chazman55555
I've been djing in large nightclubs for the last 20 years. All the nightclubs had the sound systems professionally installed. I unfotunately never looked to see what the compressor settings were. I was wondering if anyone who currently works at a large dance club would be kind enough to let me know what their compressor settings are. The club I work at now has a DBX 166XL. I have a handle on the expander/gate and peak stop limiter settings. I just need the compressor settings which are threshold/ratio/attack/release. Thank you in advance and thank you to virtual dj for a great product and forum.
CHARLES
CHARLES
Posted Thu 15 Sep 11 @ 3:42 pm
djcity
You have to set the compressor by ear and sight.
What I mean by sight is you have to pay attention to the lights on the compressor to see where it compresses the sound. The lights will tell you what you need to know and your ear should confirm what your eyes are telling you.
Good luck.
What I mean by sight is you have to pay attention to the lights on the compressor to see where it compresses the sound. The lights will tell you what you need to know and your ear should confirm what your eyes are telling you.
Good luck.
Posted Wed 21 Sep 11 @ 8:18 pm
PhantomDeejay
Setting a compressor is more than just that... Most times the compressor will be installed as a protection measure to protect the speakers and amps from been blown up while it will provide "richer" sound...
There are no right or wrong settings and everything depends on the overall gear of the venue.
If you don't want the compressor to act as a protection system I would suggest the following settings:
Compress Ratio: Something between 1.3:1 and 2:1
Threshold: Somewhere between -10 and -6db
Attack: Nine o clock
Release: Three o clock
PS: For the 166XL you can simplify a lot it's setup in order to get a "rich" compressed (but not heavy compressed) sound:
1) Enable the third button named OverEasy
2) Set the threshold to -10db and the compress ration to 2:1
3) Enable the Auto Attack/Release times (they follow the envelope of the dynamics in this case)
Finally if you will have to adjust the Output gain on all cases where you have to be careful not to set a very high value. As a general rule you should always start with LOW values and adjust as required.
Once you have set the output gain then you can adjust peakstop limiter if required.
There are no right or wrong settings and everything depends on the overall gear of the venue.
If you don't want the compressor to act as a protection system I would suggest the following settings:
Compress Ratio: Something between 1.3:1 and 2:1
Threshold: Somewhere between -10 and -6db
Attack: Nine o clock
Release: Three o clock
PS: For the 166XL you can simplify a lot it's setup in order to get a "rich" compressed (but not heavy compressed) sound:
1) Enable the third button named OverEasy
2) Set the threshold to -10db and the compress ration to 2:1
3) Enable the Auto Attack/Release times (they follow the envelope of the dynamics in this case)
Finally if you will have to adjust the Output gain on all cases where you have to be careful not to set a very high value. As a general rule you should always start with LOW values and adjust as required.
Once you have set the output gain then you can adjust peakstop limiter if required.
Posted Thu 22 Sep 11 @ 12:40 am
chazman55555
I thank both of you for you help!
PhantomDeejay that is what I was looking for. Not only do I DJ but I also do sound for some local community theatre plays and a band here and there. So I got a handle on how to use a compressor, but I always just used it on vocals and a peak stop to prevent the amps from clipping. I never got into the overall sound maximizing end of it. I really wish I would have written down the settings at the various clubs I worked at. Like you said there are so many different styles on using a compressor there is no real right way. I never played with the OverEasy and Auto Attack because I thought it would be better if everything was set manually. I will try both settings. Thanks again.
CHARLES
PhantomDeejay that is what I was looking for. Not only do I DJ but I also do sound for some local community theatre plays and a band here and there. So I got a handle on how to use a compressor, but I always just used it on vocals and a peak stop to prevent the amps from clipping. I never got into the overall sound maximizing end of it. I really wish I would have written down the settings at the various clubs I worked at. Like you said there are so many different styles on using a compressor there is no real right way. I never played with the OverEasy and Auto Attack because I thought it would be better if everything was set manually. I will try both settings. Thanks again.
CHARLES
Posted Thu 22 Sep 11 @ 4:09 pm
PhantomDeejay
"OverEasy" has a HUGE advantage when it comes to enhancing dynamics and not protecting a system:
It provides a "soft knee" type of compression around the threshold level which makes the sound "sound" more physical...
In a typical compression scenario everything above threshold is compressed with the desired compress ratio. OverEasy performs in a different way: It starts compressing a few db's BELOW the threshold with a very small compress ratio and it increases the compress ratio as the sound input increases. It reaches the desired compress ratio a few db's ABOVE the threshold, and then it keeps it constant...
It provides a "soft knee" type of compression around the threshold level which makes the sound "sound" more physical...
In a typical compression scenario everything above threshold is compressed with the desired compress ratio. OverEasy performs in a different way: It starts compressing a few db's BELOW the threshold with a very small compress ratio and it increases the compress ratio as the sound input increases. It reaches the desired compress ratio a few db's ABOVE the threshold, and then it keeps it constant...
Posted Fri 23 Sep 11 @ 12:42 am
djcity
What he said....
Sorry that I wasn't in front of a compressor when I responded but based on your comment, I figured you had at least a general idea of what you were doing.
I was right but I was not detailed in my description.
Glad you have it sorted out.
Sorry that I wasn't in front of a compressor when I responded but based on your comment, I figured you had at least a general idea of what you were doing.
I was right but I was not detailed in my description.
Glad you have it sorted out.
Posted Fri 23 Sep 11 @ 3:33 pm
Dazmax
Just a small word of caution here guys.
Be aware that useing the compressor to provide overall mix, loudness maximising will put additional demands on power amp and speaker systems. As you compress and then use make up gain, the RMS or average power demands on the system go up. More power is demanded from the rigs front end for longer periods of time. If its over done you can generate problems with Power Compression in the drivers/speakers due to overheating of the voice coils and verry hot power amps.
Most pre recorded music is heavily compressed already and to be honest, yes you will make more noise but it can also destroy what little dynamic range is left in the music.
Daz
Be aware that useing the compressor to provide overall mix, loudness maximising will put additional demands on power amp and speaker systems. As you compress and then use make up gain, the RMS or average power demands on the system go up. More power is demanded from the rigs front end for longer periods of time. If its over done you can generate problems with Power Compression in the drivers/speakers due to overheating of the voice coils and verry hot power amps.
Most pre recorded music is heavily compressed already and to be honest, yes you will make more noise but it can also destroy what little dynamic range is left in the music.
Daz
Posted Sat 24 Sep 11 @ 1:37 am
PhantomDeejay
Agreed!
Posted Sat 24 Sep 11 @ 4:24 am
DJ Andrey Seagull
166XL - This compressor is not designed to process the whole mix. Its for vocals or single instruments only (like bass guitar). Playing music through this compressor will make it sound bad. When the bass hits, it will sound like "someone quickly turns off middle and high EQ on the mixer".
For playing already mixed music you need to use dbx DriveRack or some kind of Multi-band Compressors.
For playing already mixed music you need to use dbx DriveRack or some kind of Multi-band Compressors.
Posted Sat 24 Sep 11 @ 6:14 am
Dazmax
Yep! The effect you discribe is called "Pumping" and is more down to how the compressor is set. Any compressor will pump if too high a ratio setting combined with a Threshold setting that is too low and short attack setting.
Good point tho. The compressor will tend to trigger on the low frequency notes if they are noticably higher in level than the other frequency's in the mix (Which with Dance,R&B,Dubstep and most modern music certainly is). The way round this is to make the compressor respond to the frequency's you want. To do this insert a graphic EQ into the compressors side chain (this is the control/sensing loop of the compressor) you can then boost frequency's that you want the compressor to respond to and cut frequency's that you want it to ignore.
I would agree that something like the DBX driverack is far more suited to this kind of job than a standard compressor. Multiband compressors are usefull but do require patience and expert setup. Even then you change the music and have to tweek the compressor settings as very few trax are mixed and balanced the same so the multiband will respond in different ways to different mixes. MHO is to stick with limiting to protect the amps/speakers and keep any compression you use very subtle if you use it at all. Certainly if the compressor is pumping then you have a big problem with setup. One thing I frequently do is use a compressor for MC channels as these have no automatic dynamic control over them and using a compressor can realy help to even out the level of the MC's voice, and avoid distortion.
Daz
Good point tho. The compressor will tend to trigger on the low frequency notes if they are noticably higher in level than the other frequency's in the mix (Which with Dance,R&B,Dubstep and most modern music certainly is). The way round this is to make the compressor respond to the frequency's you want. To do this insert a graphic EQ into the compressors side chain (this is the control/sensing loop of the compressor) you can then boost frequency's that you want the compressor to respond to and cut frequency's that you want it to ignore.
I would agree that something like the DBX driverack is far more suited to this kind of job than a standard compressor. Multiband compressors are usefull but do require patience and expert setup. Even then you change the music and have to tweek the compressor settings as very few trax are mixed and balanced the same so the multiband will respond in different ways to different mixes. MHO is to stick with limiting to protect the amps/speakers and keep any compression you use very subtle if you use it at all. Certainly if the compressor is pumping then you have a big problem with setup. One thing I frequently do is use a compressor for MC channels as these have no automatic dynamic control over them and using a compressor can realy help to even out the level of the MC's voice, and avoid distortion.
Daz
Posted Sat 24 Sep 11 @ 9:52 am