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Posts: 1884
Location: Toms River NJ
Joined: May 28, 2012
Contributor
Since: December 14, 2012
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I used to agree with you on compression and micing at least, but then started working in a studio and... things changed. This is very long, so skip it if you want something brief. (Can't be done - it's complicated.) 1. compression
There are two very common situations where compression helps. The first are string instruments, especially plucked strings such as acoustic guitars and most especially electric guitars. Mics don't hear like our ears hear, especially in a live room, which won't have the great natural decay/reverb of a concert hall. Even a great acoustic guitar mic such as the Neumann KM-56 will chop off the tail of a plucked string, and 1-2 dB of compression helps restore it. Electric guitars, whether via a body pickup or the usual SM-57 + 414 on the speaker (or both) fare even worse, and again, very slight compression helps bring back the tail of the note. The same goes for horns: put the great Coles ribbon mic on a trumpet and it can give you the same goosebumps as the real thing, but again, especially in a live room where you don't have the long decay/reverb of a concert hall, a tasteful small amount of compression can help the recording sound more like the real thing in a great space, especially if you have a vintage EMT plate. Most of this may be due to the lack of decay/reverb in a live room, but *some* of it comes from various mics' behavior. What mics hear *is* complicated, and varies by frequency, SPL, and (sometimes severely) by direction. The timing of low-level harmonics are particularly hard to capture with any mic, and especially so in a live room. Binaural solves lots of this, but the tiny binaural mics introduce their own peculiarities. The second good use of compression is to bring the dynamic range down to a level that can work in a home. Very few (some, but few) home listening rooms are as quiet as a live room or a concert hall, so keeping the overall dynamic range so both the little bits and the loud stuff come through is important. Again, the good engineers take a less-is-more approach. If the recording is going to vinyl, additional constraints come into play. Tracking a rock band? You won't need compression on the band, but you *might* want just a little, on the order of a couple dB or so, on each guitar to make them sound more realistic. The third case (there's always another) is a singer who doesn't have good technique, or who doesn't have much experience recording. Many singers don't need any compression. Others do. A few need lots. (Think "Ouch!") I'll leave aside the issue of flat-as-a-pancake compression that became such a problem during the loudness wars. Thankfully the industry has recovered *somewhat* from this, though there is quite a ways to go yet. I am certain that most of the recordings you regard as excellent have had some level of compression applied, to at least some instruments, at some point in the recording. I'm *almost* certain that you have not heard a good studio recording of acoustic instruments that did *not* use any compression. A little compression when needed, if done gracefully and with restraint, can be a big plus. (Or it can be something else altogether.) 2. minimalist micing
Some of the greatest recordings have been minimally mic'd. We all love the Cozart-Fine Mercuries, and pretty much everything Doug Sax did. But again, because mics don't hear like we hear, even in a great space, Doug Sax put a couple mics on Les DeMerle's drum kit for the Harry James recordings because he needed them. It's not a philosophy thing; it's a results thing. The Layton-Mohr opera recordings used quite a number of mics, with great results. Opera is harder than a symphony, and recording anything in a a studio adds a new set of constraints. Additional mics can sometimes help you get the results the artist(s) intended. It would be nice to record an opera at LaScala with everyone standing still on stage singing, but that's not always possible. And even with the Price/Vickers A
"Put on your high heeled sneakers. Baby, we''re goin'' out tonight.
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