Hi you all!
Another thread here got me thinking...
I know that you probably don't have any idea who I am and I have a low post count 'cos I like to read more than to write. So I'll give you a short background just to give a little bit of weight behind what I'm saying.
-My first touch with recording was at the age 14 (15 years ago).
-I recorded and mixed my first full length label release 10 years ago.
-I have done only AE stuff for my whole working life (of which 90% metal)
Now past the boring stuff and to the point.
People seem to have a bit of a weird "misconception" about when to compress and when to volume automate. I keep running into this so I just have to say something.
My take is that it is almost always more beneficial to volume automate rather than to compress when you are trying to control the volume of a track. You compress for sound and automate for volume. Believe me, I would be thrilled to be able to just put a compressor on an OH track with weird dynamics and be done with it. But it just never seems to work that easily. I just always end up drawing the automation on almost every track to control the dynamics. There is no substitute for a hearing and thinking human going thru the track and making decisions based on all of the available information. Compressor just compresses. I doesn't give a shit about other variables than volume.
There are of course other ways to use a compressor, like side-chaining. But it just doesn't change the fact that compressors have the musical understanding of a pineapple.
I would love to be proven wrong. That would make my life so much easier. Volume automation is one of those infuriating tasks in mixing. But then again, I'm not paid to have fun but to make records sound as good as I possibly can.
Another thread here got me thinking...
I know that you probably don't have any idea who I am and I have a low post count 'cos I like to read more than to write. So I'll give you a short background just to give a little bit of weight behind what I'm saying.
-My first touch with recording was at the age 14 (15 years ago).
-I recorded and mixed my first full length label release 10 years ago.
-I have done only AE stuff for my whole working life (of which 90% metal)
Now past the boring stuff and to the point.
People seem to have a bit of a weird "misconception" about when to compress and when to volume automate. I keep running into this so I just have to say something.
My take is that it is almost always more beneficial to volume automate rather than to compress when you are trying to control the volume of a track. You compress for sound and automate for volume. Believe me, I would be thrilled to be able to just put a compressor on an OH track with weird dynamics and be done with it. But it just never seems to work that easily. I just always end up drawing the automation on almost every track to control the dynamics. There is no substitute for a hearing and thinking human going thru the track and making decisions based on all of the available information. Compressor just compresses. I doesn't give a shit about other variables than volume.
There are of course other ways to use a compressor, like side-chaining. But it just doesn't change the fact that compressors have the musical understanding of a pineapple.
I would love to be proven wrong. That would make my life so much easier. Volume automation is one of those infuriating tasks in mixing. But then again, I'm not paid to have fun but to make records sound as good as I possibly can.