Sound Mastering (compressors?)

[Munsie]

I\'ve got this 4 piece rock thing going on with Gigastudio, even though my overall sound is good im still learning how to get that fat full rock/pop sound. I have learned, that by using compression I can get a fuller fatter sound. My question is, how would I use this using Gigastudio? Im guessing I\'ll have to capture the track and then add compression later via software based compressor. Or since I use a dedicated machine for Giga I could run it through an external compressor in real time to my recording device. To get that fat sound, do you compress individual tracks (instruments) or the whole song at one time? And as far as the drums go it would seem to make sense to record the snare and bass drum seprately for compression purposes, or do you just record the whole kit as 1 track and compress that way? Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks! p.s. Any recommendations for compressors, software or hardware? I\'ve got the cakewalk processors, are those good enough?

[NAZARU]

Munsio,
If at all possible seperate everything that you can. I like to have an individual track for each and every instrument. This allows you much more flexibility to process your composiitons. I find that compression allows you to get much more punch out of your kicks, bass, snares and works great on vocals. I usually will compress individual tracks and also compress the entire song during finalizing. After this I will increase the gain to get the song as hot as possible without clipping. Try the rennaisance compressor by Sonic Foundry. It is great! Also check out Native Power Pack. They have probably the best all around set of diectx plugins IMHO. Cakewalk is cool too.
there are a lot of reviews on Prorec.com. Check it out. Peace.