# Compressors for Orchestral Music



## VSriHarsha (Feb 16, 2021)

Hello!

I hope I posted it in the right forum.

I am looking for compressors, which are well suited for Orchestral Music. Well, you can mention if you know some work for just Strings or Brass & so on. Paid & free welcomed.

As a matter of fact, I found the Spitfire Originals are not compressor friendly. Well, I think those are well out without compression. But that’s just that & might not work with every library.

Go ahead, you’re welcome with your ideas etc....

Thanks.


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## Dietz (Feb 16, 2021)

As a rule-of-thumb, the less baked-in room, the better you will be able to use compression, saturation and other dynamic processing. 

Apart from that, most professional compressor plug-ins might work for orchestral music, be it on soloists, ensembles and/or the mix bus, as long as the settings were chosen carefully. There might be occasions where you want to achieve just smooth, colorless glue, while you might aim for lot of color and grit (and maybe even pumping artifacts) in another context. 

Choose your tools accordingly ...


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## Stringtree (Feb 16, 2021)

One reason to use a compressor on symphonic music might be that the dynamic range is too wide for certain listening environments, leading the listener to constantly fiddle with the volume knob. 

Like a car, for instance. Or a kitchen while one is doing things like running the faucet. 

Certain instruments or styles of music are meant to be choked and gated, but orchestral stuff doesn't respond in general to this kind of manipulation. The natural hall reverb sounds wrong; the natural decay is altered, and things don't sound right. 

I guess my question to you would be: why do you want to compress your orchestral audio? To bring the quieter parts up? To bring the louder parts down? To decrease dynamic range? To add body and punch? 

Any audio is amenable to compression, it just comes down to the degree and balance. It might be a gentle leveling amplifier you're looking for. Hearing compression in orchestral music makes my brain go "nope nope nope nope nope." So you'll maybe need to be stealthy, depending on your goals.


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## audio1 (Feb 16, 2021)

VSriHarsha said:


> Hello!
> 
> I hope I posted it in the right forum.
> 
> ...


If this is purely a mastering situation, have you considered what I would call a highbred mastering approach?

1- Put final master audio file in daw and raise the volume "manually" in softer parts of track according to taste using basic gain plugin.

2- Then raise all up a few DB {do not normalize}.

3 -Then put light "loudness"limiter plugin on it to tight things up and give some extra juice. 

The key is to create a good mix before even worrying about master levels and additional processing.


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## Dr.Quest (Feb 16, 2021)

VSriHarsha said:


> Hello!
> 
> I hope I posted it in the right forum.
> 
> ...


The very fact that you are asking for an orchestral compressor says to me you need to learn how and why compression is used for in a final mix first. There are many good tutorials out there.


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## fakemaxwell (Feb 16, 2021)

It's a can of worms to be sure, but for a general "orchestral compressor" my initial thought would be something low and slow. MJUC and DC8C3 from Klanghelm are great, inexpensive, and from a developer worth supporting. Presswerk from u-he is also great, also a great developer, but expensive. Makes up for it by being very flexible.

For "clean" compression Fabfilter Pro-C 2 is my go to, but most DAW compressors are going to be fine. If you're not sure what you're doing wrt compression, don't spend a single cent. Compression takes a long time to learn how to hear and how to use.


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## Dietz (Feb 16, 2021)

One might want to differentiate between "orchestral recordings" and "sample-based orchestral music". Most sample-based performances gain a lot of cohesiveness (a.k.a. "glue") from gentle compression on indidividual instruments or ensembles, maybe paired with a bit of additional harmonics.

... I know that I'll sound like an ad now, but I _really_ like Vienna Suite's Compressor (in "FAT"-mode) for exactly that second scenario.


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## VSriHarsha (Feb 16, 2021)

Stringtree said:


> Like a car, for instance. Or a kitchen while one is doing things like running the faucet.



Pretty common things which happen everyday. I agree.


Stringtree said:


> I guess my question to you would be: why do you want to compress your orchestral audio? To bring the quieter parts up? To bring the louder parts down? To decrease dynamic range? To add body and punch?


Right question!

Well, my teachers use to tell us we gotta use Eq, Compressor & Reverb but yes, accordingly. 2 of my tracks I used compression on they suck big time, particularly the strings. I'd go like what the hell? 

Thanks coz I think using compressors in Orchestral music would bring the worst outta it. 
Yes, I used compressors to have some head room in the mix but yes, I always had this feeling of the essence of the track, rather the instrument, getting squeezed, well, screwed for real time. On the other hand, I had the gut feeling so lately I've been a little conscious & not being afraid of not using it. So, I think my idea IS right.


Stringtree said:


> Any audio is amenable to compression, it just comes down to the degree and balance. It might be a gentle leveling amplifier you're looking for. Hearing compression in orchestral music makes my brain go "nope nope nope nope nope." So you'll maybe need to be stealthy, depending on your goals.


That's right!


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## VSriHarsha (Feb 16, 2021)

Dietz said:


> As a rule-of-thumb, the less baked-in room, the better you will be able to use compression, saturation and other dynamic processing.
> 
> Apart from that, most professional compressor plug-ins might work for orchestral music, be it on soloists, ensembles and/or the mix bus, as long as the settings were chosen carefully. There might be occasions where you want to achieve just smooth, colorless glue, while you might aim for lot of color and grit (and maybe even pumping artifacts) in another context.
> 
> Choose your tools accordingly ...


Thanks @Dietz .
That's helpful.


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## VSriHarsha (Feb 16, 2021)

audio1 said:


> If this is purely a mastering situation, have you considered what I would call a highbred mastering approach?
> 
> 1- Put final master audio file in daw and raise the volume "manually" in softer parts of track according to taste using basic gain plugin.


The Key: Gain plugin. But what if I don't master it. I only take care of the mixing of my track so I have to do it all before getting mastered. 


audio1 said:


> 2- Then raise all up a few DB {do not normalize}.
> 
> 3 -Then put light "loudness"limiter plugin on it to tight things up and give some extra juice.





audio1 said:


> The key is to create a good mix before even worrying about master levels and additional processing.


That IS right!


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## VSriHarsha (Feb 16, 2021)

Dr.Quest said:


> The very fact that you are asking for an orchestral compressor says to me you need to learn how and why compression is used for in a final mix first. There are many good tutorials out there.


Well, that's coz am confused.


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## VSriHarsha (Feb 16, 2021)

fakemaxwell said:


> It's a can of worms to be sure, but for a general "orchestral compressor" my initial thought would be something low and slow.


Low is right but that itself would make a huge difference, in terms of listening & that's enough to kill the track. Using it wisely IS the key. 


fakemaxwell said:


> For "clean" compression Fabfilter Pro-C 2 is my go to, but most DAW compressors are going to be fine. If you're not sure what you're doing wrt compression, don't spend a single cent. Compression takes a long time to learn how to hear and how to use.


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## VSriHarsha (Feb 16, 2021)

Dietz said:


> ... I know that I'll sound like an ad now, but I _really_ like Vienna Suite's Compressor (in "FAT"-mode) for exactly that second scenario.


That sounds obvious but yea, you're making point.


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## AlexRuger (Feb 16, 2021)

Really, really depends. But as a general way of working...

-I tend to not compress the mix bus or even subgroups (strings, winds, brass, etc). Orchestral music can respond not so well to compression unless applied very carefully and lightly.

-If I do compress a subgroup, I do so _after _that group's reverb. For example, all of my winds have a reverb send to a "woodwinds reverb," and the winds _and _the reverb's output is the "woodwinds bus." Ditto for the other instrument groups. This way, I'm compressing at the stage that I would if I were recording live instruments on a stage, capturing the room tone; I treat the compression as something that I would be wanting to bake in during the recording process, as opposed to an effect applied in post. I like how gluing together the source and the reverb feels. But, again -- gotta keep it subtle. It's more for the _sound _of the compressor than the compression itself.

-Only exception is soloists. I treat them like vocalists and tend to compress a bit more aggressively, pre-reverb. "Aggressive" is wrong though.

-And of course, all bets are off when printing and then processing orchestra in order to create more of an effect. The above just applies to "how to make an orchestra sound good, sounding like an orchestra."


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## Dr.Quest (Feb 16, 2021)

Here is a good view of one of the best mixers, Jake Jackson mixing strings - *Jake Mixing*
*A live Master Class with Jake Mixing*


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## darcvision (Feb 16, 2021)

i like using LA-2A on strings to make it sounds more aggresive, SSL Townhouse on mix bus, or single instrument to glue-ing instruments or controlling dynamic range.


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## audio1 (Feb 17, 2021)

VSriHarsha said:


> The Key: Gain plugin. But what if I don't master it. I only take care of the mixing of my track so I have to do it all before getting mastered.
> 
> 
> 
> That IS right!


There is nothing stopping you from trying to master yourself just to see what happen. Give it a shot and try something new. While doing so, you just might discover something along the way....or not...but you have nothing to lose by trying it yourself.


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## VSriHarsha (Feb 17, 2021)

AlexRuger said:


> Really, really depends. But as a general way of working...
> 
> -I tend to not compress the mix bus or even subgroups (strings, winds, brass, etc). Orchestral music can respond not so well to compression unless applied very carefully and lightly.
> 
> -If I do compress a subgroup, I do so _after _that group's reverb. For example, all of my winds have a reverb send to a "woodwinds reverb," and the winds _and _the reverb's output is the "woodwinds bus." Ditto for the other instrument groups. This way, I'm compressing at the stage that I would if I were recording live instruments on a stage, capturing the room tone; I treat the compression as something that I would be wanting to bake in during the recording process, as opposed to an effect applied in post. I like how gluing together the source and the reverb feels. But, again -- gotta keep it subtle. It's more for the _sound _of the compressor than the compression itself.


That’s kinda pretty good learning curve there. Thanks for that I’ll keep that in mind.


AlexRuger said:


> -Only exception is soloists. I treat them like vocalists and tend to compress a bit more aggressively, pre-reverb. "Aggressive" is wrong though.
> 
> -And of course, all bets are off when printing and then processing orchestra in order to create more of an effect. The above just applies to "how to make an orchestra sound good, sounding like an orchestra."


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## VSriHarsha (Feb 17, 2021)

audio1 said:


> There is nothing stopping you from trying to master yourself just to see what happen. Give it a shot and try something new. While doing so, you just might discover something along the way....or not...but you have nothing to lose by trying it yourself.


Yea, I know, nothing stopping but my teachers advised me, well, the students, not to master the track ourselves but yea, I’ll see. Thanks.


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