Music Production and Mixing Tips Podcast for DIY Producers and Artists | Inside The Mix
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I'm Marc Matthews, and I host the Inside The Mix Podcast. It's the ultimate serial podcast for music production and mixing enthusiasts. Say goodbye to generic interviews and tutorials, because I'm taking things to the next level. Join me as I feature listeners in round table music critiques and offer exclusive one-to-one coaching sessions to kickstart your music production and mixing journey. Prepare for cutting-edge music production tutorials and insightful interviews with Grammy Award-winning audio professionals like Dom Morley (Adele) and Mike Exeter (Black Sabbath). If you're passionate about music production and mixing like me, Inside The Mix is the podcast you can't afford to miss!
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Music Production and Mixing Tips Podcast for DIY Producers and Artists | Inside The Mix
#210: Should You Record With Compression or Wait Until Mixing?
Should you record vocals with compression or save it for mixing? It’s one of the most debated questions in music production, and in this episode of Inside The Mix, we break it down with practical advice for producers at every level.
Guest Tim Benson shares why he often tracked vocals with hardware compressors in the studio, not just for sound quality, but because hearing compressed vocals in headphones helped singers perform with more confidence and precision. We discuss how compression during tracking can shape performances, highlighting the psychological and creative benefits that go far beyond managing peaks.
But what if you don’t want to commit compression to your recording? Thanks to modern workflows, you can now monitor with plugin compression while recording a clean signal, giving vocalists the polished sound they crave without sacrificing flexibility at mixdown.
We also compare compression across instruments, exploring why it’s often essential for bass but risky for acoustic guitars. Plus, discover why microphone technique, like managing distance and consistency, may solve more vocal problems than compression ever could.
Whether you’re asking “Should I record with compression on the way in?” or wondering which instruments benefit most, this episode gives you the clarity to make smarter tracking decisions.
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Should you record with compression on the way in or leave it for mixing? This single choice could make or break your vocal sound, possibly, or just an instrument in general. So is compression during recording a secret weapon or a trap you can't undo? Let's find out.
INDIGO:Hey, inside the Mix podcast fans, this is Indigo and you can find me at Indigo Synthwave on most social platforms you are listening to Inside the Mix podcast. Here's your host, Mark Matthews.
Marc Matthews:Welcome to Inside the Mix, your go-to podcast for music creation and production. Whether you're crafting your first track or refining your mixing skills, join me each week for expert interviews. First track or refining your mixing skills? Join me each week for expert interviews, practical tutorials and insights to help you level up your music and smash it in the music industry. Let's dive in. Hey folks, welcome to Inside the Mix, or welcome back if you're a returning listener. Today's episode is inspired by a question from one of our listeners, and the question is this it's from an anonymous source, sent by a message Do you record with compression going in? So if you've ever second-guessed whether to track your vocals with compression or any other instrument really, or worried you're doing more harm than good, you're in the right place, and joining me is my good friend Tim Benson, aka Aisle9, hot off the release of his album Paradise Cove. What is it?
Tim Benson (Aisle9):19th of August, a couple of weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago, I think it was yeah, 1st of August, yeah, Friday the 1st yeah, yeah, there we go.
Marc Matthews:So I'll pop a link in the episode description, audience, go and check that out. I think, with Spotify now as well, you can actually add it directly in the episode, which is quite an interesting feature of Spotify podcasts. And you may have noticed audience listening a bit of a tangent here that I've actually uploaded video to Spotify. I'm trialing that to see how it goes. I won't lie, it is an extra step in the production phase, but I'm wondering if it is of benefit. So if you listen to this podcast on spotify, you can actually watch it on spotify now as well. So I'm trialing out to see see what the engagement's like with that. So, uh, yeah, welcome back, tim. How are you? How are things?
Tim Benson (Aisle9):yeah, not too bad thanks. Yeah, you know, um enjoying life in the sunny southwest west. It's been very nice and hot and hard to be in a studio when it's beautiful outside, so I've been taking the dogs on excessively long walks. Yeah, it's been good and busy promoing the album. It was good to get that done and it was really exciting. I really enjoyed the release it was good.
Marc Matthews:It's a fantastic piece. The opening track I love. I love the opening instrumental on that it's yeah good, I think, think the lighthouse yeah, you said yeah, yeah, yeah, that's.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):That's the sort of track further down that you really like. Yeah, yeah, mmm had a big synth on it yeah, that was it, yeah, yeah that was it again.
Marc Matthews:I'll put a link to that in the show notes for the audience.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):Go check that one out the opener was one of those tracks that went really well, that everyone seems to like. So yeah, it's funny, isn't it one of those kind of things when you're putting an album together? I spent ages thinking like it's got to sort of have a good opener, because there's nothing worse than an album that the first track means you just go like oh, I won't listen to the rest of this, so yeah I was trying to make something epic for the beginning yeah, yeah, yeah it's.
Marc Matthews:I haven't released a lot of singles. I haven't. I think it was about a couple years ago almost, I released the ep. You forget that when you release a body of music that, like that opening track, could really make or break, I mean, you get the diligent listener that might listen beyond it, you know, if it doesn't quite hit the mark. But what with today's consumer market? I think there is a tendency that if it doesn't hit straight away on to the next one, you know which is, yeah, one of those things.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):My creaky studio chair. There must buy a new chair. It's like it's terrible.
Marc Matthews:I think, last time it was seagulls. I think it was seagulls. Yeah, no well.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):I've shut the window today, so you're not getting seagulls, but you know, yeah, I've rescued two outside the studio. In the past month I've rescued two seagulls, the babies, the big sort of babies that get lost. Yeah, one had a broken wing.
Marc Matthews:I'd put it in a box and take it to the vet. Another one had a broken foot, so again, I'd put it in a box and take it to the vet. I just cannot walk past and just see the seagull there and, yeah, it's mad. There's a lot of people around here and I'm just thinking you know how has nobody else seen this man? I'm not going to get my soapbox.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):But the biggest problem around here if you go near a baby seagull is all the other seagulls like come and attack you. My wife had to hide in the shed while a whole load bombed her for like trying to do attack. She was trying to save this poor seagull and all the rest of them went full attack mode so there we go luckily I didn't experience that which I hadn't thought of.
Marc Matthews:There is a lot. There are a lot of seagulls around here, so thankfully I wasn't. They didn't descend on me. I had one attack me once. I was in somewhere down in Cornwall and I had an ice cream and a seagull came out of nowhere, smacked me in the face and just took. They had this massive beak mark in my eye on my ice cream. I was warned, but there we go. Anyway, we'll move on to the topic of compression rather than seagulls.
Marc Matthews:Moving on to the topic of compression, rather than seagulls, yeah, but before, but before we do that, folks, if you've got a question about music production, music industry and music related to be honest, we'd love to hear it. Click the link in the episode description to send a quick voice note, or you can just click send me a message, and it's basically just like sending a text, share your website or socials. Alternatively, you can just do it anonymously, if you want, and get your question featured on the podcast and we'll endeavour to answer it. It so we're talking about compression. We're talking about compression going in when we're recording.
Marc Matthews:I mean, in my notes I've got vocals because I've admittedly, I've not done it a massive amount, to be honest, when it comes to recording and using compression whilst doing it, whilst recording, I think we've had this conversation before about using time-based approach, like reverb, just to sweeten a vocal when a vocalist is recording for, for example, um, but recording vocals with compression going in. So let's use the idea that we're recording vocals. Is it something that you'd Do? Is it something that you've done extensively in the past? Because I know you. Obviously you come from that extensive studio background.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):Yeah, yes, I have to say um, when I had my recording studio set up, my sort of main thing for recording vocals was actually a focus right sort of channel that I used a lot, which basically had you know sort of mic pre and then it had a built-in compression EQ and everything going in and I mean I would use that, I would use it. It had a sort of optical compressor on it. It was quite gentle. It wasn't a brutal sort of compression. I mean it could be. I mean you could really crank it, but it was quite sort of sort of just smooth things out nicely. And I think I did used to track with compression on the way in. I mean, obviously, years and years ago going back, people used to track with compression going in on tape or whatever, to get a more steady level actually onto the tape in the first place, to get better level when they record it onto tape, because they could get like sort of they could actually get a steady level so that they didn't get noise from the tape.
INDIGO:They got a really good level onto the tape that isn't really a problem that we have these days.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):We don't want to sort of you know, worry too much about level. We can up and down level. As long as you've got a reasonable level going into anything digital, you don't need to worry so um were you printing to?
Marc Matthews:were you printing the compression in the studio when you were using the phone? I?
Tim Benson (Aisle9):was yes, so I would go straight through that and print that compression onto the. You know I was, I was recording into my DAW and record that as I went. It sort of is a risky thing to do in a way, I suppose, because if you get it wrong you can't go back and you can't take it off. But I think it does affect what I found. Was it affected how the singer felt when they're singing into the mic and they've got a bit of compression? They kind of work with that compression a little bit and it can help a lot of singers. It evens things out. It gives them a fuller sound when they're tracking. You give them a little bit of sweetening reverb and EQ and, yeah, you just get a really good sound in their headphones and I think for a lot of talent that was great. Having a really really nice sound in their headphones made them sing better, made them hear the detail of what they were doing in the track better and perform better.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):But I didn't do anything wild with it. I didn't do you know, sort of something that I knew was going to be detrimental like. Well, pretty much knew wasn't going to be detrimental later on, but it is an argument now that we've got I think I was saying to you before we um rolled, um that like, basically, if you're using various sort of things, like you know, versal Audio have got interfaces and or you could just be using plugins in your DAW now that you don't actually need to track with compression but you can still listen to compression when you track. So you can listen through a plugin and work with compression as you're recording, but you're not actually tracking that into the signal. So that is an option now you don't have to burn it on, whereas for me that really wasn't much of an option.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):I was like tracking through the actual a channel which had compression on it, and I mean a lot of channels have, like you know, you go through an Avalon preamp or something. It will have a preamp, it'll have a compressor on it and EQ, you know, and a lot of classic vocal channels. Really good vocal channels in studios would be built that way and I mean UA, universal Audio, makes some as well that work that way. That there's one that's got um, forgotten what it is 176 or something. It's got the compressor of the 1176 in it but it's got a tube sort of preamp on it. So there are quite a lot of these ones that are all in one, as it were, vocal channels, and I guess the idea is you do track with a little bit of compression on but it's not that you have to.
Marc Matthews:I think that's it. Yeah, well, this is it. That's the sort of recording realm that we live within now. Is that you can? You can do all this whilst recording, as I think we had this conversation on a couple episodes ago about I can't remember what the episode was regards to. We were talking about doing it at the time and then removing it I think it was reverb, to be fair on vocal and then just having it playing and then being able to remove it further down the line because it's not printed on that particular track. I'm wondering have you ever? Have you ever? Because you were talking there about printing it and, to be fair, I can't think of a time that I've ever used one. Maybe I need to look into it more and use it in a creative sort of way, but an expander.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):An expander. An expander, you printed it. Yeah, I did have one. I did have an expander in one of these units I had. Hmm, no, because that would be upward sort of compression wouldn't it?
Marc Matthews:Yeah, that's increasing the dynamic range, yeah.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):No, I never used one of them. No, neither have I just thinking about it, then it could be interesting in some circumstances.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, I think the advice would generally be like don't print it yeah, generally don't, and then rely on the expander to undo it, but I suppose because you'd have to uh again, never done it.
Marc Matthews:But in theory right. If you've printed the compression to the signal, to the audio, you then need to mirror the dynamic range before using the expander, and that must be quite hard to do. Like to dial that in and get it exactly how it was before. There we go, audience, Give it a go and see if you can undo compression that's printed. That's what that's a nice task for someone to do of an evening and do some compression using the expander, see if you can match it verbatim yeah, so it doesn't sound compressed anymore.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):I mean, I think for a lot of people like, the sensible thing is, if you're not sure, is to not use compression when oh yeah yeah, but when you get used to stuff, it's like people used to say that with you know, when I was tracking a drum kit it'd be like you know, do you record with eq or maybe a little bit of compression on the way in? And the answer is, um, I mean, I wouldn't record drums generally with compression on. That wasn't something I often did, but occasionally, but generally not. But I would like start to EQ my drums a little bit. I just got used to what I wanted in there and what I didn't want in there and I got so used to knowing how the sound was going to be when I mixed it. I was used to my mics and my room and everything else that that I would make some of those decisions as I tracked it. It didn't mean I didn't use more in the mix, but it was just like you know. I was like I'm going to want a bit of weight at 80 hertz in my kick drum, so I'll put some weight in. I mean, what's the worst? I could always reduce a little bit of it if I put too much in later on, but at the end of the day, a lot of the time it meant that the drums were just already sounding, you know, pretty nice on playback without me having to do further processing on them. So you know, I would make that decision and I think you can do the same with vocals.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):But vocals is something where compression changes the way. It's weird. I mean, it's like when you I mean when you perform live now, for instance uh, this is something worth bearing in mind. A lot of singers when they're performing live, if you've got a sound man and he's got a nice digital desk these days, quite likely you will be singing through compression. You you'll be performing with compression and gating and and you know eq and reverb and everything on your thing. Um, so you're used to performing live with it and you're used to that sound.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):Um, when you go in the studio, you kind of got to get a sound that the musicians used to and likes so that you get the best performance out of them and I find that a little bit of compression can sometimes really make you perform differently and it can be really good for a lot of people because it brings up those quiet things that you're not the details and things a little bit more and it just brings down some of the sort of um you know, when you, when you go a bit too hard on something, it just tames it a little bit. So but we're only talking a little touch of it yeah, that's what I was going to say.
Marc Matthews:Next is like how much?
Tim Benson (Aisle9):and in my head I'm thinking like very light, yeah, sort of compression really I like the use of using an optical 3 to 60 B maybe at most.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, yeah, Using an optical compressor as well. I love optical compressors, always has been, but that's the way I see using it. And I think also as well, you've got to think about the vocalist, Because I think there's an element of like you can do. I was going to say manual compression then and just have the vocalist in terms of their distance from the microphone and controlling that and the way the vocalist is performing.
Marc Matthews:So if you've got a vocalist who's just wildly, the dynamic range is wild rather than think, oh, I'm just going to slap a compressor on it. You might want to work on where they are standing with regards to the microphone.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):Because I've had that. Sorry, go ahead. No, I think that makes a huge difference. I totally agree with you. Yeah.
Marc Matthews:I've had projects submitted and even before I've listened to the project. I can see the vocal track and I can see. Just looking at the waveform I can see this is not a controlled performance. It's pretty wild. And then I go in with clip game before I even think. Some evenness.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):I've been doing that this week and the vocal was a really lovely vocal but like wildly different between different parts of it.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):So I had to go straight in with clip automation before I think of putting any compression on it, to get everything sitting in a relatively even thing. And you're right, if you get your mic technique good, then you can lean in for your nice soft, you know proximity effect and you can come away when you're really going for it hard, because that that's a nightmare when, um, something I used to get a lot with rock vocalists who'd sort of sing out their heart right into a sort of you know capacitor mic or something and you'd just be like you know, just come off the mic as you really go for it and and but a lot of people hadn't in the studio maybe sort of tried those things and you can just work on them quite quickly and a lot of people respond to it quite well, start to sort of find out you know where the sweet spot is to sing where, depending on where they are in their range and what note they're going for and how close to the mic they are. But yeah, that's a massive thing, that mic technique.
Marc Matthews:It makes huge difference on how good a vocal sounds yeah, there is a nice feeling when you have a project submitted and then you see it's not just vocals as well, I guess it's any instrument. You can just see a nice even performance and you know it's not just vocals as well, I guess it's any instrument. You can just see a nice even performance. You know it's going to be. It's going to be a relatively pleasure. Pleasurable yeah, that's a word, isn't it?
Tim Benson (Aisle9):pleasurable mix yeah, mixing scenario. I think pleasurable, that's the word I was looking for.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, mix yeah, yeah, it's. Uh, it's been a long day. It's probably that walnut bread I had before coming back to haunt me, so I don't know if there's necessarily much more we need to dive into. To be honest with you, I was recording compression going in. I think the current lay of the land is such that we don't need to print it for one.
Marc Matthews:No, I think what you mentioned just then actually about the live performance, I think what you mentioned just then actually about the live performance, I appreciate not everybody's got the opportunity to go and mix a live performance, but I think that's a really good way of learning how to use compression, for example, and EQ and just mix in general. I think I had this conversation with Mike Exeter on the podcast and he said the same thing. It's a really good way to go and learn, because I remember doing a few front of house gigs and having to do live sound mixing and if you can do it it's worth doing. But where I was going with that is a slight tangent. You don't need to print it. I think we agreed on sort of light compression and vocal performance as well. Monitor the vocalist's performance. I think those agreed on sort of light compression and vocal performance, as well Monitor the vocalist's performance. I think those are the three key things in general, but I don't think I've missed anything.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):I mean it's interesting as well, like maybe you sort of would discuss vocals, but you could look at it with bass and acoustic guitar as well and things, and again it can be sort of bass. I had a tendency of recording bass and guitars with compression, but a lot of the time that might be like you know, guitar like the I mean lots of guitarists will have a compressor in their rig, like as a sort of before they go into the amp. Lots of bassists will have compressors on their rigs going into the amp. Lots of bassists will have compressors on their rigs going into the amp, you know. So those things quite often get recorded with bits of compression on them and it can be part of how people play and interact with.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):The thing is, like you know, when you play with the guitar and it's got lots of compression on it, it has a lot more sustain, it feels different. So if you're used to recording and playing like that, you probably wouldn't necessarily want to take that off. If you're used to recording and playing like that, you probably wouldn't necessarily want to take that off when you're recording, um, but you might want to go like you know that cavernous ton of reverb you're putting on this maybe, if that isn't very sort of signature to the sound, and we could put it on afterwards, we might record without the time-based effects, um, and then you sort of put that on afterwards. You know, rather than recording it on afterwards, we might record without the time-based effects, um, and then you sort of put that on afterwards, but you know, rather than recording it on the amp or whatever. But like, yeah, I think when it comes to dynamics, definitely some of these things become part of the sound you're making. It's the same with vocals, but I I'm wary of it.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):On acoustic guitars recording. I did use to track with a little bit of compression, but you have to be so careful with acoustics that you don't over-compress the thing, and then you've got this munched acoustic guitar that you can't do anything with. Really, yeah, it can be quite bad.
Marc Matthews:I've always got a mind to let acoustic guitars breathe, yeah.
INDIGO:I think yeah, I haven't recorded an acoustic.
Marc Matthews:I haven't recorded an acoustic in years. I used to love experimenting with mic position.
INDIGO:Yeah, makes huge difference, like using a couple of mics.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, yeah, the neck, the body of the guitar, all these different positions. You can get some and then just try different configurations of the microphones. I did that audience listening you're not watching this I did an x with my hands from an xy position of a microphone. I don't even know that's what I did there. I did that thinking everyone could see me. But yeah, I'd love to get back into doing that again, but I really don't do much recording these days.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):It's all post-production, but maybe, maybe at some point the one thing I never really managed to make work as well as like it appears on the movies or whatever is like that that wonderful thing where everyone, all the backing vocalists are just the band, are all around one mic and it just sounds amazing. It's like nine times out of ten. That's to be avoided.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):They all sound awful like when you all will be three of them will sound great and one person will be out of tune and there's nothing you can do to save that later on. So, yeah, beware of the gang vocal. Um. But no, it can be good fun. But if you want a proper gang vocal sound, not like a sweet, you know harmony sound, but like it works when you've got backing vocalists, a professional backing vocalist, they're. They're amazing at balancing themselves and singing in tune and harmonizing. But, like most of us mere mortals, take a bit more, a bit more post-production to get us to sound that sweet.
Marc Matthews:So you know, I've only, I've only ever done back um, sorry, gang vocals once I think you did it on the album and I think I mentioned this on a previous episode, and it was like some spoken word and it was a very hungover. So my voice was even lower than it usually is and it was like some spoken word and it was very hungover, so my voice was even lower than it usually is and it's like this really sort of ominous, ethereal spoken. I can't even remember what we said. It's on a track somewhere that was quite interesting, but luckily we didn't have to be in tune. It was just some spoken word. Thankfully, because if we had to be in tune it would have been fucked, basically Because I can't sing for shit, no, which?
Marc Matthews:is a shame, but there we go. There we go, folks. I think we've wrapped up compression, then. Always fun to talk about these topics. So if you do have a question that you would like to hear us hash out and attempt to answer on the podcast again, please click the link in the episode description. Send us a voice note. Alternatively, just send a message. Click the send a message. It's just like sending a text. You can give us some details in there and get your question featured on the podcast. Tim, it's been a pleasure. Have you got any news, anything on the horizon?
Tim Benson (Aisle9):I know you just released the album, but anything else, yeah, I'm taking a slight break, but I'm beginning to think what my next single is going to be like. So I'll be working on that, probably in the next week or two. And then, yeah, I need to get something out, sort of by the beginning of next month, hopefully, and I will be working on. Yeah, I was talking to you about maybe mixing in a bit more 90s, because apparently I'm kind of quite a 90s boy, so there might be a bit more 90s influence and some stuff coming up, but we'll see.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, it's popular at the moment it certainly is. I've got one I'm mixing, hopefully this weekend, actually mixing my next track, narcissist. I haven't got a release date. I have aimed for the second or third week of September, hopefully to get that released. Then another one quickly after that as well, which I've started. But I'm also going to start writing a Halloween-themed, horror-themed tune. I don't know how that's going to end up, but I've already got a title for it. I'm going to call it Nosferatu, because I do like the film Nosferatu. And yeah, in my head what I was thinking. I thought this the other day. I thought you know what, I'll just start the track with Willem Dafoe saying Nosferatu, and then it comes in. I'm thinking in my head it sounds great, but to others it might sound incredibly cheesy. But anyway, that's my sort of thought process at the moment. And then possibly a christmas song, right?
Tim Benson (Aisle9):well, I'm writing a bit of yeah, I'm writing a theme for a horror movie at the moment. Actually, yeah possibly gonna be. Well, uh, it's looking like we're gonna do the whole film, so I may end up writing all the music for the entire film, which would be fun. Yeah, oh, amazing is it, uh?
Marc Matthews:are you able to disclose the sort of type of horror film? Um, yeah, I mean vampire?
Tim Benson (Aisle9):yeah, I think it's going to be more sort of us along the sort of like a slasher movie kind of vibe yeah yeah, yeah, nice.
Marc Matthews:As a horror fan, I'm always um intrigued.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):Yeah, I'm completely the, the person who's writing the music, who's not a horror fan, but like there we go it's weird but I I I say that I actually really love the way music works in horror films um yeah, I love the music aspect, um, and I love a lot of the kind of the visual sort of, you know, some great sort of of cinema photography in horror films, so I like that. I'm just a bit squeamish when you know people start having their heads chopped off. Yeah.
Marc Matthews:I look forward to listening to that. If you need any feedback right, send it across Myself and Carl at Neon Highway.
Tim Benson (Aisle9):I know Carl's a big horror fan as well, I was aware that you two might be very good people to talk to about this? Yeah, indeed.
Marc Matthews:There we go, folks. So yes, do send us a question and until next time, stay inspired, keep creating and don't be afraid to experiment inside the mix.
