Overcompression as an effect / that old bumcode-neapolis sound

[dubdub]

I really like that pumping feel on some of those late 90s / early 2000s records. Do I just need to stop being a pussy and compress more? I'm rarely doing more than 2-3db GR but to me it sounds like some of those old records are pushing well in the range of 5db on the master...

[Amøbe]

Mattias seems to be an expert on these questions - but I think he's in cheating on us, and hangs out with the reddit crowd.

[2latuile]

it sounds like some of those old records are pushing well in the range of 5db on the master...

Are your own tracks mastered ? If not that might well just be what makes the difference...

[dubdub]

it sounds like some of those old records are pushing well in the range of 5db on the master...

Are your own tracks mastered ? If not that might well just be what makes the difference...

No, I don't think so, mastering compression is (at least today) generally relatively transparent, what I'm talking about is very obvious pumping and movement. Although with many of the record, the hot vinyl cut is probably part of the smashed sound.

[Amøbe]

I found Mattias whoring out with the reddit crowd and, he wrote this comment:

MattiasFridell
1 month ago
Helpful

It's a very broad question but I can offer some insight since I both started out releasing music from that era and I know Patrick and Glenn personally.

First, forgot about using side-chaining, send most of your sounds to a bus and mash things with heavy compression. TDR Molot is a great tool for this, you can even blend some of the dry signal back to make sure at least some sounds are poking out.

Use 909 sounds and old AKAI samples, don't be afraid to over use them and layer a lot making different sounds play different rhythmical patterns. You really want a wall of sound to destroy with your compressor here.

Drive your sounds hard into console emulations or tube emulations. The classic Mackie 1604 mixer was a huge deal back then but AFAIK it's impossible to re create it's drive with plugins today. Push the top end quite hard into your console / tube / saturation units but add an EQ afterwards to tame it again.

There's a few things that can get you going!

https://www.reddit.com/r/TechnoProducti ... &context=3

[Lost to the Void]

it sounds like some of those old records are pushing well in the range of 5db on the master...

Are your own tracks mastered ? If not that might well just be what makes the difference...

No, I don't think so, mastering compression is (at least today) generally relatively transparent, what I'm talking about is very obvious pumping and movement. Although with many of the record, the hot vinyl cut is probably part of the smashed sound.

It is both mastering and production.

A lot of these records were heavily reliant on a particular type of mastering, so no, the mastering is definitely definitely not transparent.
Knowing what was being done at the exchange, at alchemy and porky`s etc at the time, they were hard pumping these tracks at the cut, transparency was not the mission of the day for these records.

It`s a combination of very dynamically controlled sounds at the channel level, run into compression at the mix level that is pushed hard, but via a very forgiving setting, so the compressor is always working. Some compressors will take a lot of gain reduction before they start causing damage. 3 or 4db done right can be fine on the master buss.

So you then have that already pumping mix being enhanced with a hot cut that has been grabbed by a compressor in mastering. Think fairchild, or vari-mu, or even a API 2600, or Focusrite Red.

IT`s combining the right compression sound with very carefully tuned time parameters.

The giveaway on a lot of this stuff is where the kicks drop out and the mix is pushing up, and you can hear the dynamics altering as the mastering dynamic control is trying to smooth it out. So a lot of work was done in the mastering to combat the dynamics.
Those guys worked hard back then, people are much more savvy these days when it comes to hard compression, so mastering engineers don`t have as hard a time getting dynamic consistency.

[dubdub]

Are your own tracks mastered ? If not that might well just be what makes the difference...

No, I don't think so, mastering compression is (at least today) generally relatively transparent, what I'm talking about is very obvious pumping and movement. Although with many of the record, the hot vinyl cut is probably part of the smashed sound.

It is both mastering and production.

A lot of these records were heavily reliant on a particular type of mastering, so no, the mastering is definitely definitely not transparent.
Knowing what was being done at the exchange, at alchemy and porky`s etc at the time, they were hard pumping these tracks at the cut, transparency was not the mission of the day for these records.

It`s a combination of very dynamically controlled sounds at the channel level, run into compression at the mix level that is pushed hard, but via a very forgiving setting, so the compressor is always working. Some compressors will take a lot of gain reduction before they start causing damage. 3 or 4db done right can be fine on the master buss.

So you then have that already pumping mix being enhanced with a hot cut that has been grabbed by a compressor in mastering. Think fairchild, or vari-mu, or even a API 2600, or Focusrite Red.

IT`s combining the right compression sound with very carefully tuned time parameters.

The giveaway on a lot of this stuff is where the kicks drop out and the mix is pushing up, and you can hear the dynamics altering as the mastering dynamic control is trying to smooth it out. So a lot of work was done in the mastering to combat the dynamics.
Those guys worked hard back then, people are much more savvy these days when it comes to hard compression, so mastering engineers don`t have as hard a time getting dynamic consistency.

Thx, I'll try aiming for 3-4db (I'm liking Sknote A25 for pumping compression right now) and see where that gets me...

[Lost to the Void]

I personally think when you really want to dip in to this kind of stuff and you are in software land, you really need control over the timing curves.
So something like Presswerk or Compassion are great compressors for really pushing your mix buss/master as you can dial in the attack and release curves (and in some cases RMS to Peak behaviour, crest factor etc) and really tune the attack (most important thing to get right) and release curves to nail your tune just right.