Compression is a very useful tool but it needs to be subtle or you will crush the dynamics, removing punch and energy if taken to extremes. If done well though it can actually add punch and energy.
Basically I try to get a good source sound for recording, make any edits afterwards (neaten up a strum or whatever here or there providing the rest of the take is good). I'll usually get two - three takes of each instrument so I've got enough to cut up into one really solid take and from there I will send the guitar takes to a guitar bus where I can then add effects to all the guitar takes simultaneously, and do the same for vocals etc.
Once that's done and the levels are tweaked I will then send all the buses to a master bus that then sends to a stereo audio track so I can bounce it out internally. Once the bounce is complete I will then export the audio to a folder on my PC, create a new Pro Tools session and import the audio there to make final edits (add pre and post fades and to save CPU power by closing all the other tracks down).
From there I will use the mastering software to enhance the sound by adding subtle EQ, compression, reverb, harmonic enhancement, widen the stereo field and perhaps some post EQ tweaks. The final part is to add final compression (more a limiter really) that just caps off the peak of the track to -0.1 dB so it will not clip. If I recorded it in 24 bit and want to burn it to a CD I can add dither at this stage to reduce it to 16 bit (I learned dither is there to add subtle noise to the audio that compensates for the lost of bits, and there are more options to customise all this).
The beauty about Ozone is it allows you to not only do all the mastering in one plugin, it's very comprehensive. I can not only add compression but actually choose and adjust the frequency bands I want to compress, the ratios and levels, etc. Same goes for the stereo field and reverb. Pretty neat. So rather than adding reverb to the whole track I can keep it out of the bottom end and only add a bit to the high mids and a bit extra to the highs, so they give the impression of space. It goes on and on from there.
tl;dr, it's a pretty involved process and I'm only scratching the surface.
Last edited by Jaekus (2013-04-05 19:26:37)