I did this part, now trying to apply to the pedal by making samples in DAW and looking at waveforms and listening etc. but still need a “hey you suck” or “hey that’s cool”
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Yep, I can certainly see the advantage to that. Maybe people should start offering production lessons like music lessons.
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Mmmmm, I’m gonna push back on that a bit. DAWs, and the studio compressors I used to work with, have a dizzying array of controls and multiple ways to view the input & output signals. It can be a bit much. No one needs to deal with attack and release time fussiness on their first outing with a compressor.
For @John_E, here’s an example:
Let’s take the Keeley Bassist as a solid compressor, but most will have the same knobs. Attack & release are program-dependent, i.e. they match what you’re playing & you don’t have to worry about it. I’m good with that.
Turn the Compression ratio up to something ridiculous, higher than 10:1, and turn the Threshold down to -40 or less. This is what “sucks” sounds like 
. The sound will be flat and lifeless, dynamics non-existent.
Roll the Compression ratio back to something sensible like 3:1 or 4:1, then slowly turn the Threshold clockwise until the compression indicator light just flickers when you really dig in. This is moderate to light compression and may not be enough.
Dial the Threshold back until you can see the light matching your plucking & quickly disappearing. You should be able to hear a hint of compression, but it will be invisible to the listener.
Bump the output gain up by 3dB or so for makeup gain or a slight boost.
Experiment with that & see if you can hear the differences. Yes, it would be great to have an engineer there to help, and I have to admit to fussing with my compressors more than is probably healthy, but this is a decent start.
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I used twelve in my last mix 
only three on the bass though.
All in the DAW of course.
I’m only counting the three that Neutron added to the bass track as two as it’s really one multiband and the track limiter. And I added another multiband at the start.
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The channel strip compression in Harrison Mixbus is pretty great. I do have their other compressors, but the multi-band is, um … imagine trying to teach your dog calculus.
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Kilohearts Multipass is probably my favorite plugin. You can make any multiband effect you want with it (and the rest of the Kilohearts snapins.) I usually throw compressors at different settings in different bands with it.
I did this about a year ago, took very little time
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Depends on the person certainly. I like to be able to see if I’m crossing threshold and how much compression is being applied. @pete_b already has attack and release times to deal with on his pedal. Those are terrific tips you give for the Bassist. That LED they put on there is very well thought out.
This procedure could work for the M87 too, but instead of turning down the “Threshold” the equivalent action would be turning up (clockwise) the “Input” knob to get the compressor to trigger sooner.
The faster the “attack” the more you are going to compress the initial pluck transient. If you want to have more of a sharp transient at the beginning of the note, slower attack will start to let it through. On the M87 fast attack is in the clockwise direction and slow attack is in the counter clockwise direction.
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An alternate way to look at this that I find useful - you tune the attack to the style.
If you are fingerplucking, a slower attack works well to properly get the level across the (relatively softer/slower) finger transient.
If you are picking or slapping, you want a faster attack because you definitely want it to compress that transient and raise the sustain.
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Hmm in general I prefer a faster attack and slow release. It also depends which compressor I’m using. The Boss one was great with a slower attack.
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Sure will keep an eye out.
My eyes have been finding all sorts of stuff, and even tho, I Dort of took a vow to not buy more instruments, for a good long while any who, here I sit wit two brand new basses, and a possible 3rd or 4th on the way…
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One of my favorite compressors. It s so easy to dial and such a sweet sound.
It helps that the unity gain is pretty boosted, so you are not losing one a loiwjio o
What, your don’t doesn’t know duly
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@Paul can you say what the Cali76 gives you compared to the other pedals? Does it color the tone?
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It’s a bit hard to explain so I’m just using a few lines from Ovnilab which pretty much sums it up how I feel about it. I don’t think it colors the tone but it does change your sound in a good way. Also keep in mind that I am a bit of a compressor nerd. A compressor shines when you play in a gig or use it for recording. Altho for recording I would advice anyone to use plugin compressors and record the clean signal from your bass (so you can color it from scratch in your daw).
So yeah I also really like how the mids and highs pop out. I haven’t experienced this in any other compression pedals which make the Cali stands out imo. I really love its punch and it blends in well with any style I play. Especially with drive and distortion.
Fully agree on this statement. I own both beasts.
More info here Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Bass and Compact Deluxe
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A new bass is much more fun!
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Question - I record my bass in my DAW.
- I record it with a compressor plug in on while recording, then export my final mp3.
- I record it without the compressor plug-in on while recording, but turn it on before exporting my final mp3.
Is there a difference?
Does it having it on when recording matter vs. applying it later?
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Is the compressor on the track input FX or the track FX?
Depending on the DAW, putting it on the track effects should be ok as long as they don’t affect the inputs. You don’t want it on the input effects. You want to record completely dry bass and apply all effects later. The reason for this is it is extremely easy to add effects in the DAW, but very difficult to remove some of them or correct for them. You severely limit yourself in possible editing by recording with effects on the input. This is why, when recording people who insist on using their pedals, sound engineers will still request a dry track split off of a DI early in their chain. And they will probably mostly use that and ignore the other track 
This is a big reason I sold my pedalboard, actually. It’s easier to apply the effects in the DAW to the dry track; plus, you don’t need to remember all the effects settings you use.
And you always want the dry track, no matter how good you think you are dialing in effects tone.
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Not sure about this.
I simply dropped it on the audio track that has my bass input in Abelton.
Not sure if this effects the INPUT signal or the ‘monitored’ / output signal.
Guess I should do some research.
I was feeling like I should record with it off then apply it after, having the dry track no matter what. Then I wondered if it matters.
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Yeah this is DAW dependent but most have an idiom of input versus track effects.
There’s definitely uses for input effects (though I didn’t think the ones Kenny gave were all that compelling since you can do all those in the DAW via editing too). A big one I can think of is if a guitarist or bassist is really leaning in to a delay pedal’s timing for effect. I would personally do this in the DAW with time syncing but it’s totally understandable if someone wants to do somethign liek that live (for the feels).
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Looks like they are ‘devices’ in a track’s signal chain, not the input into the track.
This makes sense as when I turn the compressor on and off I can here the difference on the already recorded track.
If it were on the input itself, it couldn’t effect the recorded track.
So if this holds, there would be no difference as its not effecting what is recorded.
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Right. That should be fine. And I usually record this way myself as I like to have all my amp sims and so on on for playback between recording, and it’s easier to just leave them on out of laziness.
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