Compressor Circuit Types
Lesson 20 from: Music Production in Logic Pro X: Vocal Mixing EssentialsTomas George
Compressor Circuit Types
Lesson 20 from: Music Production in Logic Pro X: Vocal Mixing EssentialsTomas George
Lesson Info
20. Compressor Circuit Types
Lessons
Introduction and Welcome to this Class
00:52 2Project Organization
09:47 3Faders and Panning
11:13 4Flex Pitch - Vocals
05:18 5Flex Time - Vocals
03:05 6Editing Studio Drums
09:29 7Song Mix Deconstruct - Mixing Drum Kit Designer
08:04 8Mixing Files
01:50Tips to Start a Mix
02:11 10Mixing vs Mastering
02:19 11Introduction to Mixing with Logic Pro's Audio Effects
00:47 12Channel Strip and Routing - Part 1
04:39 13Channel Strip - Part 2
07:00 14Bussed Effects
11:25 15Gain Staging Audio Tracks and Pre Fader Metering
11:44 16Gain Staging Software Tracks
03:45 17Mixing with Channel EQ
19:57 18Mixing Vocals with Compressor - Part 1
08:25 19Mixing Vocals with Compressor - Part 2
06:44 20Compressor Circuit Types
13:07 21Compression - Distortion and Limiting
10:47 22Sidechain Compression
06:37 23Compression - Part 5 (Glue)
02:52 24DeEsser
12:03 25Multipressor - Part 1
09:31 26Multipressor - Part 2 (DeEss)
06:11 27Multipressor - Expander
07:33 28Dynamics Wrap up
09:05 29Compression with Flex Pitch
04:49 30Exciter
05:03 31Noise Gate
04:14 32Noise Gate - AHR
07:16 33Noise Gate - Hysteresis
02:07 34Chorus
06:04 35Introduction to Automation
09:44 36Touch Automation
03:46 37Trim-Touch Automation
05:28 38Relative Touch Automation
04:34 39Automation Curve Tool
04:09 40SilverVerb - Part 1
18:11 41SilverVerb Modulation
02:57 42Sample Delay and HAAS Effect
05:29 43Delay - Echo
09:35 44Stereo Delay - Part 1
14:25 45Stereo Delay - Part 2
04:00 46Stereo Delay - Part 3
08:24 47Tape Delay - Part 1
13:29 48Tape Delay - Part 2
05:07 49Thanks and Bye
00:07Lesson Info
Compressor Circuit Types
In this video, we're going to explore the seven different circuit types that are available to us when mixing vocals in logic Pro 10. So right now we're using platinum digital, meaning this is simply just a digital compressor. It's not modeling the circuit of an analog compressor in any way. So it's very clean, very transparent and suffices for just generally taming the dynamics of a vocal for me. I use it 90% of the time. But when I want a bit of flavor, I resort to the different circuit types that are available to us including studio VC, a studio fet, et cetera. What we're gonna do in this video is use an extreme setting to listen to the different characteristics of the different circuit types available to us so that you can get an idea of what flavors you have available to you when you're trying to shape the tonal and the dynamic characteristics of your vocal. So I'm just going to create a really extreme setting. So I'm gonna turn up the ratio, have the threshold quite low and I'm go...
nna turn down the attack and release. So let's have a listen. OK. So there's a lot of pumping, but I need to turn up the makeup game because that excessive reduction is making it very quiet he through. Ok. So you can quite clearly hear the compressor work in there. OK. So even with those extreme settings, platinum digital is very clean. It's not creating any distortion. It's just a bit of clean pumping that's happening on the vocal right now. Let's see how that differs with studio VC A peace and through. OK. So lots of distortion, really, really crunchy tone, which I quite like to be honest, sometimes I will go to an extreme setting like this and then dial it down to a softer setting after I've found the circuit that I'm looking for in terms of the tone or distortion that I'm looking for. So from here, I might just turn down the threshold and turn down the ratio after I found that that is the character that I'm going for. Sometimes I actually have compressors in series. So I might have one before this, that's just doing the general taming of the dynamics of the vocal and then a compressor like the studio VC A after that for more color for more crunch. Let's explore the other circuit types to suffer also very crunchy but in a slightly different way, very, very fast, very quick response as well to to the incoming signal. Let's have a listen to some more past my face and through for the briefest of moments. I feel like I'm flying. So classic VC A is actually providing a very well rounded tone but not too distorted, not too crunchy, still quite clean. It really tightens up the vocals actually, even with an aggressive setting like this, it's not too pumpy in any way. So let's dial that down and see if we can get to a place that actually sounds really cool past my face and through my hair, face, the moments I feel like I'm see the tops in start to believe the of the, see how what OK. So I'm actually very happy with how the classic VC A is working on this vocal right now. Notice as well that it doesn't have some of the features that the platinum digital one has or some of the others have. That's basically because of just how it works internally. This is working at an effective attack and release time that I think is working for this vocal right now. So this could be the one that I end up with. What I'm actually going to do is come over to my channel strip and I'm gonna leave that one there. I'm gonna pull that one down a little bit. So I've still got this compressor here, split that out there. But before that compressor, I'm gonna have another one set to platinum digital. So auto gain off and remembering my previous settings were roughly here and I'm gonna use this one to cleanly manage the dynamics of the vocal going into the VC A compressor that I just created. So let's close that for a minute. Grief is the moments I feel like I'm f see the tops of trees, the start of LA the, of the OK. So that one's kind of taking care of the top of the peak and then this one is taking care more of the body of the sound, the general characteristic of it past my face and through my, for the briefest of moments, I feel like I'm flying. See the tops of trees start of leave of the, of the earth. Yes, see how well. Ok, so I'm loving what I'm hearing right now. I love the way that the compressors are working together. The platinum compressor is just cleanly taking care of some of the dynamics. And then this compressor, the classic VC A is doing some more dynamic compression but also adding to the character that I'm starting to really, really like that. I'm starting to really go for with this mix. I'm going to leave that one there and load another one. And then from here we're going to explore some of the other circuit types. So vintage VC A, I'm gonna turn off the auto gain, turn off the auto release. I'm gonna bring these down as usual and really high ratio, really low threshold, probably need a bit of makeup gain. Now, let's see what happens to you the tops of trees, the style of the the of the Yes, see how this was oh I'm for bodies with binding energy is nothing quite like you past my face and through. OK. So as you heard, this one has a really aggressive tone which is kind of cool on the body of the sound, but it was destroying the transient, the consonants that he was singing. So I actually just increased the attack and most of those problems went away but still had that nice crunchy tone to the body of the notes that he was singing. And then I refined, I refined the the threshold and then I adjusted the makeup gain. So it was the same loudness and pretty happy with that. So it's another compressor circuit that I've used in the same chain. Let's take it from here. I'm gonna carry on with this process of using serial compression, which for me is a very common thing. It has a lot of benefits like using different circuit types, like having like adding different color to the sound. This is also going into more creative territory in terms of the tonal characteristics as the dynamic characteristics of the vocal. So I'm going to load another one dynamics compressor and we'll just use this one to experiment with the last two. So vintage fe auto gain off, auto release off, dial down, dial down a really aggressive on here. If it's the moments, I feel like I'm again, you can hear just another type of distortion that we have available to us when we really go aggressive on this compressor circuit type. Now, let's try vintage Opto, it's also important to note, not just the way that it distorts the sound and the color that it adds to the sound, but the way that the compressor behaves the way that it reacts in terms of attack and release times and stuff like that because all of these different circuit types, they just have their own characteristics and it's good for you and your ears and your development to just kind of experiment with them go really aggressive on the settings and just get to know the flavor that's available to you across these different circuit types. And OK, so this one is definitely something we haven't heard before past my face and through my, the moments, I feel like I'm see the tops of trees, the start of leaves of the, of the earth. What I see how this works. Notice how I'd again, just dialed up the attack to five milliseconds which removed a lot of the distortion that was happening on the transient, but still gave me a little bit of color in the overall sound. So like I said, experiment with all of these different types of circuitry that are available to the different properties that they have and just know that they are available to you all inside logics own the compressor especially and the benefit is when you are compressing a vocal or compressing anything, whether that be drums or, or anything at all, you could just easily switch between these different circuit types and experiment with different color without having to close a plug in and load another plug in. And like I've just demonstrated to you having these different compressors in series can really help you shape the tone or c characteristics of the vocal sound. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials