I watched a producer live stream feed and this producer was using API 2500 on vocals and had good settings dialed in, vocal sounded great with plenty of head room. But there was a clicking sound when the compressor would re engage. This producer also adjusted all knobs literally, every setting and the clicking would continue after every re engage. When plugin by passed the clicking went away. What reasons could of caused the clicking? Track was only peaking at -7

 

Wait, I just rewatched the sample did have a click in the original and actually the clicking seemed less apparent in the compressed version. But while we are on this topic I have heard of compressor clicking and popping, how do you guys solve this compressor issues?

 

i solve it by only allowing the compressor to have its threshold hit -1 db rms of the audio, ( the reason is the type comp it is the attack and release and the knee)

 

It depends on the compressor and on what you are compressing. Especially on bass or other low freq. tracks, clicks are usually artifacts caused by a very fast attack that "cuts" the waveform at non-zero crossings, e.g. when side-chaining. In this case a common practice is to shift the track(s) triggering the compressor a few ms backwards* to raise the attack time in turn.

*Edit: Sorry, I meant backward in the view (doesn't make sense...), so forward in time of course. Anyway, "leftward" in your DAW. That's it. And if the track is also used for something else than the compressor, it may be self-evident to duplicate it first.

 

Last edited: Sep 6, 2017

Vocals? I switch it up with any 1176 compressor emulation If I have isseus with attack on vocals.

If it's really bad I ussually add a more surgical compressor like fabfilter pro-c ( great lookahead and eq filters on the reference input)
infront of the 1176

 

The other replies have it covered pretty much/I agree as to their methods in resolving one of quite a few unwanted side-effects when it comes to applying to dynamic reduction. It is easily solved by simply relaxing your attack and release times, Depending on topology or features included if it's a plug-in then softening the knee of the compressor also can be of alot of use (In the case of an API 2500 that means all options are available. It is one of my go to compressors as it allows for quite alot of control over many other more classic compressors and it's worth the shekels IMextremelyhumbleHO, Waves and the real thing, They did release a cheaper variant that is no piece of junk at all under the Arsenal Audio brand).

All the best and to all as always

Dean

 

I like an 1176 to catch the faster transients followed by an LA2A for adding a kind of lengthier, smoother release on vocals. That way I can avoid the 1176 having to work to much and not have to depend on an LA2A to catch any of the more rapid transients (as it fails miserably at that job as I'm sure any/all that have applied one on vocals amongst other sources has found), It's like you say about finding the strengths of your toolkit and exploiting them

 

Exactly. To expand it further, on rap vocals my usual setup is a seperate 1176 on every take.
followed by H-delay and a ca-2a on the group where all the channels come together (in that order)

 

Acon Digital DeClick first thing on the chain should always fix clicks and pops within samples or voxs , need more precise Fix ? Izotope Rx and do it manually

 

I too do the 1176/La2a one two punch in varying degrees depending on factors such as the bpm of the song and how much life a vocal will exhibit in regard to volume sway (I am a bit braindead atm and cannot for the life of me find the word that describes this, the difference between the softest and loudest..help!).

 

CRESTFACTOR

 

You need the Steven Slate De-Popper.

 

I was going for the dynamic range of the vocal, the range of the loudest and the softest...am still a bit out of it but read through SOS's glossary of Technical Terms because I just had to get it lodged in my mind and was frustrated the whole day over it. This is a fine reference of terms we soundfolk (such as I) should know. https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/glossary-technical-terms

Read it, memorize it, test on Monday which WILL go down on your permanent record, talking to all you Audiosex Academy members.

 

Good one, @superliquidsunshine! Bookmarked on my music tab.

Doesn't mean I'll pass that test, though!

 

We'll toss you a softball and make it a multiple choice test. I guarantee you'll get 100%.

 

If I bring an apple in for you and shine in up will you just pass me aswell? Never hertz to be teacher's pet

Off the top of my head without looking at anything. The audio engineer part and science of sound part of my brain which is instant/first one to go to when talking/communicating audio terms, Just like MMJ2017 posted, I'd of posted the same crest factor.

If I switch to part of my brain where the musician part of me resides, Attempting to channel what is used to notate the two extremes I would say...Well I don't think there is anyway around actually using two seperate words/terms that are all apart of that whole Italian that got kind of mushed together from how all the great composers used it and obviously it became the universal standard for properly writing music with as much intricate, detailed instructions for the musicians whom play whilst reading to nail it. So IIRC the two I'm looking for should be, If the old almonds are firing correctly > Pianissimo (Covers the quietest section in a piece of music) whilst Fortissimo (Covers the loudest part of a piece).

Crest factor is so much quicker though and covers the lowest RMS to the highest Peak in a way I can picture far more easily due to VU meters, PPM meters and hours of reading AES papers and some good magazine articles also. I suppose crest factor is the superior term as it leaves nothing open to interpretation whereas musical notation can always be "interpreted". Unless I have stuffed up and the musical term you we're thinking of but it escaped you my friend, Also has abandoned me for a time when I really could of used it!

<Not a guru, This is the solid state of thy hammer smashed, profoundly addled mind. I'd never dare claim myself to be any sort of guru, I smashed my ego into a million pieces alongtime ago! Having a massive I find makes most people lack the ability to engage in the art of self-depricating humour and by gosh, In a world like this I think humour is paramount to trying to stay somewhat sane, Humour which is not at the expense of another more specifically, Although that does have it's place as does all good humour>

All the very best to all as always, SOS is one I do pick up monthly and since TapeOp went digital only, It became the #1 audio mag for reviews and articles covering specific topics/areas. Obviously CM is great for all the magware but the content I find mostly meh at best, FM is cool for the synth coverage but unless the former covermount DVD now a download thing have a useful set of samples, It is usually to me personally worse than CM, A video of some guy making nearly the same track but with slight variations every month, I just don't enjoy any part of such a "creative" process...Painful. MusicTech can be good but it is quite condensed which leaves so much depth and detail out. \m/ Peace \m/

Dean

 

Last edited: Sep 10, 2017

[heresy]OMG. Just try not using compression?[/heresy] The main problem for me is not just all the noise & mud that compression brings. Or the popping & clicking, apparently (allegedly). It's mainly that it's quite a crazy way of doing things; even disregarding how things have moved on since the 1950s, or whenevers. Have a try @ explaining Opto compression to yourself, and realise u should be wearing a straight jacket if u can actually rationalise it. I know this will not find favor w/ zealots. But y'know. Opinions. >__> <__<

 

I too dig Tape Op and eagerly await my monthly fix.

Hoping that it sticks for good, I am going to continue with the term dynamic range, as crest factor to my own addled mind needs be only reserved for my visualization of ocean water crashing over a white painted sea wall and really nothing to do with

I never really get any clicky or poppy sounds, and it varies from comp to comp how a given model passes signal after processing. My Warm WA76 pushing some lower mids and the LA2A soft plugs tend to drop some high mids giving things a warmer sound as it helps accentuate the lower bout of the signal. A little eq here or there can even a signal out. The noise that is kicked up is where it gets me when I utilize compression, and I don't do other as rote for every track. If it is a quiet arrangement there is work that needs be done to tackle it, animation or otherwise which takes up time and sucks flow, and there is enough flow sucking in my life right now that I don't wish any more time wasted.

 

I mean, I'm being a lil bit sarcastic about my own silly opinions, my liquid friend. But I never really realised how ppl use it all the time on everything, everywhere. Usually for no reason! These are usually same ppl who complain that lack of dynamics is killing music... But ur right in that it's pointless arguing about it, rly. It's just a tool.

 

@famouslut .. I guess there are lots and lots that just throw a compressor on everything, and I'm totally fine with that because we all have our own palette of tools, the colors that we have in our individual mind's eye in regard to translating our ideas into some semblance of audio, while others might choose a different path and use compression just sparingly on the 2 buss. Most signal that comes into my sound card passes through outboard gear, and much of that routed through the WA76, although not everything gets the compression treatment, but rather I use it in many cases to just add a bit of transformer color by clever use of gain staging. There is no accounting for taste, my slutty highness, I even mic a soft synth through my monitors sometimes because it imparts fairy dust and 3D-edness to certain parts that need it. Give it a try, you just might like it.