Weatherman wrote:

Dear all,
I've been trying hard, through looking through the archives and
newsgroups, etc as well as reading up, about compression. As a newbie, I
understand WHAT compression is supposed to achive - more or less, still
learning. But I am still stuck at HOW you actually apply it.

Do you apply compression to an incoming signal as it is played "live", or
do you apply it to a pre-recorded track as you mix or ping pong?

Either. However if you apply it on an incoming signal as it is recorded you
cannot undo it later, but if you have an input that may vary unpredictably
in level (e.g. live recording) some compression (and possibly limiting) can
avoid clipping.

It is most often applied during mixdown, to individual tracks, sub-mixes
and/or the final mix.


Can compression make tracks which clip, reduce their level? My experiments
say no, but I am just learning.

No.


Finally (whilst I'm here, may as well go for broke) - although everyone
wioll have their own taste and style, and each song will have different
requirements, is their a basic starting point for people like me, as to
what
kind of compression to apply - i.e. settings - for say,
vocals
guitar
final mixdown

Any advice, or pointers to websites, books, etc would be greatly
appreciated.

Paul White who writes for SOS has wriiten some excellent beginners books.

HTH

IAn
--
Ian Bell