Platinum Orchestral Compressor

[Silvie]

Hello,

I've never used a compressor really (not even for my sound art work) but now I'm wondering whether to put the Platinum Orchestral on a makeshift live recording.  We only had a Zoom digital recorder at hand for the whole thing on top of it.  I did various things to the recording so far, e.g. create different tracks, put gain on where needed, filtering out noise, put on subtle reverbs etc., trying to take care to be true to the sounds of the instruments and that performance and maintain the wide dynamic range the score calls for.  It's a composition of mine: I  wrote many so-called 'extended techniques' into the score, asking the musicians to make all sorts of unusual sounds on their instruments.  It's a quartet for Violin, Viola and 2 Celli.  I'm quite happy the way it's going, the sounds are coming out, even the ones one almost couldn't hear in the original recording.  I think, a compressor would enhance it.  I just chose the Platinum Orchestral as it comes in Logic... because I don't know what I'm doing with compressors at all but it seems to bring the music more to life and give the instruments more presence.  Now: should I put this Platinum Orchestral on each track or just on the Master Out before the Adaptive Limiter?  As well: does anybody suggest a different compressor altogether to this Platinum?

Thank you.

[des99]

That sounds like your goal is "to use a compressor", rather than, "i have a need, and a compressor is the right tool to use".

Generally speaking, orchestral music is dynamic and not widely compressed, so unless there is a problem to fix, you'll want to go easy on your compression settings and be very light-handed - which is extra challenging, if you're not familiar with compressors, what they do, what compression sounds like and how the various parameters influence their behaviour. It takes some time to train your ears to what compression is and sounds like, and you really want to start with more obvious and audible uses than fairly transparent light touches for orchestral music.

So start with - what are you trying to achieve? This will guide you in what tools to use, where to put them, and how to set them.

As a suggestion, I'd possibly try a compressor on the master bus first, very light settings - 2:1 or less, medium attack and release times, and lower the threshold until you get maybe up to a few dB's of reduction. You can either use a very light ratio, with a low threshold (so you're squishing everything very lightly), or a higher ratio, and higher threshold (so you're only squishing the loud stuff, but a bit more strongly), and see how you like it.

[Silvie]

Hi des99,

Thanks a lot for your input and suggestions.   I'll try around how you suggest on the master; it might just give me the overall sound I'm after.  I certainly want to use the various tools subtly but because it's a lousy recording, it's great to have them at hand.  To chose the right tool in the right way is a challenge for me for sure, esp. in this case.

 

[David Nahmani]

Generally when recording/mixing classical music, producers stay away from compressors as preserving the natural dynamic of the performance is of paramount importance. I'm not saying that it should never be done, just that as a rule of thumb, it's generally not done. 

[Silvie]

Hi David,

Thank you for your answer.  It reinforces what des99 was getting at.  So - you two have made up my mind:  I shall stay away from using it in this case and solve any problem I still perceive with the recording in other ways.

Thanks again to both of you!

[des99]

Yes, it's *probably* not the right solution for your case - but there's nothing to be lost by experimenting and trying it out, even if you end up deciding it's not really what you want.

In any case - you're welcome! 👍

Edited October 22, 2023 by des99

[Silvie]

👍🙂