What’s the typical maximum gain reduction professional mix engineers use on vocals? I’ve heard that if you’re using multiple compressors, a total of around –11 dB is common for example, –5 dB on the first compressor, –3 dB on the second, and –3 dB on the third. Is that a reasonable approach?
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Hard to give any value like this. 2dB on a given compressor can be no problem or already too much, depending on what you are using and your goal is.
on vocals, why do you use compression ?
It can be for control or for tone. Serial or parallel. Makes a lot of possibilities and that depends on the music behind. You can’t really give values that works for anything.
I compress when I need it, and only by the amount I need. First define your goal, and work towards it, step by step. Too much compression is easy to hear if your monitoring is decent enough.
Got you, that makes sense. I usually compress my vocals to make them sit consistently in the mix and with the song. I see now that the amount really depends on the goal and context. Appreciate the insight I’ll focus on defining the goal first and adjusting compression step by step based on what the track needs.
On MWTM, you can find many exemples on different compressors for vocals. Will help you to define what you need, and it gives some starting points. Best thing is still to test your own compressors in your own environment to see what works best. Take a day to do some tests, and you will quickly hear what you love or not, especially on vocals - it usually hit or miss and pretty quick to decide.
Don’t be afraid not to compress when not needed. I’d rather do some vocal rides than start compressing if I can .
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You are right, a serial compression can be used to even out the dynamics. Aim to slightly change the envelope of the vocals with each compressor. Listen carefully how the vocal transients and sustain change. If it’s difficult to hear you may want to bounce a track and check the wave form visually. McDSP SPC2000 for example has a parallel compression built in. There is also a gain clipping and vocal riding techniques you may use to even the dynamics and avoid compression at all. But that will be a different effect.