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On Nov 2, 12:58*pm, Bobby Owsinski wrote:
In article
,

wrote:
Hello there, I have a couple of mixing questions. I will start with
the How to get the drums in your face tricks.
*I am working on a Rock band and the drums, bass, and guitars all are
sounding good. I can't seem to bus the snare and kick thru a software
compressor and back into the mix with Pro tools without hearing a
phase problem. I think the trick is called " The New York compresson
method". Seemed to work fine on * an analog console with a DBX 4:1 or
as much as 10:1 . 10 to 15 db's of compression and some EQ *on *the
return and just bring it up until you have that sound. Anyone have
this problem with Pro Tools?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Glenn.

I think I was the first to call side-chain compression "The New York
Compression Trick" in my book The Mixing Engineer's Handbook after
observing that engineers that grew up in New York studios all seemed to
use this method to get punchy drums.

It's a great trick, it really works, and it should work flawlessly in
any version of Protools or any other DAW.

Here's how to do it in Protools:

1) Insert a new stereo Aux Channel into your mix and send it's output to
your main output buss (usually 1 and 2)

2) Place a stereo compressor into one of the inserts. *Set it to a ratio
of a minimum of 10:1 (use more if you really want it super in your
face). *If you're using LE, make sure it's a native compressor so
there's no latency. *If you're using HD, any compressor will work.

2a) Place an EQ in an insert after the compressor. *Increase the low
shelf at 100Hz and the high shelf at 10kHz to taste (could be anywhere
from 3dB to 10dB depending upon how strong or weak your drums are
already).

3) *Assign the kick, snare and toms (no cymbals, room or hat) to the aux
buss going to your drum compressor channel.

4) Set the compressor so it's squashing the signal by 10dB or so. *Set
the attack and release times to moderately fast, but the exact amount
depends upon the compressor that you use.

5) *Bring up the aux channel with drum compressor until your drums sound
the way you want. *The most extreme would be the drum compressor channel
and the main drums are at equal volume, but usually the drum compressor
channel is way lower.

It's best to bring it up to where you can just hear it, see how it fits
in the mix, then adjust from there.

I always assign the main drums to their own master fader (or subgroup)
so it's easy to vary the level of both in the mix.

Hope this helps.

Bobby

Thanks for the info! Like I think I said earlier I got it working last
night here at my house on my i book with LE 7.4 and the stock
compressor. It really makes the drums sound great. When I go back to
my studio monday I'm pretty sure I can get it working on that HD
system also. Because of the flange or phase problem I have not used it
in about 5 years.
I forgot how good it sounds.
Glenn.