Vocal Compression; Drums - Alesis CLX440 Reference Manual

applications • chapter 5

Vocal Compression

In other cases, you may want to compress the entire dynamic
range of a vocal . This is typical of pop vocals and voiceovers for
radio commercials. Whenever there is signal, there is some
compression taking place; just barely on the soft passages, and
up to 12 dB of reduction during loud passages.
• Threshold set so that one
during the softest passages with signal (usually around 11
o'clock)
• Ratio set for 4:1
• Attack set to 1ms
• Release set between 10 and 12 o'clock (100 ms.)
• Detection set to RMS
• Knee set to 12 o'clock
You may need to raise the output to compensate for gain
reduction
Tip: Try using these settings together with the Peak Limiter feature for
simultaneous compression and limiting on vocals.

Drums

Engineers often compress drum tracks just to get a nice punchy
sound in the mix. The settings below sound good on a rock snare
drum:
• Threshold set so that all drum hits are compressed (around -
3dB)
• Ratio set for 4:1
• Knee set for Soft
• Peak/RMS set for Peak
• Attack set around 8 o'clock
• Release set around 9 o'clock
By turning the Threshold down even more, you can "squash" the
snare drum as much as you want. Turn the attack up (longer) to
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