BPM x COMPRESSOR

Discussion in 'Mixing and Mastering' started by darthloud, Dec 6, 2018.

  1. darthloud

    darthloud Producer

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    hi all audioSEX family

    I'm having a hard time adjusting the release to fit the kick

    as an example I will use a 1/16, 138 BPM loop. 4 kicks

    I'm adjusting the release with a viewer. but always the first kick spends a little. is higher than the others. thing, but this blends the mix

    Is there a technique for calculating the exact size of the kick in miliseconds?

    gratitude to the whole family
     
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  3. rootwits

    rootwits Producer

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  4. philou72

    philou72 Newbie

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    Use your ears and your feeling to adjust, not your eyes, try a lot a different things and be curious ;)
     
  5. There is no tool beside your own ears that will inform you how to set up the release of a compressor, nor should there be. Every comp that I have ever used reacts differently, that is both hard as well as software compressors. Turn that knob until it feels and sounds right for your application. You'll instinctively know when you find the sweet spot when you start to smile, knowing that you are synced body and soul to the groove, your mistress/master and raison de vivre.
     
  6. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    I don't think that'll work, because that'll only set the release time according to the tempo, not the whole kick sound.
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2018
  7. darthloud

    darthloud Producer

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    true man ,


    I need to know the size of the kick in miliseconds. that way I can use an appropriate release. Is there any tool for this?
     
  8. korte1975

    korte1975 Guest

    so all those great mixing engineers don't use appropriate settings ?
     
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  9. darthloud

    darthloud Producer

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    my english is horrible . my question is if there is any way to measure the size of KICK in miliseconds . thank . sorry
     
  10. No Avenger

    No Avenger Moderator Staff Member

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    That shouldn't be a problem in any DAW or something like WaveLab or Audacity as long as you have a sample, just zoom in.
    But that won't help you either, because the length says nothing about the way the kick drops in level.

    Maybe you need to explain your aim a bit more?
    If I got you right, you try to make a kick with a lenght of, for instance, 1/8th. For this you don't need the true length of the kick, but the audible length of it. And this depends on a lot of factors.

    I'd solo the kick and the (off beat?) bass and tweak the parameters until it fits.
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2018
  11. KungPaoFist

    KungPaoFist Audiosexual

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    Have you tried triggering the compressor with a gate? Channel strip plugins have this feature sometimes. Or maybe a brickwall limiter?
     
  12. Megga

    Megga Newbie

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    As a general rule you're going to want to have the release control nice and snappy, but you can get some strange effects if you lower it too far. A good guideline is around 200ms, but it's a good idea to check that your compressor's gain reduction meter has returned to zero (or thereabouts) before the next drum hit sounds - you may need to use a shorter release time but make sure you listen carefully for any unwanted effects.
     
  13. Who Me

    Who Me Producer

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    This method doesn't work for working out release times. All compressors have different release curves which change how quickly we perceive their return to unity gain.

    The release time in general is also an approximation based on how much gain reduction occurs

    100ms release time doing 3db of reduction is not going to have the same result as a compressor with the same 100ms release time doing 20db of reduction... Think abt it.

    Use your ears... Not maths
     
  14. Baxter

    Baxter Audiosexual

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    IMO you are approaching it wrong (so I'll just sing along to what Who Me said). All compressors react differently to energy. There are no fixed settings. Some compressors have slower attack (and release) than others. Everything is relative to each other - threshold, attack, release and ratio. Use your ears first and foremost.
     
  15. AltCtrl

    AltCtrl Noisemaker

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    To know the exact length of any sample (in this care your kick drum) you just need an audio editor or any DAW where you can change the time ruler to be in ms.

    Let me give you some tips.

    To have some guidelines when it comes to using a release knob on your kick drum 4/4/ beat loop with or without other drums/bass, you need to think about dynamics, and in this case, to simplify it...

    First understand that at 138 bpm:
    1/16 note is 108ms
    1/8 note is 217ms
    1/4 note is 434ms

    ...there are no usual/typical scenarios where you would need to have a release longer than 1/8 note or in this case 217ms.
    When it comes to the releases' lowest possible setting, I would recommend your ears and testing different compressors, because there are so many variables of how the result might be.

    I hope it helps.

    Tempo is everything, kick follows the tempo/beat like a clock, it is even more important to know when in ms your notes start because of other things that you might compress (e.g drum bus).

    If you add some boost at lower frequencies of your kick drum, that will usually add some resonance and make your kick drum longer,
    or any of those "beef up" processing can affect the sample's length especially in things like kick drums, so please make sure to calculate your length properly (after you have finished all processing, as well as before).

    p.s. mix with your ears, not the eyes :)

    Cheers.
     
  16. darthloud

    darthloud Producer

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    gratitude for all feedback. I thought there was some technique to get a perfect compression. for the kicks to be of the same level. I set the release time with all possible miliseconds. checking with a scope always the first kick stays with the transient a little higher. It is not a problem in the sample because I do not use sample. I use VST KICK 2.
     
  17. AltCtrl

    AltCtrl Noisemaker

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    Export your kick drum from your VST KICK2 then check it out.
    What you hear in that first transient, being a little higher than others, is not so uncommon but there could be a few possible reasons why that is happening.
     
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  18. Talmi

    Talmi Audiosexual

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    Did you check each layer in kick 2 ? If you use a preset, usually there is a click sample present on one of the layer, not just the synthetized wave....Might be able to adjust it or its enveloppe, before even compressing.
     
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