25-02-2015, 05:31 PM
Yeah, there's nothing wrong with compressing a vocal track when needed. Just make sure you're doing it for the right reason, not just because.
A lot of the time with a good vocal recording, especially like this one which has already been compressed during tracking, you're better off processing the instruments surrounding the vocal to protect its current qualities rather than trying to change it directly.
For instance, you might try compression on the guitars to keep their attack from momentarily masking the vocal or making it hard to understand. Turning them down will also turn down the energy, but with a little dynamic shaping you might get to keep the energy without hurting the vocal.
You're right about stacked compression, though... I do it all the time! Just keep in mind that before you even press play, 9 times out of 10 the vocal track has probably already been compressed several times, so you may not need compression at all. For this particular mix, I think I used a leveling amplifier (plug-in) to take a db or 2 of range out of the vocal, but that was it, and it was mainly because I like what a leveling amplifier does to a vocal tonally. In fact, I'd recommend getting a decent leveling amplifier plug-in (bootsy's thrillseekerLA is a good free one)... try using that to smoothly shave off a couple db so a more assertive compressor stacked on top won't have to work as hard.
A lot of the time with a good vocal recording, especially like this one which has already been compressed during tracking, you're better off processing the instruments surrounding the vocal to protect its current qualities rather than trying to change it directly.
For instance, you might try compression on the guitars to keep their attack from momentarily masking the vocal or making it hard to understand. Turning them down will also turn down the energy, but with a little dynamic shaping you might get to keep the energy without hurting the vocal.
You're right about stacked compression, though... I do it all the time! Just keep in mind that before you even press play, 9 times out of 10 the vocal track has probably already been compressed several times, so you may not need compression at all. For this particular mix, I think I used a leveling amplifier (plug-in) to take a db or 2 of range out of the vocal, but that was it, and it was mainly because I like what a leveling amplifier does to a vocal tonally. In fact, I'd recommend getting a decent leveling amplifier plug-in (bootsy's thrillseekerLA is a good free one)... try using that to smoothly shave off a couple db so a more assertive compressor stacked on top won't have to work as hard.
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!