I have a feeling its quite possibly more the latter than the former. I’ve formed this opinion based on the results of some pro recordings I did last year. 5 of 6 tracks were recorded through an assortment of ‘state-of -the-art’ high-end gear while 1 of 6 did not. BUT all were ultimately mixed ‘in the box’ with the same set of quality plugins by a professional producer/engineer. The 1 track that did not benefit from the ‘best of the best’ gear up-front doesn’t actually sound any worse than the others, in fact some have said aspects of it actually sound better. The raw tracks for that particular tune were actually recorded on my system with my very modest gear BUT, it was mixed in a different environment, by the same professional using Protools etc etc.
From this experience I was could only conclude that the front-end gear really was not a significant factor, but rather the expertise and quite probably the suite of high-end plugins used that made these mixes sound superior to my own.
Still I don’t really understand why level riding and compression are considered two same methods.
As I see it riding levels work both ways, bring up softer parts and reduce louder parts.
Compression only reduces louder parts.
So the outcome will be very different. Both methodes indeed reduce dynamics but in a totally different way.
Also considering that ‘real compressors’ change levels not like a volume knob but with optic, fet or whatever technique, meaning introducing colouring of the sound.
Level riding means to me a more ‘musical way’ of managing dynamics.
I saw Michael Brauer once even ‘wiggle’ the fader like a guitarist let his strings vibrate.
He ‘plays’ the faders almost as an instrument, and he is pretty old skool judging by his rack of compressors.
He uses level riding and compressors all together, but I couldn’t figure out wheter it’s pre or post fader.
Note that I don’t see Brauer as THE authority on that subject, just a good example that compression and level riding have different meanings and different approaches in the mixing community.
I now think after reading this thread that there is no textbook or rule of thumb. Just like it doesn’t matter how you play on a guitar, when it sounds cool it is to be accepted as making music. Regardless of what you might learn in school.
when you think about it, fader movements before compression will have far less affect on the vocal level than fader after compression.
Why would you want to interfere with the compressor by using it post fader?
If you want to “ride the fader” it would probably be post compression (assuming any use of compression at all)
Of course compression will make the quieter bits louder relative to the loud bits because the overall dynamic has been reduced and the gain turned up to compensate, so for every dB of compression you use the non compressed components will rise by the same amount. It all depends on which way you look at it!
Turning down the loud bits makes the sound quieter so the overall gain is raised to compensate.
This thing should be embedded in the cubase channel strip though, with a post/pre switch
And with the abbility to use it manually so with a visible fader.
Right now I use a third party fader from sonalksis because when I am done automating I still want to raise the overall volume in the total mix. Routing it to another bus is to much work and clutters up the mixer.
A very slim fader next to the mixer fader would suffice or in the extended view where you can switch between sends, meters etc.
FWIW, I will usually level out with automation before going into the compressor.
I’ve read that unless you have a SWEET sounding comp that sounds great even when applying large amounts of gain reduction (which it would have to do when processing input with a very large dynamic range), it’s better to level things out a bit before presenting it to the comp. The current issue of SOS makes a similar point, Vocal Production .
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Also - can someone confirm (or refudiate ) the following please?
If using the comp as an insert, I think it needs to be in slot 7 or 8 for the automation to affect what’s going into the comp (slots 1-6 are pre-fader, so automation won’t affect what’s getting to the comp) - page 197?
) the following please?