Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, Paul Najar <yahoo@...> wrote:

> 
> On 14/09/2006, at 7:57 AM, iraklis_l wrote:
> 
> > --- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, Paul Najar <yahoo@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > As for the autogain feature, I also turn it off and go little by
> > little to compensate, but this results to eventually clipping the
> > channel which of course I want to avoid, whereas the Waves Compressor
> > does not. This is odd assuming that this is exactly why you need the
> > compressor in the first place. However, I was glad to hear that Paul
> > you were so supportive of the Logic compressor, but do you not have
> > the above problem?

Look at it this way - clipping is only ever a result of what you set up any particular 
compressor to do. It's not like Waves inherently doesn't clip and Logic does, or anything 
like that.

I usually start most compression tasks by finding a preset that's in the ballpark of what I 
want/need, and then tweak it to suit my material. And the most typical change I have to 
make in Logic's compressor, like a lot of people have said, is to turn the autogain off. 
Nearly all presets start with it in the on position, and I've noticed that the default result is 
often a very hot signal, rather than a slightly louder but less dynamic one.

There are a lot of typical ways to use a compressor, but you need to remember that you 
can actually use them any way you want, and many different paths can and will lead to 
similar end results (EG - a softer initial signal fed into a higher compression ratio may 
sound indistinguishable from the same signal - louder - fed into a lower compression 
ratio), and they're all equally valid if they achieve the sound you want or help your mix.

If I play all the controls and can't get the compressor to help me at all, my most common 
fix is to reduce the amount of signal I'm feeding in in the first place, then try again.

My compressor of choice is Elemental Audio's Neodynium. Even if you're not exploiting its 
ability to compress different levels at different ratios, its graphic nature gives a muc better 
visual representation of how the compression's working - including animated feedback - 
than anything else out there. This extra feedback can be particularly helpful if you're 
learning compression. Though I've never stopped learning how to use compression! - but I 
do feel I've passed out of that really confusing stage that everybody starts off in.

You (or somebody?) mentioned the limiters.

The adaptive limiter basically acts like a loudening brickwall limiter. Something like a 
Waves L1-3, or EA's Finis. Most typically you'd put it across your whole mix at the last 
stage to increase the volume of the whole thing slightly, and such processes always 
involve a degree of sound colouration. Except for explicit effect, you wouldn't put the ad-
limiter on an individual track, and that ain't its purpose anyway.

The regular limiter does not offer a brickwall ceiling. It seeks to limit the volume of an 
indivual track as it approaches a certain level you set, at a speed and with a sensitivity 
which you also set. The basic goal is to catch hot transients on the track, and if you pull 
those down a little, you can typically turn the volume up on that track a bit. But if the 
whole track is really hot all the time, the post-limiter level can still jump up past the goal 
level you set. That's what I mean about it not being a brickwall. A brickwall limiter will 
never ever let the volume go above a level you explicitly set.

For regular mix purposes - you'd always just use a regular limiter on individual tracks, not 
the ad-limiter.