suggest a vocal compressor

scott anthony · Post by **scott anthony** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:38 am

hi,

I'm getting ready to make another album with my wife and want to bring my vocal chain up a notch.

Here are some samples of her voice.

http://www.zuzula.com/artist.php?id=144

Since this project, we have picked up an SM7a that sounds great on her. I run that into a Dale Epperson pre-Old School Audio 312 that has plenty of quiet gain.

I currenlty have a dbx 162, dbx 165a and an original Distressor, none of which do the trick. I`m not a huge fan of la3a for this, an la2a is closer. I have not heard most of what has come out in the last 5 years. The Sta-Level review in the latest TapeOp has ne curious about that...

???

The Real MC · Post by **The Real MC** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:20 am

Spring for a UREI 7110, easy to find used on the 'bay and very reasonable.

xSALx · Post by **xSALx** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:23 pm

I personally love a PRO VLA for vocals. I haven't tried many other compressors, but I haven't had any problems at all and pumping is not a problem.

JASIII · Post by **JASIII** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:53 pm

xSALx wrote:I personally love a PRO VLA for vocals. I haven't tried many other compressors, but I haven't had any problems at all and pumping is not a problem.

ditto, and it's cheap!

tsw · Post by **tsw** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:35 pm

The Distressor isn't doing it for you? Really? Just out of curiosity, in what way is it coming up short?

Garthplinko · Post by **Garthplinko** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:55 pm

Anyone try out the RNLA yet?

scott anthony · Post by **scott anthony** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:05 pm

ajb wrote:The Distressor isn't doing it for you? Really? Just out of curiosity, in what way is it coming up short?

Good question. Although the Distressor has several tones available, none of them does it for me on her voice. A little too subtle maybe? I like a compressor that adds presence and color in the way an LA2A does. The Distressor does a great 160, LA3A, 1176, etc. Maybe something closer to a UA 176?

I love the Distressor. I visited Dave Derr's lab several times and played with it, passing on my impressions as it went from a concept to a prototype into the first run of a handful of units. I took one of these to the NYC studio I called home at that time and sold for Dave many of them to freelance engineers passing through. It's just not the holy grail compressor for this specific application.

dokushoka · Post by **dokushoka** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:29 pm

The Distressor is perfectly capable of transparent vocal gain reduction, if you know what you're doing. Its worth messing about with it for a while. I think, to be honest, you have all the tools you need already. However, if you're itching to spend some money and want something a little more saucy, I'd suggest a Manley ELOP. Its like an LA3A but a bit more hi-fi.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:32 pm

I use a sta-level (original, 6386) on my main vocal almost every time I mix something with vocals. once in a while i will use a custom made LA2A clone, and even rarer still, I might use multiple compressors, including an LA3A, a dbx 160A, a neve 33609, and something else... maybe a collins 26W or an AM864/U.

What about the vocal chain do you want it to impart? why do you say that the 165 "wont do it" but you think that the sta-level copy sounds like it would from the review?

I hear ya on the 165, but i used it a bunch of times as a main vocal compressor because that was the one that was left...

It can work, especially with tiny slaps from the peak stop that make it grind a bit.... I like the 165 for certain things, especially the peakstop actually, and the low ratio pumping craziness it will do, or if you set it up right, it can actually be used on a main vocal and be pretty cool... the RMS detection is pretty weird, but that is part of why I like it...

scott anthony · Post by **scott anthony** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:45 pm

The 165 is what I usually go to. As a compressor, it does the rights things, but I don't think it sounds right. The one I have is kind of a fuzz box. I should get it looked at, but it sounds really good on bass.

In a vocal mix, I often mult into 2 channels. One will go with no or light compression, the other will be heavier than if it was the only channel. If I'm mixing in a room with several options, the light option will be an LA2A, the heavy mixed under will an 1176 with an aggresive eq meant to really move the vocal tonally where I need it.

I've never used a sta-level... old or remake.

The Distressor works. The 165a can work. I often need more than 3 compressors on a mix and I'm usually wishing the vocal was larger and more solid.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:07 am

joel hamilton wrote:AM864/U.

That's what's been doing it for me lately. Almost every time with almost every type of singer. On the occasions where it's not right, it's been a little too aggressive or maybe has a little too much second harmonic happening, but that's a lot like the LA2A to my ears.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:55 am

cgarges wrote:
joel hamilton wrote:AM864/U.
That's what's been doing it for me lately. Almost every time with almost every type of singer. On the occasions where it's not right, it's been a little too aggressive or maybe has a little too much second harmonic happening, but that's a lot like the LA2A to my ears.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Truth.
I like the federales because I wind up with less grind and 2nd harmonic on the main voc... The LA2A really brings that out, the AM864/U... not as much, so it stays "inside" the brighter elements a little nicer, but still with a sit I like...

Of course, as with all of this, it is case by case by case by case.....

tsw · Post by **tsw** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:18 am

One more thing on the Distressor (no, I don't work for them): get the Brit Mod installed if you can. I only say this because to my ears, when you use it in Brit Mode (on vocals during mixdown especially), it's a lot more transparent. The manual corroborates this. When it's hitting something, it hits it hard and fast. When it's not hitting, the whole unit just kind of disappears. Which, in the case of vox on mixdown, is often just what I'm looking for.

Maybe this will be what you're looking for.

Or maybe run a send to a crappy old tape deck and mix in some tape compression. Shit, I don't know.

scott anthony · Post by **scott anthony** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:04 am

The Distressor is a rev1 and I'm quite sure the Brit Mod is not an option. It also still belongs to Empirical Labs and I suspect remains unmodded for historical reasons. I also prefer a bit of color, transparency is not a priority because of the way I like to mult things (the unprocessed channel preserves that transparency).

OT, I also have a couple of wicked cool Ashley EQs on loan that Dave (ELI) modded to sound cleaner and tighter (in the general direction of a Massenburg).

audiogeek1 · Post by **audiogeek1** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:47 am

Lately I have been using a summit TLA100 for vocals. It is like an LA2. For me it has bee beating the pants off the Manley SLAM the DBX160VU and 1176. Usually on mix I run the TLA100 and a GML 8900 for getting peaks. Sounds great.

Another thing I like is the Manley VOX BOX. I do not like the Pre Amp but everything else as a mix box it is excellent.

Mike

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suggest a vocal compressor

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