If you stack your pedals with distortion first and then compression, the guitar is just going to respond differently. The good news is that you can try it either way, and both setups are great. If you run compression before that distortion, then you can hear that difference quite a bit.
If you're using a pedal to create distortion, put the compressor before the distortion pedal in the signal chain. High amounts of distortion naturally create compression and using a compressor will add even more smoothness and fluidity to the sound.
DISTORTION is NOT a COMPRESSOR
So, there is a compression of dynamic range when you have distortion, but it isn't the same type of compression that you typically get from a dedicated compressor.
In its plug-in form, Distortion tools add large amounts of gain to your audio signal, causing the peaks of the signal/sound to compress or clip. This leads to various effects, such as added harmonics and a smaller dynamic range.
Another one that's practically set in concrete is to put the compressor before any overdrive, distortion, or fuzz pedal. This is why most guitarists place the compressor first, in order to send a stronger, better signal to the other effects.
Lossless compression usually results in smaller file size reductions than lossy compression, but preserves the original quality of the audio. Lossy compression usually results in larger file size reductions than lossless compression, but degrades the quality of the audio to some extent.
Over-compression is when you apply too much compression to your sound, resulting in a loss of dynamic range, naturalness, and detail. Over-compression can make your sound flat, dull, noisy, or distorted.
For a distorted tone, set your amplifier settings to 7-9 for gain, 4-5 for bass, 5-7 for mids and 5-7 for treble. For metal, consider decreasing the mids and increasing the treble and bass. For heavy rock distortion, lower the gain slightly, and increase the mids. Keep in mind, that this is just a starting point.
With metal guitars, compression is more important than ever when it comes to consistency and glue. While other guitars are susceptible to some large dynamic variations, a lot of these distorted guitars have already been crushed by the amp/amp sim far more than your standard compressor plugins ever could.
We often associate compression with making a track louder. However, we've learned that by definition, compression actually reduces level. Make up gain is what allows compression to make a track louder.
Compressing to lossy formats such as MP3s will use a lower audio bitrate—meaning you will lose a good chunk of the audio file data. You'll get a much smaller file, making it easier to share and to play or stream, but you'll also lose some of the overall sound quality.
If you were to increase the gain, you would notice that as the volume raises, so does the distortion. This is the result of more signals being transmitted than those leaving, creating distortion.
If any of the following contraindications are present, compression therapy should be not be carried out: • Uncompensated organ failure (i.e., heart, liver, or renal). Untreated deep vein thrombosis or phlebitis. Severe arterial disease (ABI 0.49 or less) unless ordered by a vascular surgeon or Physician.
Medical compression socks and stockings are prescribed by a doctor for various venous and lymphatic ailments. However, there are times that a compression garment is not ideal. A compression garment should not be worn in the case of circulation disorders in leg arteries or for those with serious heart conditions.
Audio clipping occurs when you push the loudness of your audio signal past the threshold your system can handle. It's called “clipping” because your system actually “clips” off the top of the waveform after reaching the limit. This is what causes distortion.
To get a good crunch tone, use either the overdrive channel on your amp with the gain halfway, or use the clean channel and crank the gain. Alternatively, use an overdrive pedal through a clean amp. Slightly boost the treble and mids in comparison to the bass and use the bridge pickup on the guitar.
To get the best clean distortion, you need to increase the mids to the highest and use bridge pickup. Keep treble and bass at 12 and adjust the guitar volume knob as needed for your preference. The mids EQ knob is the most important control for distortion.
Dave Grohl's amp rig produces a pretty dirty tone as it is, but sometimes you need a level of distortion and grit that simply isn't possible through traditional means. Dave's go-to when this situation arises is the ProCo Rat distortion pedal, yet another minimalistic addition to his pedalboard.
You should not compress every track in your song automatically. Compression should be applied to tracks that have a large difference in volume between the loudest and quietest parts. It can also be used to add energy to a track. It is perfectly acceptable to have a track with no compression on it.
Higher compression ratios can make gasoline (petrol) engines subject to engine knocking (also known as "detonation", "pre-ignition" or "pinging") if lower octane-rated fuel is used. This can reduce efficiency or damage the engine if knock sensors are not present to modify the ignition timing.
Over-compression usually eliminates all (or most of) the dynamics. Loud and soft sections sound similar. The emotions embedded in the dynamic range of the music get destroyed. The average listener might not be able to hear over-compression, but that's not the point.
What Pedals Does Metallica Use. Some of the pedals that Metallica uses are the Boss Metal Zone, the Boss Super Shifter, the DigiTech Whammy, the MXR M234 Analog Chorus, and the MXR M116 Fullbore Metal.
Where's the Best Position? Generally, your distortion, overdrive and fuzz effects pedals should go towards the start of your pedal chain as they have the greatest effect on the tone. Fuzz pedals should usually go first, followed by overdrive and finally distortion.
When it comes to boost pedals, Mayer really only uses two. The first is a Keeley Katana Clean Boost, which is a $169 pedal that provides a really transparent volume boost and is very simple to operate. The second boost pedal that he uses is a Strymon OB. 1, which is actually a clean boost and compressor pedal.