Limiting, Compressing and Equalizing

[horacejesse]

Thanks, Spariam. That makes sense. But what about what Bird said? She seems to have no problems with her dial-up server. Maybe I will have to change servers.But doesn't it seem unethical that they were charging me $18.56 a month for rotten dial-up for who knows how long just because I didn't know I could get the same service out of them for half that price? They never notified me. And no wonder my bill never went up. It was already twice what it was supposed to be!That means a store clerk can charge me last week's prices for something that has gone down. If gas goes down, I still pay what it was yesterday. It is OK as long as I don't know about it.Tomorrow maybe I can get something more out of those tip-toers. It seems like they owe me 9+ dollars for X number of mos. Only they know what X is.

[spariam]

Funny how they forgot to tell you when the price went down. I'm sure that wouldn't have happened if the price had gone up OK, I'll have to modify my post - it's been a long time since I've used a dialup. Though my comments on web servers hold true, it's also true that ISPs will time you out as well. It sounds like your ISP has a short time out. I've heard of dialup timeouts of eight hours or so. If the ISP doesn't count the file transer itself as "activity" it may time you out. Some ISPs have a short inactivity time out, like 15 minutes or so.Try uploading a file to yousendit.com - they have an extremely long timeout because they're using form file uploads specifically for large files. If you time out there uploading a mp3, there's a good chance it's your ISP. I would think myspace or broadjam would have a pretty generous timeout for uploads. As I said, I've never had trouble with broadjam, but I've had lots of trouble with myspace, even with a T1.

[horacejesse]

Now that's funny. So I thought I would get some money out of those guys? Did I think they wouldn't have their own butts covered 14 different ways?They told me to go where the sun doesn't shine and gave me directions how to get there. I told them I would quit them. I didn't hear any whimpering in the background.

[horacejesse]

All,I was just wondering how many of the folks on here consider it essential to have a compressor between the mic and the board for lead vocals.Does it depend on the vocalist, or should some compression pretty much always be there?I have another question someone might be able to answer. Music played on my friend's computer comes out about double speed and sounding like the chipmunks. Does anyone know how to fix this curiosity?

[andreh]

Hi Horace-I assume you're talking about recording vocals, not a live sound situation. In that case, the only time you should use a compressor "on the way in" is when you need to control dynamics to avoid clipping, or when you're 100% positive you'll want to keep the level of compression you're applying to the sound. Since compression can be added after the track is recorded but it cannot be taken away, I suggest using as little as necessary until you know how the track is sitting in the overall mix.Of course, there are times when you know what you're looking for early on, and there's no harm in achieving that sound as quickly as possibly once you're familiar with how your tracks tend to fit together when mixed.As for your friend's chipmunks, that could be caused by many things but it sounds like a clocking issue. Does the problem occur only through a digital output, or through the analog outputs of the computer as well? Can you tell us more about your friend's audio card/interface?HTH,Andre

[horacejesse]

Thanks Andre,Some syllables tend to come out really loud when I sing, since I am not a trained singer.My voice does not clip because in my inexperience I have believe I have been mixing way too cool. But the voice does jump out way above the rest of the mix at certain junctures, i.e., fairly frequently throughout.I will try to find out more about my friend's computer.

[og]

If the sample rates don't match (file and audio software), you can get chipmunkitis. Thought I was losing it for a while, 'til I figured that out! Try to play a 48kz file when you are set for 44.1.

[horacejesse]

Og,Any specific ideas on how to fix this? Since everything that is played on his computer does this, so it must be a computer setting. But which? And where do I find it?

[horacejesse]

Got another question for anyone in the know.Our studio was given an old piece of eqipment. I am wondering if these things are any good or strictly passe. I have not hooked it up because I am not a keyboard player.It is an Elka string ensemble probably at least twenty years old. Can it compete with today's synths?