A drum bus compressor odyssey

[losthighway]

Apologies, this is a bit of a Gear Lusty post, but I don't really enjoy the GearSpace crowd so I thought I'd share here and see what some of y'all think of this journey in outboard stereo compression.

The parallel drum thing- I have come to really like it. I mix a lot of muscular rock music and it's become a handy method. I have a pair of Chandler LTD-2s that add some punch. They're surprisingly clean, can add consistency to drum volume without any squish. In fact they almost don't squish on drums at any setting. They're classy, but sometimes I want something dirty.

Last year I came across the Overstayer SVC and the pedigree, reviews, and demo videos captivated me. The fact that you can dial in your amount of compression, saturation, overtones, blend it etc. Just one of the coolest smashy boxes I've ever checked out. I decided this might be my last (ha) compressor because I have a lot of other bases covered. I put in an order. They're back ordered (supply chain woes) so it turned into a deposit and then an email with apologies of no news from Vintage King every couple months.

While I've been sitting on my hands waiting for this very expensive way to make things sound dirty, a bunch of mixing was coming my way. I remembered how much I like overdriving my Symetrix 501. I checked, they're blessedly one of the remaining undervalued pieces on the used market and picked up another with the Valley People circuit for a mere $160. Last week I racked it up and strapped my pair together. I sent my the drums from a mix I've been working on and drove the thing into clipping. Just fine tuning how hard its clipping and how much its compressing brought all kind of heft and grit to the sound. I could take it 'too far' and blend it back in parallel to the more polite drum tracks. The room sound started to come into the overheads more. It added density, shaved some random transients, all that stuff they talk about in the dark web of drum mixing.

All of this is making me think I might actually abandon ship on my long awaited Overstayer and instead get psyched on abusing two workhorses. It will save me just a couple thousand dollars I almost never have which might round out my mic locker.

Am I making sense, or should I wait for the subtlety and control of the fancy pants saturater compressor?

[trodden]

I've been using the OG Overstayer FET ( http://www.overstayeraudio.com/stereo-compressor ) since 2011 strictly on my drum bus. It's awesome. Granted, the device you're looking into is very much different, but still made by a person who knows good sounding grit and compression.

Also a fan of the Symetrix "toggle power switch" unit, especially on drums, especially when clipping, it's a hard decision, and if I had two of them, I'd likely be in the same situation as you. The Overstayer unit is not cheap!! Coming from the punk rock bullshit world, I'd find the money for the overstayer used somewhere else if the 501's are getting there. But, I also have no idea what kind of magic SVC brings to the table and it's always awesome to support small, independent audio folx. It seems every year for the past 10 years, i'm looking at an Empirical Labs FATSO or the UBK version for similar desires. It has completely taken over my desire for a pair of Distressors. Hell, i'm not even interested in Distressors anymore.

Totally not the same shid as you're searching for, but I've really come to enjoy the SoundToys Decapitator on stuff, and a combo of that, more compression and EQ, I can usually get something that works well for adding teeth or ignorance to something. Make it fucking caveman brutal, or just make it cunning and dangerous.

You're working a lot it seems, so half of me says "treat yourself..." but then the other half of me says, spend the money on ammo and/or drugs and make the 501's sing.

Sorry, no help here! Time for another White Claw. I'm so fucking burned on beer, I'm actually loving these stupid seltzer malt liquor cans.

[trodden]

Also, I hear you on the gearspace/gearslutz crowd. I'm over there a lot, but I rarely post. It was nice to hop over here after looking into some stuff over there and have a couple of "conversations". I really miss this place at times, and I miss how active it used to be back in the day. I'm grateful for you being an active regular still.

[losthighway]

Totally not the same shid as you're searching for, but I've really come to enjoy the SoundToys Decapitator on stuff, and a combo of that, more compression and EQ, I can usually get something that works well for adding teeth or ignorance to something. Make it fucking caveman brutal, or just make it cunning and dangerous.

Yeah, I think that thing does some similar work. I had the demo and was able to dial in some nice stuff with it. The longer I do this the more I marvel at the subtle different ways to overdrive things. It's a lot like setting a Vox next to a Twin next to a Marshall. They're all going to clip and saturate, but they each do it different.

The Decapitator might be another affordable way for me to back off of the fancy Overstayer.

You're working a lot it seems,

Ha- artistic productivity with some seasonal clients- not stacks of invoices . It's a side gig that pretty much pays for or at least justifies the extravagant gear.

[digitaldrummer]

I've never used the overstayer so don't know how it compares, but a pair of DBX 160x (or XT) can be had pretty cheap still and they can rock on drum bus (as well as bass guitar, etc.). Not always the one you will choose, but then that's why you have different options right? But when they work they work.

that said, I've pretty much sold off all outboard and keep going back to ITB. Many of the UAD plugins are great for drum bus. I did compare my DBX hardware to the DBX160 UAD plugin and found I liked it as much if not better (it now has a mix control and HW never had that...). But somedays I'll grab the UAD Neve 33609, or an 1176, or Distressor, or the Soundtoys Devil-Loc (if you really want to destroy something... similar to Decapitator), or somedays the UAD Fairchild 670 works great. Occasionally I'll use one of the Waves Abbey Road comps or the Plugin Alliance Acme Opticom XLA3... so many to choose from. it totally depends on what the mix is going for and that's why I like the flexibility of ITB. I usually have an idea of where I want to start, but sometimes I swap out the drum bus compressor several times until I find the right one (and then its usually obvious it's the one...).

Mike

[winky dinglehoffer]

I say spend more on a great mic or 2 & cancel the overstayer. It sounds like the 501s are doing a great job for you (and I agree--one of those rare undervalued older hardware pieces), so why not stick with them?

[MoreSpaceEcho]

I'd stick with the Symetrix and put the money in the bank.

On the drum compression front, mixing a record now and the drums were sounding ok but kinda thin. I had a bunch of compression going already, and eq didn't seem like the answer.

As I've often done over the last 25 years, I said "what would Tchad Blake do?" I copied the snare track, put that through the Pulverizer (an absolutely stupid compressor/distortion thingie on the Reason Rack plugin) and blended a bit of that back in and HOT DAMN it worked perfectly, thickened everything up in a great way.

[Recycled_Brains]

It seems every year for the past 10 years, i'm looking at an Empirical Labs FATSO or the UBK version for similar desires. It has completely taken over my desire for a pair of Distressors. Hell, i'm not even interested in Distressors anymore.

Try the Kush plugin version. It's hard to rein in, but for dirty, pumping, smashing, making a 5' room sound like a cannon stuff, it rules. It can be sick on busses too when you can tame it. Just gets out of hand real fast, so a little is a lot. But the sounds are good.

[losthighway]

As I've often done over the last 25 years, I said "what would Tchad Blake do?" I copied the snare track, put that through the Pulverizer (an absolutely stupid compressor/distortion thingie on the Reason Rack plugin) and blended a bit of that back in and HOT DAMN it worked perfectly, thickened everything up in a great way.

Now that's what I'm talking about [in James Brown voice]!

[standup]

Lately I’ve been positioning a Stager ribbon 18” away from the snare shell, 1’ from the kick. That’s going through Soundtoys Devil Loc and maybe saturation on top of that. Trying to bring that up under the rest of the kit. Trying to get a little more body in the sound.

GS is pretty depressing theses days, or again, or still. Mostly new product announcements, and synth-types are kinda dominant. Questions and answers about actual audio stuff are mostly from hobby-ists like me.

[trodden]

Look! It's all the old "regulars". SCOOOOOTTT!!!!! (with the dad,"put it in the bank" advice, FUCK YOU DAD!!!). love yah!

[MoreSpaceEcho]

I mean, sure, spend a bunch on weed, just not ALL of it. Put some in the bank.

[numberthirty]

Hey...

Voice of TOMB past here.

Remember the Alesis Modfx Smashup? Heck, you might even have one knocking around somewheres...

Those last two modes on the bottom?

From memory, those will occasionally toss you a rope when you are painted into that "WWTBD?..." corner.

[Recycled_Brains]

Ya'll are making me wish I never sold the 501 I got for like $40 back in 2008.

[trodden]

I mean, sure, spend a bunch on weed, just not ALL of it. Put some in the bank.

Heck yeah DAD!