jtrecordsyahoo.com Posted October 29, 2000 Share Posted October 29, 2000 hi all. i am a solo acoustic act, i use a powered mixer with lexicon mpx100 in the effects loop. i am looking to add compression and am very intimidated at this point. can i run my mic through the compressor then into my rig as above? if i do this can i use a transformer or do i have to have xlr inputs? how do i set up my compressor if i want to apply it to the overall sound? i'm so damn confused about this 'cause i had one in my hand in a store and a rep said i couldn't use it (what?) any help is greatly appreciated. anyone doing something similar and what is your setup? thanks, jt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan Winer Posted October 31, 2000 Share Posted October 31, 2000 JT, > i am a solo acoustic act, i use a powered mixer with lexicon mpx100 in the effects loop. i am looking to add compression and am very intimidated at this point.< What instrument do you play? Do you sing too? Regardless, what makes you think you even need a compressor? You probably don't! Also, compression increases the potential for acoustic feedback through your speakers, which is yet another reason to avoid it unless it is really needed to solve a particular problem. --Ethan The acoustic treatment experts Ethan's Audio Expert Book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtrecordsyahoo.com Posted October 31, 2000 Author Share Posted October 31, 2000 thank you for the reply, yes i sing and play a taylor, using the pickup as opposed to mic'ing. well i keep hearing about how "professional" the compressed sound is...and i want to learn more about it. i am looking to pick one up anyway for home recording i figured i'd get more info before i make the investment. i'm using an sm58, maybe go with a diff mic, just looking for more punch in the vox....or can i do all this through eq? thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uh Clem Posted October 31, 2000 Share Posted October 31, 2000 It depends on your mixer whether you can use a compressor easily on your mic or stereo bus. Your microphone will not have enough output to drive the compressor - you will need to drive it with the output of your mic pre-amp on the mixer. To do this you need an insert loop on the channel the mic plugs into. To place the compressor across the entire mix on a powered mixer you would need insert loops on the stereo bus. On a non-powered mixer you can place it between the mix out and power amplifier. If your mixer does not have insert loops, that is probably why the sales person steered you away from it. I like using a compressor across the stereo buss when live, especially if it also has a brickwall limiter to prevent some inadvertent loud noise from blasting the speakers. A TC Finalizer works great, for example. The compressor can be set at a high enough threshold that is does not raise feedback, just smoothes out the occasional overly loud "whatever". For vocals, I use one if the vocalist is all over the map - a good vocalist should be fine without one in a small club - if they have an accurate monitor to hear themselves in. Steve Powell - Bull Moon Digital www.bullmoondigital.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan Winer Posted November 1, 2000 Share Posted November 1, 2000 JT, > i sing and play a taylor, using the pickup as opposed to mic'ing. well i keep hearing about how "professional" the compressed sound is< A compressor is useful mainly to control the volume level when a singer does not have good voice control, or moves around while singing which also makes the volume vary. A compressor is also used on guitars and other instruments to make the sound a little more punchy, and I won't discount that as a useful effect. But again the more you compress, the closer you get to acoustic feedback. So that could be a problem in a club setting. Using the guitar's pickup rather than a mike helps though. >i'm using an sm58, maybe go with a diff mic, just looking for more punch in the vox....or can i do all this through eq?< EQ and compression are both useful for adding punch. Maybe compression a little more than EQ, but any home recording setup needs both of these available. So go ahead and buy something! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif --Ethan The acoustic treatment experts Ethan's Audio Expert Book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.