Favorite Compressors

[sven hauck]

Anyone have any compressors that they prefer? I use a 1176 emulation called Vinco and a multiband called Optimaster in Scope (DSP instances running on a PCI card). Otherwise have been playing a bit with a Distressor. Wish I had two of them, hehe.

[Rambunkcious]

Ive had the chance to work with an actual 1176 on the stereo buss once or twice, and its sound was unforgetable.

I am aiming to either pick up a sofware emulation of that, the SSL G compressor, or the Neve 33609. Im thinking the UAD cards would suffice since they emulate two of the above mentioned comps, plus it'll take a load of my CPU.

It would be great to own a hardware version of the 1176, G, or the 33609, but I think I 'd have to start donating body parts for that.

[admin]

I owned a Daking compressor which was basically a copy of the 33609, was very nice indeed although the release time wasn't quite fast enough for house.

The distressor is deffinatly one you can get a lot of use out of and still haven't heard anything in software that gets its sound.

The problem with these emulations is they don't saturate and distort like the real units so you're missing a lot of the vibe (unless it's a clean compressor you were emulating but most of these aren't).

A killer cheap compressor that sounds great is the dbx160a or 160x. They're about $200 for a mono unit so not too much of an outlay for a stereo pair.

For punchy drums or even the 2-buss they come in handy. The SSL4000 compressor is based off of the dbx VCA, so somewhat of a similar sound.
They're used quite often in hiphop studios for kick and snare. I used to run my 2-buss into these for a couple of years. What's nice is they have a softness/warmth there thats great for digital mixes.

[klooptheloop]

im using the ssl4000 for drums and i also like the waves Rennaisance Comp...

[admin]

The Waves SSL4000 is a great choice for the drum buss as in real life although its not quite as dirty/aggressive as the hardware I've used.

What settings are working for you in this application kloop? I'm generally using the fastest release (100ms) although sometimes AUTO, and then I vary the attack. I've also found out that for some reason 10:1 ratio seems to pump a lot nicer than lower ratios which I would normally use like 4:1.

The Ren Comp is great when using the output modes smooth/opto to saturate the signal.

[klooptheloop]

Hi Jesse,

i generally have the fastest release too at .1 and a ratio at 4:1 and a slow attack set to 10 ms for a nice solid punch through...and quite a high threshold..

but after reading your post i went and had a mess around tryin the auto release and adjusting the attack to suit.. which also sounded very nice...

im wouldn't be up to scratch on the whole technical ins and outs of it, i just seem know what sounds right, if that makes sense, and of course im still learning which is why im on this fourm...

Cheers, Gav...

[admin]

Kloop,

You can certainly 'fake' it a little bit by going by ear, but knowing how these processors works really helps quicker adjustments and less trial and error.

Then again, in my case, sometimes doing it the 'wrong' way sounds best and one always must be aware of this regardless of their 'correct' knowledge.

[klooptheloop]

Ok Boss, I'll get my head down and learn some more about this comp...

[sven hauck]

Long live the happy accidents in the music production process.

[stevenlibby]

I tend to use the hell out of the UAD-1 Fairchild... Waves for sidechaining...