Your favorite snare compressor

[losthighway]

Of course, it depends. But I wonder, not what compressors have ever worked on your snare tracks, but what is generally your favorite?

I go through phases where I really geek out on a particular sound in my mixes, seems more elusive or something. Lately electric guitars, toms, vocals all feel like no brainers. Snares however seem like more of a puzzle box. So many different types of snare sounds out there. I'm noticing an extreme tonal difference between what comp I'm patching it to, even with a reasonable amount of reduction.

I've got a mix with a pretty irregular snare volume, I'm doing some automation but it feels like it needs a bit of squish for character. The fixed attack/release on the DBX isn't quite hitting it, my Symetrix 501 sometimes rules, not in this instance. My tube comp is too slow....

Enough about me. What's your favorite?

[E.Bennett]

do you have a tube pre or transistor pre that clips nicely? i love to level a snare by overdriving my audio technologies tube preamp.

[Marc Alan Goodman]

Hmm. Lotta good things I use. Inovonics 201 for rock, for sure. I love the Purple Action on snare a lot of the time. But a good old DBX 160A is the ticket every once in a while too. And going parallel through an ADR vocal stressor can make the snare do things I can barely imagine.

EDIT: How could I forget to mention?? I don't have one in the rack right now but (dare I say it) Distressors pretty much kick ass on snare too.

[JohnDavisNYC]

symmetrix 501 is one of my favourites.

1176 is cool sometimes.

we have a totally strange early federal am864 that sounds amazing for 'sea change' type snare sounds.

a lot of the time these days it's no snare comp on the individual track, just a healthy amount of 33609 as a parallel drum bus...

like mark said, sometimes the 160a just hits the spot.

john

[tonewoods]

I like a Distressor alot....

[GMR990]

Got to be a valve compressor running hot. Currently a TLAudio Ivory but I'm working on it.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Alison Research Gain Brain.

[joel hamilton]

Distressor on the top, inovonics 201 on the bottom, elysia mpressor in parallell.
The inovonics gets swapped out for a 160X sometimes. I kind of either use the distressor on the top or I dont, rather than the distressor or something else. The funny thing is, i dont even love distressors, but I like that it is basicaly a 160X with attack and release.It sounds like blasphemy, but whatever.

[JohnDavisNYC]

but dood, the name is just SO COOL! it is like a pair of new jeans that looks old!! TOOB JEANZ!

j

[Recycled_Brains]

Distressor for sure, even though it's uncool, apparantly.

I just finished tracking a band where I used a little bit of the Drawmer 1968 on the way in, and that sounded nice too.

ITB, the Massey comp gets the job done for me 100% of the time.

[tonewoods]

Distressor for sure, even though it's uncool, apparantly.

Speaking of uncool, I also like a Gates SolidStatesman on snare...

Go figure...

[ott0bot]

Yeah....160a's work nicely. I need to pick up a symetrix 501 soon-ish. I've always liked how that mangle the tone.

Lately I've been using my Summit TLA-50's on everything lately....they rock on snares. Also, RNLA's can be nice too.

[Ryan Silva]

I don't use compression much on the way in for snare, but I too like the Drawmer 1968 in the mix.

[@?,*???&?]

The 1176 is king. That unit got even better to me once I learned the secret Jim Scott setting.

I also really like the Furman LC3A. A way better sounding unit than the dbx 160 X, XT or A.

[getreel]

dbx for me is the sound. 165, 166, dbx alike plugin. Something like that is usually what I reach for. I also like the 501 on bottom. I have used my old Ashly CL52 on snare with success as well but I sold that one.