As promised, a couple of links to info about using stock compressors for transient shaping. I read the blog -- I think these will help a lot. It's just such a tricky thing to learn to hear! I still have trouble with it. And while I do like the Waves Smack Attack and the SPL Transient plug ins (they take some of the guess work out of the users hands, I think) I have found the Waves H-Comp is the go-to one for me for most things! Why? Because somehow, the act of dialing it in happens in a way that I can hear and see and feel at the same time and it's really just a gut kind of thing.
And I hate it that I have to say it that way because I would have slapped anyone who said that to me last year.
Be persistent: you will get it and then never think about it again, and you will find the one that works for you and then you will wonder why it was ever an issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb2sZkcke4U&list=PLcxxpJeBVNQ7zOS5B2siju7oanbW56iZq
Link to a playlist of Bobby Owskinski videos. I'm not saying 'do this' but I found it all very informative when I needed to be spoon fed some basics last year. I was climbing the learning curves of my DAW (didn't know how to use a 'real' DAW, didn't know the Studio One software), Mixing concepts in general (what's a compressor? when do I use one? how do I set one up? What's an EQ? etc.), and how to put all that stuff together to get a track that anyone would actually want to listen to. (Still working on it all, of course, but way less stressed about it now.)
Everywhere in the Compression videos, Bobby addresses transient issues and uses stock plug ins (Pro Tools).
Also, Phil Allen's EQ and Compression course videos (Pro Mix Academy) -- there's tracks for a little ditty I call "The Newb Loop" where he takes you through setting up a stock compressor in excruciating detail. It includes talking about transient shaping!
While we're on the subject of compression (after today's livestream (jan. 5, mix breakdown of The Ditty Song)), here's a link to the "real new york city compression trick" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muzh3TBbbIM
I confess I still have an NYC BUS in my template. I send individual tracks to it that feel kind of thin, kick and bass, maybe snare, but usually not, never anything with cymbals. I do send recorded piano, never organ or synths. I have it set up with a stock compressor and a pro-eq just like in the video. I don't blend in much, but just a bit for something 'solid' I do have the high end boost because I find that I always mix too dark and that's one way of making sure that the highs still have some support from underneath, somehow, it's kind of a vague feeling that it's the right thing to do.
Malcolm Middleton.
Mark Holden
Just Lisa
Mark Holden.
Malcolm Middleton