The Great Compression Saga Chapter 4,273

[stewblack]

So you've read the Basschat Compressor Wars, you've marvelled at the diversity of opinions, at the anger, the pain, the laughter and the tears. At how a simple device designed merely to reduce the differential in gain caused by the nonlinearity of the transfer function of the noise you make when playing bass can be the subject so much debate. 

And yet, if like me you are still none the wiser, then maybe I have stumbled upon something simple to help us both. 

My ears are shot, my brain is fried but with specs on my eyes still work. So here is a visual representation of my compression at work. I have stopped thinking of it as an 'effect' because that's when my confusion kicks in. If I'm listening for a dramatic alteration to my sound that's not going to happen. What happens instead is I get a perfectly nice sound exactly how I like it just as if there wasn't a compressor there but without any horrible farts, clanks, skranks and thuds which over enthusiasm, lack of technique, poor monitoring, and so forth can often cause. 

So here is me noodling without compression 

And here is me noodling with it

I couldn't clearly hear much difference in the sound of my bass what with concentrating on playing and such, but I now realise that's fine. I like how my bass sounds and don't want it changed thank you very much. What the pictures tell me is the compressed noodle doesn't have the horrible over blown and distorted moments but is still dynamic and sounds nice. 

Took a bit of fettling to get it how I wanted but visualising it on the screen was a huge help in setting it up. 

(puts on tin hat, waits to be scolded for knowing less than John Snow) 

[skidder652003]

If Im honest I made a bit of a fuss about how when i got rid of my comp it sounded absoloutely no different and therefore wasn't needed and it was all a bit of snake oil etc. But it's quietly made a reappearance on my pedal board, I'm not sure why but I think it's when we play some really quiet phrases during the set I missed having control over the dynamics, and the comp provides just that, more control over the peaks, as you say it doesn't really alter the sound at all so it's not an effect as such but it makes playing during the set just that bit easier.

[Cato]

After years of never really thinking about compression I've started putting a compressor at the front of my chain (or just after the amp sim if I'm using one) on pretty much all my Helix Stomp patches.

It just seems to give me a fatter tone and evens out the volume of whatever line I'm playing, so that when I record something and listen back there are no rogue loud notes.

[Osiris]

14 hours ago, stewblack said:

I have stopped thinking of it as an 'effect' because that's when my confusion kicks in. If I'm listening for a dramatic alteration to my sound that's not going to happen.

I'm an unashamed pro-compression advocate!

But I think the quote above is the fundamental issue that a lot of people have with compression, they see it as an effect and expect a significant change to their sound as you'd get with other effects, but that simple isn't the case. It can be, but that's not usually productive to your dynamics or a great bass tone. Compressors are dynamics controls, nothing more. They are there to stop the peaks and spikes in your signal and to even things out.  Some will colour your sound in a way that you may or may not like but that's usually the most obvious 'effect' of them. 

I think if more people followed your lead and stopped thinking of them as effects there would be much less confusion and misunderstanding surrounding them. 

[Twigman]

22 minutes ago, Osiris said:

 They are there to stop the peaks and spikes in your signal and to even things out. 

Compressors, set up well, make you sound like a far better player than you really are.

[Al Krow]

6 minutes ago, Twigman said:

Compressors, set up well, make you sound like a far better player than you really are.

Really?!! Love to hear a sound clip of you with and without a compressor, then. That's taking it way too far IMO. 

I thought what Osiris said summed it up nicely. A compressor evens out peaks and troughs. It flattens out dynamics and some can add a bit of desirable 'sheen' to your tone, others are transparent. 

Edited June 5, 2019 by Al Krow

[Twigman]

1 minute ago, Al Krow said:

Really?!!

Yes really - the compressor makes the notes more consistent. That's what they're for - squeezing the peaks and raising the troughs, squeezing the waveform - making the whole sound more consistent.

[Osiris]

5 minutes ago, Twigman said:

Compressors, set up well, make you sound like a far better player than you really are.

Not in my case they don't!

[Al Krow]

Just now, Osiris said:

Not in my case they don't!

+1^^ (And with due respect, you're one of the most knowledgeable / experienced users of comps I've come across). 

[Osiris]

29 minutes ago, Twigman said:

Yes really - the compressor makes the notes more consistent. That's what they're for - squeezing the peaks and raising the troughs, squeezing the waveform - making the whole sound more consistent.

Gotcha, I read your first post as literally meaning they make you play better, not that they make your sound better 

But you're absolutely right, when set up correctly they make the bass consistent and punchy, I love a multiband for big fat lows and punchy mids. 

[Al Krow]

19 minutes ago, Osiris said:

I love a multiband for big fat lows and punchy mids. 

What settings (broad brush) would you use to deliver this with a multi band comp? Which multi band comp are you currently using? 

[Twigman]

41 minutes ago, Osiris said:

Gotcha, I read your first post as literally meaning they make you play better, not that they make your sound better 

 

I think many who are mystified by compressors believe they do nothing because what they hear is more like what they think they should be hearing.

[stewblack]

They absolutely make you sound better than you are unless you're already really really good and in exquisite control of your technique. 

 

[Al Krow]

3 minutes ago, Twigman said:

I think many who are mystified by compressors believe they do nothing because what they hear is more like what they think they should be hearing.

Or more likely because they don't hear anything different at all? Or maybe they are simply deaf (I don't think so!!!). 

It's not exactly an in your face drive or filter pedal, is it? 

I've said it a zillion times, your live audience really won't give a monkeys whether you have a pedal board compressor on or not. (Just try it kicking it off mid track sometime).

They will notice if you have or don't have groove. 

Where you need sound perfection eg a studio album with a sound engineer using a professional grade studio compressor, sure compression makes total sense. 

But if a pedal board comp helps you to play more evenly by evening out your dynamics and makes you happier / more confident go for it. You're not hurting anyone by having one. 

[Twigman]

2 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

It's not exactly an in your face drive or filter pedal, is it? 

 

 

It's not meant to be, is it?

If I (accidentally) kick off my compressor mid song I absolutely can hear the difference

[Reggaebass]

I’m glad you posted this @stewblack because when I was at Ashdown a few weeks ago they suggested that I would benefit from the Macchiato comp, and they’re sending me one to try,  I’m finding the reply’s interesting, having never had anything like this 🙂

[stewblack]

6 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

I’m glad you posted this @stewblack because when I was at Ashdown a few weeks ago they suggested that I would benefit from the Macchiato comp, and they’re sending me one to try,  I’m finding the reply’s interesting, having never had anything like this 🙂

Hope it's helpful to you. Plug it into your pc and look at the difference it's making. It might not instantly appear much to you but overall your sound will be more consistent, so the band will sound better too. It's a piece in the jigsaw. 

[Osiris]

44 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

It's not exactly an in your face drive or filter pedal, is it? 

 

2 hours ago, Osiris said:

I think if more people followed your lead and stopped thinking of them as effects there would be much less confusion and misunderstanding surrounding them. 

 

[Cuzzie]

The on off debate mid song/set is bunkum, we all know that it makes a difference, and we have probably all heard it making a difference.

Plenty examples of a bass not even being in a band and people don’t recognise a difference. 

Cadillac Three have no bassist, Tower of Power recently did a gig on their tour with no bassist due to illness and the keys man filled in, most of the audience prob didn’t notice or care.

The bottom line is if compression made no difference, it would cease to exist, but across all instruments (voice included) recorded and live there is compression going on.

Its equally as important to have a live sound balanced as a recorded sound for the whole experience in the audience and compression will help to achieve that.

Its nice to see a diagram showing what it can do, naysayers will still say nay.....

[51m0n]

On 05/06/2019 at 11:53, Al Krow said:

Or more likely because they don't hear anything different at all? Or maybe they are simply deaf (I don't think so!!!). 

It's not exactly an in your face drive or filter pedal, is it? 

I've said it a zillion times, your live audience really won't give a monkeys whether you have a pedal board compressor on or not. (Just try it kicking it off mid track sometime).

They will notice if you have or don't have groove. 

Where you need sound perfection eg a studio album with a sound engineer using a professional grade studio compressor, sure compression makes total sense. 

But if a pedal board comp helps you to play more evenly by evening out your dynamics and makes you happier / more confident go for it. You're not hurting anyone by having one. 

All due respect Al that's a pile of horse crap.

 

Its disengenuous to believe many of the audience are noticing the the bass on any more than a subliminal level anyway for one thing.

 

But the one time a well set up compressor will be more noticeable in its absence all of a sudden will be on a reasonably quiet live gig.

Get real loud and ears are compressing like hell too.

A very badly set up compressor and people will definitely notice because the makeup gain will be wrong and the bass will either completely disappear or leap out like a howitzer.

However a well set up compressor in a mix being turned off may not result in the bass going unheard, instead it may result in the kick drum bring more masked.

I'd notice....

[Cuzzie]

Have to agree with the above, and saying it doesn’t matter really treats a live audience with disrespect, especially when it has been said that it actually does matter in music, the two statements are in actual conflict.

Why go to all the bother to practice your socks to get a tight band groove and then fall at the last hurdle and not sure something already owned which could help to balance the sound?

Rather than compression being hocus pocus its more likely due to lack of understanding in applying it appropriately.