Compressor setting for a Snare

[Caymus Cab]

Hi All,

Anyone care to share a setting in Lives compressor that will give a snare that "smack" sound. Trying to learn compression, I have a setting that I think works, but would like to see/hear another user's settings.

Thanks!

[Magik_10]

There is no exact answer to this, its subjective and sound source dependant.

How about choose a good snappy sample and add a limiter - set the ceiling to the level your snare is balanced in the mix and crank up the input gain until its too much and then back off to taste.

[3dot...]

some settings vary (almost all) depending on the actual snare..
for getting that 'smack'..
you need the compressor to start compressing after the initial hit transient..
so the 'attack' should be rather high.. like 7ms-20ms roughly..
and the release should be pretty low.. do it by ear..

if you want faster response..
a trick is ..to eq the triggering (sidechain) freqs
..turn (only) the eq on in 'sidechain section'..
use a hipass.. press the 'listen' button.. (between 'sidechain' and 'eq')
now you want to get only the actual hit and up..( the frequencies that fade faster)
so put it somewhere around 1KHz.. pull the q up and look for the band you want to smack..
then turn 'listen' off..

the threshold should (generally) be put right above where the harmonics after the hit fade out..
(which means way below the peak...)
again..for this.. and for the ratio parameter .. use your ears..
if it's too harsh for you pull the ratio down or the the threshold up..
if it's too breathy.. play with the release..
etc..

detection :
I usually use 'peak'.. it responds the fastest..
I use 'opto' sometimes.. but for mellow drumming.. I like it's response..
I might use 'RMS' for compressing the entire drum-bus..
each makes the response 'slope' a bit different..

I like the FF1 Model the best.. sounds better than the rest..especially on drums..


lastly...the way I do it..
is try get the most harsh sound on the compressor..to the point of harsh-distortion..
then drop it in a "dry/wet" rack.. and use it in parallel..(with an eq on the dry chain)

wow.. didn't mean to write all that !

[Caymus Cab]

wow! Thank you!!!!