Live Sound Vocal Compression

Compression your best friend and your worst enemy.

Live sound vocal compression.

There are no magic settings that work 100 of the time. Many bloggers will tell you what the perfect vocal compression settings are. Lead vocals some recording engineers think compression is a must for vocals. But the truth is it s not that easy.

When used incorrectly compression can quickly ruin a good vocal recording and make your music sound amateur and over processed. The lead vocals should be the center of your attention. For a vocal starting point set your threshold to 0db or 2db and a ratio of either 1 5 1 or 2 1. Compression should be used sparingly.

It evens out the often erratic levels that a singer can produce and tames transients that can cause digital distortion. If the vocal s volume drops down then adjust the makeup gain input. You can set the attack release to auto or go to 12 o clock on either one. Now without soloing the vocal slowly turn down the threshold knob to adjust the amount of compression on the vocal.

And i don t want to mislead you. The processor is ideal for use in practices and live performances. When used correctly compression is a key ingredient for vocals that sound professional modern and radio ready. This is a fine way to start with a comp on vocals and will let you actually hear much of whats happening as you dial it in and hear the way the compressor works with the voice.

This pedal s primary function is to help a singer control vocal dynamics and tone. You can use compression on vocals to just even out the performance and to create an effect. By bypassing and applying the compressor get the input gain same as without the compressor. Sure it s fun to roll off some of the top end on your hall reverb but don t let that distract you from the things that actually need attention.

Live sound is largely correcting problems with subtractive eq. We would recommend this to a hobbyist singer songwriter musician. There is no one size fits all formula to vocal compression.