Use of compression/limiting
 

Hi Geoff.

Thank you so much for all the time you put in while you were engineering those great records with The Beatles.

Can you talk about your use of compression and limiting while you were working with The Beatles? Is the 660 your favourite limiting amplifier?

Would you generally use much compression during mixing or was it mostly applied during the tracking stage, seeing as you were working with a limited amount of tracks?

Thanks!

Boy is this a complicated question, I can just talk you through the process of recording in the sixtes, predominantly when I was asked to create a bigger drum sound when we recorded revolver, it was then I discovered that by sending the mono drum mix through the Fairchild 660 limiter and overloading it, that was it. as regards the altec cmpressor and again the Fairchild it gave me the sounds I wanted. Now you have to remember we are recording for vinyl which meant you had to hold a dynamic range in order to be able to transfer your mix to vinyl any heavy bass swings would mean the stylus would fly out of the groove. This was an art form I have sketched across this subject you will have to give this much more of your thought. Geoff

Geoff Emerick
Audio Engineer Masterclass
Geoff Emerick | Emerick Beats
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