Hey guys. I have a question, its more about compressors and limiters. I recently wanted to "get my mix louder," so i started trying out some compression and limiting. It has worked wonders. Im not an expert or master by any means but it helped the dynamics of my mix a lot. Only thing is, one a few tracks I notice some levels tend to rise and fall. This one song has a guitar riff as the main part. When the drums kick in it gets softer but when they're out it becomes louder. I can only suspect its the compressor and/or limiter doing this. I've only noticed on two tracks out of 6. Any insight?

thanks so much.

"A compressor is basically a variable gain device, where the amount of gain used depends on the level of the input. In this case, the gain will be reduced when the signal level is high which makes louder passages softer, reducing the dynamic range. The basic scheme is shown in Figure 1."
That's a passage from this article:
http://www.harmony-central.com/Effec...s/Compression/

So yes your drums (since your use of use of compression) is in a way drowning out that guitar riff. It probably has to do with the threshold.

""In simple terms, a compressor is an automatic volume control. Loud sounds over a certain threshold are reduced in level; quiet sounds are not reduced. In this way it reduces the dynamic range of an audio signal."
That's from this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_level_compression

I urge your to read the articles I linked to above, which you shouldn't have a hard time understanding. Don't worry about all the graphs just yet just read the basics. Hope this helps. And if you go posting "All you did was post links! I actually did give you the answer, or part of it, but it's easier to understand if you just read those links. Hope this helps.


EDIT: Matter of fact, here is the a direct explanation of what you're after, this is from the first link.

Ducking/Cross Limiting
So far, we have been talking about compressors that process the signal that is being used in the level detection process. But in some cases, you would prefer to have a signal's level controlled by a different signal - when one signal level is high, the other signal is attenuated, as in Figure 4. This is called 'ducking' (since it 'ducks' a signal out of the way) or cross limiting. The most common example would be a radio DJ. While music is playing, speaking into the microphone will cause the level of the music to drop so that it's easier to understand the DJ. When mixing in the studio, a ducker can also be used to emphasize certain elements, such as the kick drum. The kick could lower other tracks in the mix, increasing its 'presence.'

_SG_

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thanks so much. i read the articles and I do have a better knowledge of compression and limiting. Im still unsure how to correct the problem though. I have the compressor and limiter on my master track. hmmm...

anything? yesterday i tried correcting the problem but came up short. I am truly sorry if I am not being patient enough but Im sending a cd out to a few people and one of the songs is the one Im having trouble with?

Any help to correct the problem would be appreciated.

Maybe - it works sometimes for me - is connecting your devices seperate. So not to one mixer but to two different ones. Or, you can connect them to a audio splitter/merger. That works sometimes as well. After you connect them to the splitter, connect the splitter to the mixer.

Try to experiment with your compressors input gain and output gain.

You can also try to figure out what kind of sound is fading away. If it's a high sound, turn your treble more to the left. Also the same for a low sound, but this time turn the bass on your mixer. Make sure you activate them first by pressing the red button.

Good luck.

Ok, I think I got the solution for that problem. I was just playing a song and I figured out that my bass was overwhelming the synth.

You have to use a equalizer(EQ) for this. If your bass sounds louder(in frequencies) then your gitar, you have to lower the bass sound with the EQ. Or, higher the high sounds of your guitar.

There is no specific rule for doing this. You have to experiment with your EQ to find the right combination for the bass or kick with your guitar.

ok thanks guys. im going to test those theories tonight.

is anyone familiar with sonar 6??
i've been using it fine while reason is rewired but as soon as I downloaded the lastest update, my songs wont mixdown anymore???

im rattled. it seems like when i fix a problem another one pops out. since that damn sonar update, my mixes wont mix down and now when i try and record im getting pops and clicks... i figured out my latency issue awhile ago and havent had a problem. i played around with the buffer settings and its not helping. anyone with any insight?

don't know about the pops and clicks, that seems like something wrong with your speakers/headphones maybe?

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could be. but it happens so sparatically... sometimes its good for days, thens ometimes it wont stop. ahh! lol