This is my first topic, and unfortunately for yall, I have very little knowledge about recording techniques and what not. That being said, I want to know how much (if any) compression I should apply to the front end of my vocal recordings. Or if I should just apply compression in the DAW? (Does this make any sense?)

Until you get some expereince under your belt, I wouldn't use compression on the front end if I were you. If you go too far in your settings, it can't be undone....
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Bruce Valeriani - Mix Engineer

BlueBearSound wrote:

Until you get some expereince under your belt, I wouldn't use compression on the front end if I were you. If you go too far in your settings, it can't be undone....

Good looking out! Should I even run my mic through the compressor at all or just leave it plugged in w/ the settings unchanged?
And for compressing in the DAW, what plug-ins would you recommend?

I don't even put a compressor frontend on anything unless I need it to control some dynamics (to lazy to ride learn the song and ride faders) ,I'm looking for a specific effect, or more room noise on my room mic's. If you don't need it don't use it unless you want to experement (no rules ). Same with ITB, play around with different settings. See if you like something. Don't be affraid to try different things if you have the time to play around. Inovation dosn't have a blueprint.
One more thing I've found is that there is no hard steady rule that works on everything.
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That is not dead which can not die and with strange eons even death may die..... H.P. Lovecraft