Compression, typically is an effect that can normalize your audio up to the levels where it stands out to sound uniform and neat. It evenly arranges the audio material and controls the levels that is very important, when there are large amount of tracks involved in modern day recordings. Thanks to all the computer power and the digital technology. Many audio professionals use compressors in all of their works and its very rarely we hear from someone who never have used compression in their music production. Well, most certainly when the mix goes to a mastering stage, it is quite obvious to use compression to polish the track and it has become a necessity to use compression in today’s world, be it analog or digital realm.

Well, there are times when compression is over used too, which is quite a human nature to overdo things . So lets not get there.

So how are compressors used in a recording studio or even in your regular home studio ?. There are 3 places where you can use compression. They are noting but the the recording chain, tracking chain and the mix-down chain. Let’s see each one of them below..

Recording Chain

In this step, the compressor is on a direct out or an insert of the mixer, which takes the mic signal, after getting boosted by the preamp. The main focus here is to normalize/optimize the audio while recording. But there is a strong opposition among folks recording on the computer sequencers(which is what it is today), in NOT to record with compression, but to record at complete 24 bits.

Tracking Chain (Which is were I use in my recordings)

In this step, Once your audio track is recorded on computer or on a multi-track, you can now add compression to each track individually to make them all sound even and normalized. The compressor here is added as an inert on the mixer.Say in the computer sequencer’s, the compression is added as an inerst plugin.

A classic compressor such as the UA LA-2A is a great choice for vocal tracks. It helps maintain the vocals polished on top of the underlying music tracks. But not many can afford such costly hardware compressors, specially the home studio music producers. The job can still be achieved well through all the modern software compressors that do a terrific job these days. So no worries.

Close up of the Universal Audio LA2A Classic Leveling Amplifier

Mixdown Chain

In this step, a few compression techniques may be used. Compressors can be applied on the busses or even on sends/returns, to accentuate certain parts of the mix.

Another advanced mix technique is called Parallel Compression, where the uncompressed source tracks are mixed with the compressed singnal coming back on a return or bus. It is a very good technique to adapt to and you can achieve some shining results. Try it out !!!

Some tend to put compressor on the master bus. You can avoid that, as you can deal with adding compression in the master stage, whether you send to a mastering house or do it yourself. When you do it yourself, try to make a nice solid mix and then take the bounced audio for the master project, rather than mastering on the mix project itself.

So that’s some breifing on compression folks. Please do check out my other post on “Should the Vocals be Compressed while Recording”

Also, check out all the Dynamic Processors

I hope this post helps you to create great music from your home studio. Please do pass on your comments and feedback and pls also subscribe to this home studio blog site, to get automatic updates about Music Production Tutorials videos on Editing, Mixing, Mastering techniques using industry products like Pro Toools 9/10, Reason 5/6, Native Instruments, Komplete 8 Ultimate, Kontakt and many other Virtual Instruments/Plugins

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I love to compose music with some kind of a theme in it. Its always fun to score for an imaginative scene/theme in a movie . So this theme is based on a thriller kind of genre that I assumed, which has scenes involving Rain, Storm etc., effects in it. Since it is only a thriller and not a horror based theme, I did not make it fully eery. Making Music from the Home Studio has always been so fulfilling.

I came up with a base tune which gets repeated at the beginning and continues into Strings/Vocal Choir arrangement in the middle and finally ends with a quickie to bring the thriller aspects. Ive added effects to bring the rain/stormy elements in the background. I hope you would like it. Please do pass on your comments.

Pls Subscribe to my site to know more about making Music from Home Studio, using Music Production softwares like Reason 4, Reason 5, Record 1.5, Reason Refills, Native Instruments, Pro Tools etc.,

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Pro Tools for Music Production, Second Edition: Recording, Editing and Mixing
Publisher: Focal Press | Pages: 400 | 2004-08-14 | ISBN 0240519434 | PDF | 12 MB

Pro Tools for Music Production is a fantastic music production guide for both new and professional users. The book is illustrated in great detail with colours and has excellent tips/hints that would save a lot of time in the Music creation process. It would serve as a great source of information for all your Music Production needs.

The book deals with detailed chapters on recording, editing and mixing. There are also  some tutorials and practical examples from actual recordings.

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Talk about Record with Reason 4 integration, you may see people moving from other DAWs to this very soon. Waalah, Music production has never been so easy. Don’t wait !!! Download Propellerhead’s Record for free and bring out all your dreams to make music from home studio to reality.

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Note : Password to unrar the files : vstclub

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Electronic Musician is the #1 magazine in the U.S. for musicians who want to record and produce music from the comfort of their home studio. Electronic Musician monthly issues focuses on music-production technology for musicians. It includes coverage of recording, mixing, mastering, live performances, electronic musical instruments, and music production hardware and software.

Electronic Musician’s 20-year commitment to editorial excellence has provided the leading source of information for musicians who record at home. With a total circulation of 61,102, Electronic Musician delivers more qualified customers than any other consumer music technology publication.

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Pls do subscribe to my site for free Home Studio technology ebooks and Home Music Production tips, tutorials and videos.

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Steps involved in setting up a computer based home studio :
1. Choose your Computer – As said in the title, this particular post is mainly dealing with building a home studio for computer based recording. With that said, plan on what type of computer do you want to buy. Meaning, a laptop or a desktop. You should definitely have a minimum of 1gig RAM(more the better), more than 300gigs of hard disk space, a good sound card and atleast a 19 inch monitor. Write a detailed plan on what type of configuration/models would you like to invest on. Please take enough time in this step because your studio is virtually going to be built on your computer. You need to be savvy enough to power up your computer and make it so very available to produce and enjoy music. Remember, you can always add power to your computer down the line but try to make it a very good beginning, so you don’t have to worry about glitches while making music. The ultimate goal is to make music like the pro’s who do it in a real studio. So max out on budget with respect to getting a high quality computer.

2. Decide on what Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) you want to work with – There are so many DAW’s in the market now and each of them boast of spectacular capabilities. It is totally up to you to know and get used to a program. Some of the most popular DAW’s are Pro Tools, Cakewalk, Fruity Loops, Cubase, Reason etc., Make your selection. Probably if you’ve not been exposed to any of these DAW’s, you can always download some trial versions and get your hands on it. It is going to be the most critical software for all your recording, mixing and editing needs. You just cannot be casual here.

3. Get the Gears – After you’ve crossed the computer and the DAW selection hurdle, the next one is to get some gears to get to work. You would obviously need the following to get you started.

a. Mic – You need to decide on choosing between a condensor mic or a dynamic mic. There are so many models available in the market and you should have an understanding of all the advantages and disadvantages of each model. Personally, I’ve been recording all my vocals on RODE NT1A, which costed $225 when I bought and I’ve to say it is an amazing mic(condensor). I’ve had great recordings done with RODE NT1A.

b. Audio Interface – Audio Interface is the core of any good home recording studio. Well, as usual, there are so many audio interfaces available from so many companies and it again needs some special research to figure out the Audio Interfaces you want. Since I’m more of a pro tools user, I’m using MBOX2 PRO and it is firewire based. So, it all depends upon with Digital Audio Station(DAW) you want to work on. Also before choosing your audio interface, answer these basis questtions like
i. Whether you need Pro Tools compatibility?
Digidesign’s Pro Tools is the industry-wide standard platform for recording and producing music. So most of the Digidesign’s audio interfaces for Pro Tools are usually much costlier than its competitors. If you don’t need Pro Tools and plan on using another DAW software program, you don’t need Pro Tools hardware. But you have to remember that you can’t use Pro Tools without a compatible interface.
Pro Tools oriented setup is always pretty restricted to Digidesign’s products and it doesn’t seemlessly go with other products, which is one of the biggest drawbacks that most of the users crib about. Bottom line is if you are going with Pro Tools as your recording platform, then you should also be able to spend a few more bucks but I’m sure you will be happy when you get to do it. My best advice is to go with Firewire based audio interface to avoild latency problems, when you are recording.

ii. How Many Inputs would You Need?
You should be knowing what you are going to record on a regular schedule. That would determine the need for the inputs on the audio interface. Its always great to have many inputs, so you could always expand your musical landscape when needed but if your stuck with fewer inputs, it might always be a problem to seamlessly create the music you want. Well, you can definitely get things done with fewer inputs but it might take a lot of time for bigger musical arrangements. With that said, there are interfaces that are cheaper but offer less inputs. I would always prefer aleast two microphone preamp inputs, which would allow you to do vocals and guitar(for example) at once. So give it some time knowing all the products inputs and outputs available and their respective benefits.

iii. Do you want Firewire or USB based interfaces?
Firewire interfaces obviously are more expensive than USB but I would always vouch for getting a Firewire based interface. Well, If you’re only going to need two channels at a time, USB should be fine but I’m always hesitant suggesting a USB Audio Interface. I just cannot compromise Firewire Audio Intefaces for a USB under any circumstances. Please understand that audio interface is a key gear to your home studio and you don’t want to mess it up with cheaper products.

4. Recording Instruments – After all, you can’t perform music without a basic instrument on hand. The most common instruments would be a keyboard (synthesizer) or a guitar. So get your music instrument, if you don’t have one. Make sure that your keyboard has a MIDI interface, which is the key to making computer based music. Almost all the keyboard these days have the midi ports on them but just in case you are using an old keyboard, try to get a MIDI keyboard.

5. Cables for connecting it all together – Well, cables are going to be costing you a few 100 dollars as you would need it for connecting your audio interfaces, your microphones, your music instruments etc.,

Please do pass on your valuable comments and ratings, if you liked this post.

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