what do you aim for when...

[Adam1423]

what do you guys aim for when compressing guitar tracks in metal music?

I get the point in compressors, to increase the volume of the lowest sounding frequencies and decrease the volume of the highest peaks to provide a more round sounding punchy tone, but i dont really know what i'm *aiming* for if you guys get my meaning. Maybe i don't know what i want to hear i'm not really sure if my question make sense lol.

Thanks for any help

[Audio~Geek]

I apply compression when I want a less dynamic signal.

Don't apply any processing unless you know why you should.

For metal guitars I likely won't compress each track individually (distortion already limits the dynamics by a lot), but I would compress the group/submix/bus of guitars, and then only taking maybe 2dB off.

A compressor turns a signal down. Pretty simple.
You get to choose when and by how much and how quickly this happens.

[paul999]

I treat solo's similarly to voice. When compressing heavy guitars I work to keep the pick attacks and even accentuate them a bit. If your eq frequencies are not right especially in the lows compression is a disaster.

[garageband]

I get the point in compressors, to increase the volume of the lowest sounding frequencies and decrease the volume of the highest peaks to provide a more round sounding punchy tone

Forget this, it's mostly wrong. Actually, it's not right at all. I was trying to be nice. Pay attention to what those other two guys said.

[tacman7]

I don't do metal, I try sometimes.

I use the compressors for a tone and presence. Different ones can take the grainy edge off the distortion of the guitar.

I never did that before getting into UAD plugs though, couldn't really hear anything different with native plugs.

[String7th]

Originally Posted by tacman7

I use the compressors for a tone and presence. Different ones can take the grainy edge off the distortion of the guitar.

This is in regards to compression (in the form of boost pedals, overdrive pedals, etc) before the amp to boost guitar signal. Compression after recording doesn;t effect tone nearly as much. With exception of compressors with tape saturation, or tube limiting effects, which will add a bit of color. API2500 has feed forward and back style compression which reallt changes tone.

[bozmillar]

if you add compression before the distiortion, you can get a more relentless distortion sound and can be great for chugging palm mutes. After the distortion won't do much because it isn't that dynamic.