Compression

[Wil]

A few years ago it seemed every man and his dog had a compressor in their chain - even people who dont tend to use effects boards (like myself). Now whenever I see a live band or take a peek into a practice room I rarely see them in use - has the official bass player's effect of choice fallen out of favour?

Personally, I never get on with them live - I like dynamics! I do use them when recording vocals and guitars though.

[BottomEndian]

I've always got a compressor in my chain (Maxon CP-9 Pro+ in my case), but it's set to be pretty subtle, with a high threshold and low ratio. If I'm playing "normally", it's not even doing anything. It just helps to rein me in when I get overexcited and dig in too hard.

[KevB]

I use a TE combo live and it had one already built in so I thought I might as well use it, usually set at about 2 o'clock position. Whether I'd actually go out and buy a pedal if I changed gear I'm not sure though.

[Spoombung]

I use it all the time with the Wal. Less so with single coil bridge pickups.

Presently looking for a pedal that will recreate what I hear from the roland Cube 30 built in compressor, which I rate highly.

........anyone tried this yet?

[BottomEndian]

[quote name='Spoombung' post='890374' date='Jul 9 2010, 01:29 PM']........anyone tried this yet?
[/quote]
No, but having just read [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/markbass.shtml"]the review on the Ovnilab site[/url], I really want to try one!

[Rayman]

I don't like compression at all. I've used it in the past, but it seemed to suck some of the dynamics out of my playing. I prefer to dig in or back off depending on what the song needs using my touch rather than with a compressor.

[crez5150]

Never felt the need for one playing live

[artisan]

i play through a Roland D-bass 210 which has a fantastic built in compressor btw.
higly recommended amp'.
with my jazz bass i usually run it 1/2 way up & had it at 3/4 when i had a stingray.
i find it evens out any peeks & tightens up the bottom nicely but any more than 1/2 way up kills some of the harmonics of my wonderfull RW Jazz.

[Dood]

I use compression - not much - but it HAS to be Parallel Compression (i.e.mixing a dry tone in as well) Because I only want the quieter passages, such as tapping / harmonics to be lifted out of the bass lines without the effects of signal limiting in the chain. Get the balance right and you can't really hear the compression working, yet pinch harmonics and pecussive/ ghost notes have a uniform power and volume to them which makes things sound neater I feel.

Oh and it's not at all making up for sloppy technique he he he!!!

[Adrenochrome]

Yep, I've always like a tad of compression. The compressor on my Zoom B2 is noisy, so I've cheated and adapted one of the valve amp patches to run almost clean, which does the job.

[Bass Culture]

I never used to use compression at all but since acquiring my TC RH450 I run the Spectracomp at about 9/10 'o' clock all the time. Gives me a lot of punch to my sound, which I really love. I'd never use a Compressor though, I htink, and on any heads I've had that have had it built in (Hartke HA3500, Trace AH300SMX) I've often had set so low - and then proably only because it was there - that it most likely wasn't 'engaging' most of the time! The Spectracomp on the RH450 does add a certain [i]Je ne sais quoi[/i] though.

Mark

[waynepunkdude]

I have a compressor I don't use and it's quite limited when it come to settings.

[51m0n]

Yes

Live its very helpful for levelling differences between finger style, strumming, slapping and tapping. Generally set very low ratio, medium to low threshold. I mess with the attack, but keep the release as short as possible (without artifacts). Also engage a limiter to catch peaks when the attack is set long. Generally aiming for levelling with a tad of punch enhancement. If I notice that its affecting my dynamics then I need the amp louder and to be playing softer anyway. If its really all about transparent leveling then I go for the soft knee option, if I'm more about punch then I prefer a hard knee. The focusrite gives upto about 3dB of truly transparent (ie I cant even feel it) compression set up right, it will go way further but it becomes more noticeable both audibly and touch wise. That, of course, is not necessarily a bad thing, just how it is.

Studio all of the above applies, plus a bunch of more creative possibilities; extreme compression rations, very long or ver short attack times, release time pumping, anything that works. More often than not this is done at mix down rather than tracking though. I like to track everything clean as a whistle if I have access to outboard gear during mixing.

Unfortunately that isnt nomally the case so its compression whilst tracking as a rule.

[51m0n]

[quote name='Bass Culture' post='890525' date='Jul 9 2010, 03:45 PM']I never used to use compression at all but since acquiring my TC RH450 I run the Spectracomp at about 9/10 'o' clock all the time. Gives me a lot of punch to my sound, which I really love. I'd never use a Compressor though, I htink, and on any heads I've had that have had it built in (Hartke HA3500, Trace AH300SMX) I've often had set so low - and then proably only because it was there - that it most likely wasn't 'engaging' most of the time! The Spectracomp on the RH450 does add a certain [i]Je ne sais quoi[/i] though.

Mark[/quote]

I think the Spectracomp is a three way multiband comrpessor, if you use it you are definitely using compression

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='890541' date='Jul 9 2010, 04:14 PM']I have a compressor I don't use and it's quite limited when it come to settings.
[/quote]

I thought you had Volume, Octave and Master all set to 11 until I realised it was a light effect from the photo!

[Craigmartini]

[quote name='Wil' post='890351' date='Jul 9 2010, 01:01 PM']A few years ago it seemed every man and his dog had a compressor in their chain - even people who dont tend to use effects boards (like myself). Now whenever I see a live band or take a peek into a practice room I rarely see them in use - has the official bass player's effect of choice fallen out of favour?

Personally, I never get on with them live - I like dynamics! I do use them when recording vocals and guitars though.[/quote]

I agree,

I do not like a compressor on my bass at all. If your tapping and harmonics are to quiet, step on the OCD boost pedal and ROCK!!!!!

Craig

[thack]

I use the built-in compressor on my HA3500, set on a low ratio it tightens up the trebles nicely without killing all the attack, get for funk and acid jazz. But i rarely use it live, I use my new LG1000, which has a more classic sound which doesnt compliment compression imo. I agree with BottomEndian, a little bit always good to keep it tight when you go crazy.

[xgsjx]

I've tried a couple of compressors & not found one I'm happy to use.
I borrowed the EHX white finger & recorded a few tracks with it, but it was less used as a compressor & more just for a bit of bite.
I also tried a Boss Compressor/limiter & all I found it did was raise the noise level of any effects in the chain regardless of settings & takes away from the dynamics.
The only time I use any compression is on the final mix if I'm doing the producing.

[Ancient Mariner]

I really like compression for guitar, and developed my technique around making arpeggios fully as loud as strummed chords: difficult at low volumes with clean amps otherwise. For bass I like it as a limiter to control spikes but bass seems so much more compressed sounding that guitar when not playing percussively that it needs to retain more dynamics. I picked up a cheap compressor from someone on here before I got my Hartke HA3500.

[4 Strings]

Never for live bass, realy would feel frustrated by it. Almost always for recording, but always slight and just use the simple compressor n the amp (HA3500).

Recording is quite different to live, vocals and some guitar get slightly compressed if I'm in charge for the typical 'keep the levels up' reasons and control peaks. If I can hear it compressing I turn it down.

[ThomBassmonkey]

I don't use compression personally but it gets used in the studio mainly because it's used on anything, I don't use it as an effect, my GK is more than punchy enough and I like the dynamics without it.

[thisnameistaken]

I don't use a compressor live, I haven't used one since the mid '90s.

When recording, I'll generally leave it to whoever's supposed to be creatively in charge of the session (unless it's me of course!) to decide whether they want to compress my tracks. I usually prefer the sound of the bass without it and I usually play evenly enough not to really need it, but some people like the sound and if they want to use it I'm not going to complain.

[JTUK]

No, never use it live and I don't feel I am missing anything.

Studio..? I'll leave it up to the engr/producer.

My whole thing is about getting everything I do to be about the hands.

[Bankai]

I use a rackmount compressor in my rig both live and in the studio.

The FX Send of the amp goes to the first compressor which is set as a limiter at +10dB. This runs into the second one which is set as at 2:1 above 0dB.

I've been getting very good comments about the sound it's creating

[Lozz196]

[quote name='Bankai' post='892460' date='Jul 12 2010, 03:50 AM']I use a rackmount compressor in my rig both live and in the studio.

The FX Send of the amp goes to the first compressor which is set as a limiter at +10dB. This runs into the second one which is set as at 2:1 above 0dB.

I've been getting very good comments about the sound it's creating [/quote]
I`ve recently started to use a compressor live, and have found it to be very good. I like a traditional, shall we say vintage sound, but the addition of the compressor seems to "tighten" each note. Its also good as I play punk (Pistols/Clash etc) and certain parts of the songs really need digging in, and the compression prevents these parts from totally overloading on volume, but still retaining the intensity.