Mix Bus Compression Guide

Electronic Music Production // Dark Arts
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xonetacular
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by xonetacular »

oh that looks nice, and is cheapest/looks simple to build.

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terryfalafel
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by terryfalafel »

It's one of the most popular DIY projects for beginners. Cheap, fairly straightforward to build, not too much tricky calibration and there's loads of support for it.

Then of course once it works as stock, there are various expansions and mode which add nice / useful features.

I haven't made one personally but I did a different compressor project based on the same circuit and it sounds decent.

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psicomagia
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by psicomagia »

qb748t394 wrote:
tenga wrote:
tenga wrote:I tried MJUC and its great !!! many thanks for this tutorial !!!!!

small question:
which waves compressor would be a good candidate/similar to this type of compression ??
CLA-76
CLA-3A
CLA-2A
H-COMP
C1
SSLCOMP
API-2500

what about fabfilter pro-C2 ?

Thanks a lot Steve !!!
i tried all listed compressors , the only one that pumps easily as MJUC is SSL COMP....
Guys tell me what you think !!!
If you are looking for something like the MJUC from Waves, I imagine you are looking for a vari-mu... so that's the stupidly named puig-whater the fuck - child... as in the Fairchild. I can't stand Waves and the gimmicky shit, "Chris Lord ALgae urinated on my mix" plugin... hell, plugin series. "Dial in just the right amount of urine to make your mix jump out of the speakers and standout in this saturated market of bedroom vomit.
HAHAHAHAHAHA i just laughed out loud at "Chris Lord ALgae urinated on my mix"

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Bebs
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by Bebs »

Just joined the forum, this is great thanks a lot!

dubdub
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by dubdub »

I've been wondering, is doing this kind of character compression on the master AND on a bus (say, drums) for extra character (say, I want more/varied movement on my drums) worthwhile or is it stupid because the compressors interfer with each other?

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Lost to the Void
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by Lost to the Void »

I compress my drums and the master. They are serving different purposes, it's fine.
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Plyphon
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by Plyphon »

I plucked up for MJUC as I had been a good boy this month.

So when my kick drum drops out the perceived volume of the track raises slightly - I didn't get that using The Glue. Is that because it's compressing with the kick too much? The VU meter reads between 1-3db gain reduction. Or perhaps the "SCF" filter isn't set high enough?

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Lost to the Void
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by Lost to the Void »

It depends which version you are using MK1 2 or 3
But yes raising the sidechain filter will help.
Oddly the movement becomes more noticeable with the lower ratio settings, due to being a mu system, the envelopes are looser at lower ratios.
Of course you can also reduce the threshold a little, you don't need to always aim for 3db.
Sometimes I find just 1db adds enough movement.
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Plyphon
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by Plyphon »

Yeah using Mk2 as per your guide.

I think I went for 4 on the ratio - I'll try again at 2 and look at raising the filter.

it sounds nice though when It's all rolling - makes the track feel "put together".

Thanks!

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Mslwte
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by Mslwte »

This guide is priceless. I feel like this advice has given new life to my mixes. I'm a lot more confident with a compressor now I actually know how to use the thing.
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intrusav
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by intrusav »

You mean to tell us we'll be hearing some more new gnarly from you soon? ..

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Mslwte
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by Mslwte »

intrusav wrote:You mean to tell us we'll be hearing some more new gnarly from you soon? ..
Certainly. 4 tracks in the process of being released in the next few days. 8-)
https://soundcloud.com/mslwte
https://noizefacilityrecords.bandcamp.com
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intrusav
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by intrusav »

Cool. Will look out for it ..

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jordanneke
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by jordanneke »

I'm finally at a stage in my music where I feel comfortable to do this.

This is gold. Thanks LTTV

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jordanneke
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by jordanneke »

Ok, a quick question. I understand the basics of compression and how everything should centre on the kick, but what about the change when you have a break.

How do you control that 'pump' when the kick kicks in again?I've only got about -1 to -2db of movement. Any less then I lose sense of the compression

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jordanneke
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by jordanneke »

I think I answered my own question. Playing around with the release

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psicomagia
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by psicomagia »

Lost to the Void wrote:It depends which version you are using MK1 2 or 3
But yes raising the sidechain filter will help.
Oddly the movement becomes more noticeable with the lower ratio settings, due to being a mu system, the envelopes are looser at lower ratios.
Of course you can also reduce the threshold a little, you don't need to always aim for 3db.
Sometimes I find just 1db adds enough movement.
This. I was having some problems at the beggining when I was following this tutorial, the problems were that I was compressing the signal too much. And that was -2db of GR.

As I saw the configurations in the project that Lost to the Void kindly posted (thanks a lot for this) I was wrongly trying to replicate it instead of trying to look and what it was actually doing to my waveform.

Of course listening is primary here, if it sounds good then it is. But as a begginner (today marks exactly 1 year that started producing daily) some of those differences are not too easy to take a gasp just by listening. I mean, your hear a difference but you don't really have the experience to objectively take a decision. What helped me tremendously to actually hear and see the transformations was using s(M)exoscope at the end of my master buss.

What happened was, when I was compressing the signal too much the kick transients became too loud in relation to the rest of the mix, which lead to headroom problems i guess. Sometimes the VU meter is barely moving and it's already changing the signal a lot.

The point is that one good way to see if your compressor tuning on the master buss is doing more harm than good is just to look at the waveform. That's why at many times I wasn't getting a good loud signal without too much gain reduction.

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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by dubdub »

Lost to the Void wrote:I compress my drums and the master. They are serving different purposes, it's fine.
Isn't the purpose of both to add movement? What's the difference exactly? Are you compressing your drums for dynamics aswell as movement?

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Lost to the Void
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by Lost to the Void »

One is doing the drums, the other is doing the whole mix, they should work sympathetically, unless maybe you are using some very strange drum syncopation.
Unlikely with 4x4 music.

With my drums sometimes I compress purely for dynamic, sometimes for movement. I don't always group my drums to a bus.
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Re: Mix Bus Compression Guide

Post by WOLF! »

This could be a nice topic addition if you want to know more about compressors.

VCA, Opto, Vari-Mu, FET compressors… When to use which?

http://quantum-music.ca/wordpress/index.php/2015/07/29/


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