Hardware compressors around £400

[jaminem]

- Controlling singers with piss poor mic technique and big transients - yes its better for them to learn good mic technique but I'm not giving them a lesson in that if they're in full flow and I just need to capture it.

Agree on the rest but if you can't control singers without a compressor when recording at 24 bits, it's not only their technique that's piss poor!

Easy tiger...

...more of a safety net really, and most importantly avoiding the 'mic technique lesson' when they are firing because that's more important than anything - just one less thing to worry about...

[ken long]

I'd look at the FMR RNC which is very transparent and won't colour the sound too much.

Came here to say exactly this.

[CS70]

Easy tiger...

...more of a safety net really, and most importantly avoiding the 'mic technique lesson' when they are firing because that's more important than anything - just one less thing to worry about...

Apparently the one loudest female singer in the world can do 121dB so I stand corrected - you need a compressor if you have a piece of music with her starting with a whisper and ending with her loudest note!

[James Perrett]

It's a similar conundrum with the AMS RMX16 reverb we have. I love its sound, but it's very rare that I actually mix through it and render the tracks in real time!

Though in that case you have the option to sample an impulse and then use that impulse in a convolution reverb. I had exactly the same issue last year when the client loved the reverb he was hearing in the headphones from an H3000 and wanted it for the mix. I wasn't confident enough to sample the H3000 right in the middle of a mixing session but it is something I ought to do for the future.

It isn't so easy to sample compressors - although not impossible for a real DSP expert.

[Aled Hughes]

It's a similar conundrum with the AMS RMX16 reverb we have. I love its sound, but it's very rare that I actually mix through it and render the tracks in real time!

Though in that case you have the option to sample an impulse and then use that impulse in a convolution reverb.

Now that's a neat idea.

We also have a H3000 here, and a Lexicon PCM91, but I haven't really paid much attention to them. There's an EMT140 in bits in the workshop too...

[muzines]

We also have a H3000 here, and a Lexicon PCM91, but I haven't really paid much attention to them. There's an EMT140 in bits in the workshop too...

You could go to the effort to make impulse responses of some of the settings of those items, and it can be fun and a learning experience, but others have probably already done it (google for impulse responses) - and of course you can get plugins which reproduce those things in detail with *all* the settings, so if you like the sounds those things make, grabbing the plugins would probably get you 95+% of the way there a lot quicker...

[Aled Hughes]

We also have a H3000 here, and a Lexicon PCM91, but I haven't really paid much attention to them. There's an EMT140 in bits in the workshop too...

You could go to the effort to make impulse responses of some of the settings of those items, and it can be fun and a learning experience, but others have probably already done it (google for impulse responses) - and of course you can get plugins which reproduce those things in detail with *all* the settings, so if you like the sounds those things make, grabbing the plugins would probably get you 95+% of the way there a lot quicker...

True. To be honest I don't feel I'm missing too much when I load the Eventide 2016 or Arturia plate plugins instead of using the hardware reverbs.

I do want to get the plate up and running though (though there might be an issue with asbestos in the case...).

[CS70]

I found a great resource a few years back - someone who had made IRs of the Lexicon 480L .. I've used them quite a bit over the years and they sound good, even if lately I use more the Lexicon native.

Let me see.. yes it seems still around, here: https://www.housecallfm.com/download-gn ... xicon-480l

[Hugh Robjohns]

Apparently the one loudest female singer in the world can do 121dB so I stand corrected - you need a compressor if you have a piece of music with her starting with a whisper and ending with her loudest note!

Not really. She can reach 121dB SPL at the loudest, but what's a whisper? 40dB SPL? The noise floor in my room is around 30dB SPL during the day, and a whisper must be louder than that or it wouldn't be inaudible...

So you're talking about a recorded dynamic range from whisper to ouch of around 80dB, maybe 90dB if we're feeling generous...

You could capture that perfectly well on a 16bit DAT machine if you set your levels carefully, and it wouldn't be even slightly difficult on a 24 bit format. So still no absolute need to use a compressor for the recording.

[Aled Hughes]

I found a great resource a few years back - someone who had made IRs of the Lexicon 480L .. I've used them quite a bit over the years and they sound good, even if lately I use more the Lexicon native.

Let me see.. yes it seems still around, here: https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2014/0 ... responses/

That's cool, thanks!

Would anyone be interested if I did some IRs of a few of the RMX16's presets?

[CS70]

Apparently the one loudest female singer in the world can do 121dB so I stand corrected - you need a compressor if you have a piece of music with her starting with a whisper and ending with her loudest note!

Not really. She can reach 121dB SPL at the loudest, but what's a whisper? 40dB SPL? The noise floor in my room is around 30dB SPL during the day, and a whisper must be louder than that or it wouldn't be inaudible...

So you're talking about a recorded dynamic range from whisper to ouch of around 80dB, maybe 90dB if we're feeling generous...

You could capture that perfectly well on a 16bit DAT machine if you set your levels carefully, and it wouldn't be even slightly difficult on a 24 bit format. So still no absolute need to use a compressor for the recording.

Yes .. I was merely trying to be a little bit accommodating...

[CS70]

And on a side note: 121dB!! Probably short bursts, but holy cow!

[muzines]

Would anyone be interested if I did some IRs of a few of the RMX16's presets?

Sure, go for it!

For a few dollars, this one looks pretty good:
https://inhalt.bigcartel.com/product/townhouse-rmx-ams-rmx-16-impulse-responses

[Hugh Robjohns]

And on a side note: 121dB!! Probably short bursts, but holy cow!

I imagine that was measured within a metre... but yes, professional singers can certainly belt it out!

[Drew Stephenson]

And on a side note: 121dB!! Probably short bursts, but holy cow!

I think there's generally someone like this at most gigs...

[CS70]

And on a side note: 121dB!! Probably short bursts, but holy cow!

I think there's generally someone like this at most gigs...

Remember that not all of us have your screaming fans...

[Drew Stephenson]

And on a side note: 121dB!! Probably short bursts, but holy cow!

I think there's generally someone like this at most gigs...

Remember that not all of us have your screaming fans...

I think you know that's not what I meant!

[twotoedsloth]

Have you considered the Aphex Easy Rider?

Not too many knobs to mess with, but it really makes some material pop, which I guess is what you're usually trying to avoid if you're using a compressor. That being said, you get four compressors that sound great for not a lot of money.

Best of luck!

[The Elf]

Would anyone be interested if I did some IRs of a few of the RMX16's presets?

Definitely!!!!!

[Arpangel]

And on a side note: 121dB!! Probably short bursts, but holy cow!

I imagine that was measured within a metre... but yes, professional singers can certainly belt it out!

My partner was a trained opera singer, but now a shadow of her former self owing to health issues, I’ve tried to record her many times, it’s OK, but not great in a smallish living room, even with her voice as it is now, I find I have to use compression, or ride the faders, and a score is essential to anticipate the loud bits.
I can’t get her far enough away from the mic's, like you can in a large hall, where it evens out the levels a bit, and yes, 16 bit is fine, I’ve been on opera sessions where we used DAT, and provided it’s a decent sized hall or rehearsal room there were never any issues, and we never used compression.