What Are Your Pick + Fingerstyle Compressor Settings (Origin Cali76)

[Sean]

I use a an Origin Effects Cali76 and I'm reasonably happy with how I use it but always being in pursuit of refinement and learning more (especially with compressors) I'd be keen to understand what settings players who switch between pick and fingers use. 

 

I play about 50:50 pick and fingers depending on the song and use approximately the Parallel Compression setting. 

Dry 11 o'clock

Ratio 10 o'clock (8:1)

Att/Rel 10 o'clock

HPF 1 o'clock

 

Then balance Out and In 

 

 

[Osiris]

Having given this some thought, the honest answers to this are, IMO,

it depends

and

it's something of a compromise. 

 

Because of what compression does and how it works there are several variables at play so it's almost impossible to give some specific settings that will work for you or anyone else. Realistically we're talking helpful guidelines rather precise settings. 

 

It depends. Depending on what style of compression you're looking will have a significant impact on your settings. Something fast and modern sounding to keep the transients in check, for example, requires pretty much opposing settings, certainly for attack and release but you may also want to adjust the threshold and ratio etc, to a gentle smoothing with a slower attack. So if you we're thinking of using the former with a plectrum and the latter for fingers, then you're going to struggle with a single unit without changing the settings every time you change technique. This is why I mentioned it's something of a compromise. Assuming you want to stick with the Cali 76 - and why not, it's a great compressor - you'll need to play around and hopefully find settings that work with both fingers and plectrum. A good place to start would be to play exclusively one technique and dial in precisely what settings work for that. Make a note of them. Then do the same for the other technique and make a note of those settings. Then dial in settings that are somewhere in the middle of the two. It may not be as precise as each lot of individual settings but it may prove an acceptable compromise between the two. 

 

If that doesn't work another option is to get another compressor and switch between them but there's obviously cost, power requirements etc. to consider. Or a multi fx that means you can switch between settings quickly and easily. 

 

I appreciate that this probably isn't the answer you were hoping for but having spent many years nerding around with compressors, there isn't a one size fits all load of settings, it's figuring out what works for you. You said you're keen to learn more about compression so I'd suggest keep reading, try different settings, differences that may seem imperceptible when messing around at home can have a noticeable affect on how the bass feels in the mix - and it is as much about feel as it is control. I think I've said this in other posts about compression but you're more likely to get more objective information about compression from sound engineering sites rather than bass specific sites like this one where the subject tends to be more decisive 😀