Excerpts from Ken Restivo's message of Sun Jan 17 15:26:03 +0100 2010:
> I'm going to be mixing a record in Ardour on Linux (yay).
>
> Can anyone recommend a good, efficient (low CPU usage) mono compressor for use
> on individual tracks? I've tried the CALF compressor, which seems good, but
> it's stereo and seems to use a good deal of CPU.
>
> Perhaps one might say: "Try them all out and use the one that sounds best to
> you". Well that won't work, because no compression sounds good to me.
> Compression fatigues my ears very quickly, and makes everything sound like a
> beer commmercial (wait, those are the same thing).
>
> But if we want a hit single, then we'll have to just crush every track with
> compression, I'm sure. Anyway, any compressor preferences would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> -ken
Ken, one thing I learned from a thread on the reaper forums and
subsequent playing with compression is that it doesn't have to
crush everything but can have very different effects.
When I tried to achieve the same effects as with reacomp with calf and
invada compressors I failed, possibly because reacomp is a lookahead
compressor.
Point is, it doesn't need to sound like a beer can. Personally I'd try a
few and see what you can get. Double-blind test if possible. Use it only
when it makes sense, only as much as makes sense.
I don't know whether it is feasible to use calf in an external host
(calfjackhost) and only connect one channel. Hiding the GUI might
decrease the cpu usage significantly. In my experience it behaves badly
at very extreme settings, but that might have improved in the meanwhile.
One thing I only heard of but not tried yet is a comp currently worked on
by Sampo Savolainen. He seems to put quite some effort into it, so it
might be worth checking out.
Regards,
Philipp
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Received on Mon Jan 18 00:15:01 2010
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