Reeally Slow Attack Time on my RNCs...Anyone Else?

[greatmagnet]

You know, I bought a racked pair of these several months ago having never heard them simply on the strength of their following: they are supposed to be such nice compressors for the cost. I have to say I feel like either I haven't wrapped my brain properly around their function, or they just are lame...

The thing in particular that has been bugging me is that their attack time just seems REALLY slow. If I want to really squash something, regardless of what, it just doesn't seem to react quickly enough to be anything near useable. The first quarter second or so of whatever is being squashed is just super-loud and then the compressor kicks in and does its' thing.

I realize that when you're really smashing something that you have to expect a little of that unless you're using something expensive and mega-fast, but jeez it seems like even my cheapass opto compressors are WAY faster than this thing. Am I wrong, here?

I LOVE the sound of these...super nice mode is incredibly transparent. But function-wise these things just seem unuseable to me on that level.

Any help from those who know better would be appreciated,
Caldo

[JASIII]

I got one recently, I'll see if mine does the same thing. not trying to hijack, but along a similar line, i have a hard time noticing anything when mine's in "supernice" mode. I tried it on on claves, shaker and voice and didn't hear much effect, is that it's purpose?

[tommy]

Transperancy is what rncs excel at. Especially in the super nice mode so in this regard they are great. If you were looking for a compressor to do that exagerated room sound thing or whatever, the rnc would not be a good choice. But for things like invisible tameing of peaks, they are really nice.

[greatmagnet]

i have a hard time noticing anything when mine's in "supernice" mode.

Yeah...that's the whole point. It's working without mesing up your tone.

That said, "invisible taming of peaks" does me no good if the first peak after a period of silence is completely missed because the thing is so fucking slow.

[bigtoe]

have you tried them out of supernice?

in 'regular' mode the attack and release are not slow. i used to use it on snares and vocals all the time and found the attack time really flexible.

the supernice mode is slow. so slow. as amazingly clear as that mode is - i never found a use for it except a drum buss, once!

Later
Mike

[greatmagnet]

So, Mike, by basically "staggering" the compression circuits to create double-compression?which is what super-nice mode basically does?you are taxing it so much that it slows attack times to the point of unuseability?

That makes sense...I'll have to try it out. SInce i have TWO RNCs in a rack, maybe I can get a "simulated super-nice mode" just by using both of them in regular mode with less aggresive ratios!

[bigtoe]

i think it's actually 3 compressors in super nice mode! that is a weird mode to me as well.

that's a plan on the multiple! should work well. I do that with nicer ones and it always helps it sound more natural.

you can get that thing to shit fire on room mics snares/drums. you can also really dial in the amount of attack and release. great on vocals too. it needs more grit and some top end dialed in when used really aggreesively...but it's a tool.

if you end up selling - i'll buy. I plan on gave 6 by the spring.

Mike

[cgarges]

To me, everything about the Super Nice mode is subtle. If you own one of these and haven't tried it out of Super Nice mode, you're really missing out on the versatility of these compressors. While they don't have so much tonal character by way of the electronics, they can get fairly dramatic in the way of being able to manipulate the envelope of a signal. This is much easier to achieve in the standard operating mode. Remember too that the gain reduction meters don't start showing anything until something like -3 (right?), so be sure to use your ears, not your eyes when looking for transparency.

As far as using two units in line, I find that I like doing this with two totally different compressors. Using the same unit twice just sounds like more compression from one unit to me. Of course, the RNC is probably a better candidate for this sort of thing as long as you vary ratios and time constants between the two. Still, I'd compare two RNCs in series with an RNC and something else.

If there is an issue with your unit (and I'd be surprised if both units had the same issue), FMR is a really pleasant company to talk with on the phone.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[greatmagnet]

I doubt there's an issue with the units...I think it's just the as-described limitations of it's circuitry.

In regards to double compression using two different kinds of units, I have always loved that. Highly recommended. Lots of times with vocals I give it a little compression to tape with the opto built into my ART Pro Channel (a little is all it's able to give, actually) and then I compress again with the standard dynamics plugin in DP4 once I'm "in the box". I just love that sound...so smooth!

[antilog]

I do not use SuperNice mode when I need traditional quick responsive compression.

[oobedoob]

I normally use the supernice mode for voxes.

One thing I noticed is that if you're more than 2 led's down on Supernice, things start to get a little weird. But in normal operation, it has always worked as advertised. Def. not a drum-smasher for me, tho

[drumsound]

I mostly use regular mode. The thing's super fast in regular mode. I smash drum-subs with one all the time.

Caldo, Listen to ?Heredity? on my demo. There's an abused RNC on the drum-buss.

[drewbass]

i'm sure everyone has read this, but for those that have not:

http://www.humbuckermusic.com/rncinfo.html


i think the attack is extremely fast. send yours back for an exchange.
drew

[greatmagnet]

Just as a followup I thought I'd mention I had a sesh last night so I got to try out the many sage sugestions regarding using the RNC OUT of super nice and all that. You guys were totally right.

It was a new client...absolutely the worst amateurish hip-hop I have EVER heard, but STILL...

Out of super-nice the attack and decay were REALLY fast. It was very satisfying just communicating with the client in the vocal booth and hearing the compressor do what it should. When I had it on extreme threshold settings, as soon as he spoke the level ducked right down and no bursts of volume got through at all. The second he stopped talking the hiss came back immediately and I could hear the room around himin its' natural state.

For most of the night I chained both RNCs together...one OUT of super-nice and one IN super nice...that was the shizzle. It was fun both to see how much more not-so-subtle play you could get out of the settings in regular mode, and to see what could be done with two in a row like that as well. I also got some extreme smash going using both units that would make anyone smile.

Thanks again for the clue, dudes.

[antilog]

Interesting! Thanks for the follow up!