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the human voice has such a huge dynamic range, & today while recording my band, i probly needed a compressor. (this recording *should* be up later tonight, but it's in the drummer's hands.)

we're running a Beta58 & similar dynamic mics into a Fostex DR8HD. just need a few dB compression to keep the voice evenly audible. that's all it will be used for.

what are some easy to work with, cheap compressors?
or makeshift solutions?

Simplest way would be just use a "manual compression" mic technique- back off the mic when you're singing louder, like all the cheesey diva singers do in a live situation.

Either that or pick up a Behringer guitar pedal compressor for ten bucks or something. Or put all the individual tracks onto the pc, into Audacity (free basic recording programme with processors built in) and drop some compression on the vocals at that stage.

a.aaron wrote:the human voice has such a huge dynamic range, & today while recording my band, i probly needed a compressor. (this recording *should* be up later tonight, but it's in the drummer's hands.)

we're running a Beta58 & similar dynamic mics into a Fostex DR8HD. just need a few dB compression to keep the voice evenly audible. that's all it will be used for.

what are some easy to work with, cheap compressors?
or makeshift solutions?

Are you recording the vocals at the same time as other instruments?

Most outboard compressors will require a preamp for the signal, unless you have an insert on your mixer, then you could insert a compressor, but if your just using a mic straight into your fostex, I dunno if it has a mic pre or a buss to send to a compressor, but if not you'll prolly have to get a preamp or use your pa's, then out to a compressor then into your fostex? bob will be along to guide us in the right direction.

or do like doog said and put the vocal track on the cpu, use compressor software then send that back to your fostex.

Mike wrote:Are you recording the vocals at the same time as other instruments?

this time we recorded the instruments 'live' and then did the vocal as an overdub track.

Doog wrote:Simplest way would be just use a "manual compression" mic technique- back off the mic when you're singing louder

that's basically what i did, but we think it still varies in dynamics (i'm not the best with it yet) & also got some proximity effect in a certain spot where i'm a lot quieter.

+1 for cheapo guitar pedal compressor. i even have an XLR > 1/4". i shoulda thought of that!

so an outboard (rack) compressor doesnt take mic/lo-Z signals? weak.

drummer still hasnt put the actual recording up.

did you mean MR8HD? I couldnt find anything about the DR8HD

werd.
i was gonna see if it had onboard stuff.

yes, i did mean that. i don't really know how to use it, it's the drummer's other band's bassist's. though looking up it's features would be useful..

well i only looked on one site, i didnt want to look too much in case it wasnt the right model.

It has built in reverb and delay, so compression is pretty much a given. It also give you the ability to export as a wave file via USB, which would mean you could use software (cubase would be an easy one to get hold of) to do it.

My recommendation would be to try "riding the fader", you might be able to record automation on that, meaning you would only need to get it right once and it would be set. The only digital desks I've used have been a Yamaha O2R and a Sony DMX100 (think is 100) which are both more expensive and have motorized faders, so perhaps automation isn't on the cards.

If you can't, you probably know your songs well enough that you could learn a few volume adjustments, and just control it via the fader as you bounce. Thats the way a lot of old school mixes were done. There's a beatles record where someone forgot to move the pan at the right time, and an instrument suddenly moves at a weird time, that was a result of doing a 'live' mix.