull their results, Burny. I've had a certain way of processing bass which has come around from excessive screwballing around with various sessions. I almost always use the Waves Rcomp for bass compression, so the attack/release figures relate to it more than any other comp.

If any of you could link any of your material using your approaches that'd be great. As said, I'm looking to zero in on that professional album low-end sound and nothing less.

Cheers for all the replies so far. It's been interesting (and hairy) reading.

 

[fistula]

found myself the better thing on bass not to compress but to limit it hardly... maybe it works only for me...

 

[JBroll]

Limiting is compression with a vengeance. Just crank the ratio and you have a limiter.

Jeff

 

[LSD-Studio]

Limiting is compression with a vengeance. Just crank the ratio and you have a limiter.

Jeff

in theory, yeah,kinda....

limiters usually have way faster attack and release-times and a harder knee than compressors

 

[JBroll]

That's an implementation difference, but yes. A compressor with a hard enough knee and a fast enough attack does just about the same thing - the point was that they both exist to reduce dynamic range.

Jeff

 

[LSD-Studio]

"just crank the ratio and you have a limiter"

 

[fistula]

im using limiter - not an comp as a limiter - coz limiter has only one parameter - treshold - you can really fast get what you want

 

[Ermz]

Usually a limiter will have a release setting as well. Sometimes with a hard/soft clip setting. Or if you're using the Elephant, all kinds of shit that most people will never use, but is amazingly useful in crafting different masters.