Compression Tips
It is one of the most important things when producing drum & bass.
Drums and bass generally speaking are riddled with ‘transient peaks’, not a good thing in engineering terms.
To many transient peaks mean speakers can’t deal with the sudden surges in volume and subsequently muffle everything else out. So using some outboard compressors will smooth everything over. Try something like an Alesis 3630, a Behringer Composer or a DBX 266 as cheap compressors to run individual sounds through (bass & drums) and if you can afford it an optical or valve compressor to lightly run over the top of the whole mix. VST Plug Ins of quality include the Waveshell and TC series. The inbuilt compressors of both Logic and Cubase are practical but lack a musical feel.
As a guideline set the ratio to 2:1, now adjust the threshold until you hear a pumping effect. Now back off to the point that you don't hear any audible compression, minus 10 - 20 are ideal threshold settings. Remember to not to go crazy with compression as you may suck the dynamics out of your track. Try not to remove more than 6db on indivual parts. Light compression over each channel with a good compressor over the entire mix would be ideal.
If you’re fortunate enough to have something like a Joe Meek, Manly, Avalon or a Focusrite compressor then you will instantly improve your production significantly
If of course you don’t have or don’t like using outboard gear then you can always use the plug ins for Logic or Cubase for example. Don’t go overboard with these compressors though as they are usually using the same alga-rhythms which will detract from your mix should you use them over the top of each other to often.
Thanks to Davide Carbone from www.bs1records.com for this article - See his great Sample collection at Loopmasters today.
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