you can (and should!) use multiple compressors on the same thing

One of my mentees¹ asked me a couple of days ago:

Hey! Question for ya. My latest client has a SUPER dynamic voice. I had the gain on the mic pretty low so it wouldn’t distort. It sounds fine up until I put the limiter on the master bus, and then all her louder parts are super distorted.

Is this a compression issue, a limiter issue, or a copious amounts of automation issue?

Great question! My response:

This is a compression issue.

I imagine that it doesn’t actually sound fine without the limiter. While it may not be distorting, it’s surely wildly too loud in the loud parts; if it weren’t, it wouldn’t be distorting in the limiter.

The solution: use multiple compressors in series. This is a great technique for dynamic singers (or dynamic instruments!) — I do it with Shannon all of the time. Here’s an audio example of what I’m about to describe, on the vocal for Shannon’s latest release.

My standard go-to is to do 10-15dB of compression with the compressor in the brainworx SSL 9000J (ratio = 3.5:1, release = somewhere in the 0.15-0.25 second range), followed by the Kiive Xtressor (a Distressor model on steroids).

I typically set the Xtressor to a ratio of 6:1 with the attack and release at 5 — i.e., the default way that it loads — and jockey the input and output knobs back and forth until it’s compressing enough so that the vocal is locked into place.

You should do this while listening in speakers, not headphones — you can’t hear compression properly in headphones — and while listening quietly. Laptop speakers can be great for this.

You want the vocal to sit solidly in one place without any automation. Automation is for more toward the end of the mix, to bring certain words or phrases forward or back.

If the vocalist is both dynamic and also a bit uncontrolled, you might need to a) increase the ratio on the Xtressor, b) increase the attack time, or c) both.

Locked in — jamie

1. I mentor a select group of diy home producers on production and engineering, via back-and-forth emails — including for free for people experiencing financial hardship. If you’re interested in this, message me and we can talk about what that looks like!