Some help with compressor release on a drum break

[MGB]

Hi all, quick question on compressor release. I am using a Mace compressor (Airy Drums preset, tweaked a little bit) on a drum break. The compressor is working fairly heavily most of the time to give a slight pumping effect (and it just sounds good on this particular break).

I have a fill at the end of each 4 / 8 bars, but my problem is that with the drums closer together, the compressor is not given enough time to recover before the first kick of the next bar which is squashing the transient.

Currently release time is at 141ms, i've experimented with bringing it down to let those transients through but it destroys the rest of the pumping effect i've got going on and kills the vibe.

Any ideas on how best to get around this? I was thinking of just taking a copy of the kick, and placing it outside of the drum bus (and thus the compressor) for that one hit, but i was wondering if there are other, better ways.

thanks in advance!

[Zac]

Hi all, quick question on compressor release. I am using a Mace compressor (Airy Drums preset, tweaked a little bit) on a drum break. The compressor is working fairly heavily most of the time to give a slight pumping effect (and it just sounds good on this particular break).

I have a fill at the end of each 4 / 8 bars, but my problem is that with the drums closer together, the compressor is not given enough time to recover before the first kick of the next bar which is squashing the transient.

Currently release time is at 141ms, i've experimented with bringing it down to let those transients through but it destroys the rest of the pumping effect i've got going on and kills the vibe.

Any ideas on how best to get around this? I was thinking of just taking a copy of the kick, and placing it outside of the drum bus (and thus the compressor) for that one hit, but i was wondering if there are other, better ways.

thanks in advance!

Just automate the release down a bit for the fill? Right click etc...

[Creativemind]

Best is to duplicate the track, slice the fills out of the loop (and delete the non-fill parts) and add another compressor (but the one originally on the first track will still be there if it's a duplicate) on the 2nd track.

You could then bounce the 2nd part in place and the first part in place, move the fill back onto the original track and then join the clips back together again.

[selig]

Just automate the release down a bit for the fill? Right click etc...

+1 on this - simple quick and easy. You can also automate other parameters such as threshold or makeup gain to make sure things sound consistent. The advantage of this over another track is smoother transition between the two sections. Unless of course you want a "hard cut" to a completely different sound at that point.

[Creativemind]

Just automate the release down a bit for the fill? Right click etc...

+1 on this - simple quick and easy. You can also automate other parameters such as threshold or makeup gain to make sure things sound consistent. The advantage of this over another track is smoother transition between the two sections. Unless of course you want a "hard cut" to a completely different sound at that point.

I thought it would be smoother my way but thinking about it, probably would be very sudden. Would the automation way be fast enough though?

I usually use the cutting it out and moving it to another track method for delay on the last word of a vocal as automating the bypass can be fiddly and sometimes have a click / glitch type sound when it comes on. Would you say it's best practice to use the move to a new track method for delay? another advantage to this method is you can leave it on on that track and just cut the required bits out otherwise you might need to automate it on several times in a track so several times the work.

[MGB]

Would the automation way be fast enough though?

Was wondering about this also; will have a check and get back with results...

In the meantime I went with a similar idea to yours Creativemind - created a new track and put duplicate version of the sample on that, but i created a quick volume fade on the clip so that rather than playing the full sample it just gives a boost in that first transient section... after a bit of levelling it sounds ok. But will try the other anyways.

thanks all!

[selig]

Would the automation way be fast enough though?

Was wondering about this also; will have a check and get back with results...

In the meantime I went with a similar idea to yours Creativemind - created a new track and put duplicate version of the sample on that, but i created a quick volume fade on the clip so that rather than playing the full sample it just gives a boost in that first transient section... after a bit of levelling it sounds ok. But will try the other anyways.

thanks all!

Why would automation not be fast enough?
Automation is pretty darn quick, but the solution MAY be to actually "slow" it down a bit if it's TOO quick.
For example, you're doing a fade on the clip, probably because the transition was too quick - remember you can do a short transition with automation as well if an abrupt change doesn't work.

The concept here is to change the release time BEFORE the next release, during the end of the current release. This should not be audible at all because you're not changing the audio itself, you're changing a control that will eventually affect the audio. So that gives you a little "wiggle room" so to speak. And although it will create an automation lane in the sequencer, all your audio will still be in one place, which keeps things a little simpler IMO.

Finally, it's always good, especially when you're learning, to try more than one method to find the one that both works best and also makes the most sense for your personal workflow. Always keep exploring new options, it's part of the fun of making music IMO!
[we're here to give you options, not necessarily to tell you which one is best for YOU]

[Creativemind]

Would the automation way be fast enough though?

Was wondering about this also; will have a check and get back with results...

In the meantime I went with a similar idea to yours Creativemind - created a new track and put duplicate version of the sample on that, but i created a quick volume fade on the clip so that rather than playing the full sample it just gives a boost in that first transient section... after a bit of levelling it sounds ok. But will try the other anyways.

thanks all!

Would you be able to do a video on this? Would be great to see / hear what you're doing.

Bandicam is a good free screen recirding software you can get online.