plug in compression vs real deal

[jp]

i need a cool comp for overheads and im looking for a few ideas. i could buy the real deal or was also thinking about buying a few plugins. (maybe the bomb factory vintage bundle) i run dp3. will drop a grand on this. thoughts?

[Auxillary]

Go get an 1176 and smash the fuck out of those overheads. Or a distressor.

[Rodgre]

Are you mixing in DP3 or are you spitting the tracks back out and mixing analog? That would decide it for me. Overheads are one of the few things that I personally would rather not compress to tape, so I would want to do it on mixdown. If you're doing it in DP3, the Bomb Factory stuff is pretty nice. Very nice, actually, as far as plug ins go.

My favorite compressor plug in, at least with RTAS ProTools is McDSP Compressor Bank. There's practically no compression sound that I can't get with this trio of compressors. I love Compressor Bank 3, with a built in two-band EQ (one band being able to be used as a side chain EQ)

For $1000, there are a lot of cool choices for an analog compressor, but if I were you, I would save a few extra hundred and get a Distressor. If I only had to have ONE analog compressor, it would be that. It's so flexible and sounds great. Not the most transparent box in the world, but it can be subtle if you want it to be. I've personally never used a box that can clamp down so hard and still not be heard.

By the way, I still need to buy one for myself....

Roger

[Auxillary]

Distressor can be got on ebay for 999-1199.

[Rodgre]

Go get an 1176 and smash the fuck out of those overheads. Or a distressor.

I mean no offense. I'm honestly wondering.... would you say this if you knew they were recording a jazz trio or maybe a James Taylor-style singer songwriter? I know this is coming out wrong, but what I mean is, would you smash the hell out of every drum track, regardless of style? This sounds like I'm being a jerk, but I wonder if that's your "secret" way of getting great drum sounds regardless. I'm always afraid to smash my overheads if I'm doing more dynamic music. I love it for Flaming Lips/Led Zeppelin style drumming, Buddy Miller style alt-country or else for "indie rock" drum sounds like those great Pedro the Lion records, but I find that if I compress them too much for light pop or jazzy stuff, it sounds too noisy. Have you found a way to make this work for you consistently?

This is why I would rather compress overheads at mix, because I can't undo it if I overdo it at tracking. I will track with light compression on kick and snare, and mult-compress them again at mixdown (split them to two channels and compress the shit out of one channel and blend it in).

Roger

[Rodgre]

Distressor can be got on ebay for 999-1199.

for that price, that's DEFINITELY the way to go. Plug ins need updates and they come and go....

A Distressor will ALWAYS make you happy!

Roger

[jp]

i would probably lightly compress overheads as i record. at this point i lean more towards the real deal. need a stereo comp though. maybe ill eat beans and rice till i can afford a stereo distressor. what stereo comps do yall like for a grand-ish.

[Auxillary]

Go get an 1176 and smash the fuck out of those overheads. Or a distressor.

I mean no offense. I'm honestly wondering.... would you say this if you knew they were recording a jazz trio or maybe a James Taylor-style singer songwriter? I know this is coming out wrong, but what I mean is, would you smash the hell out of every drum track, regardless of style? This sounds like I'm being a jerk, but I wonder if that's your "secret" way of getting great drum sounds regardless. I'm always afraid to smash my overheads if I'm doing more dynamic music. I love it for Flaming Lips/Led Zeppelin style drumming, Buddy Miller style alt-country or else for "indie rock" drum sounds like those great Pedro the Lion records, but I find that if I compress them too much for light pop or jazzy stuff, it sounds too noisy. Have you found a way to make this work for you consistently?

This is why I would rather compress overheads at mix, because I can't undo it if I overdo it at tracking. I will track with light compression on kick and snare, and mult-compress them again at mixdown (split them to two channels and compress the shit out of one channel and blend it in).

Roger

I always try to track with a little compression on overheads. I work in rooms that have character sounds. Rather than try to fight it, which ends up trashing my tracks, I attempt to bring it out in all the instruments. Not always trying to smash it but I do think its a good idea to use compression on the overheads to bring out the room sound rather than fight it, even on jazz recordings.

[chriss]

I never compress over heads, EVER! Snare and kick but thats it!

[chriss]

BTW I also favor plugin compressors, as they have REAL look ahead technology. No Hardware compressors can REALLY do that like a plugin can. I like the Waves stuff and the nomad factory stuff. http://www.nomadfactory.com http://www.waves.com

[xaqary]

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Just got one of our very own a few days ago. I have damn near worn of the numbers playing with it.

[TooLoFi]

The Waves R-compresser is NICE on drum overheads. I personally would smash the hell out of any drum track, but only as a duplicated track to mix with the original. Also, if you're using a nice console, the onboard compressions are usually very high quality. if not, you can't beat the sound of a good hardware compresser. I've tried the bomb-factory compressers and I'm skeptical. I wouldn't feel confortable driving anything in the digital realm-just moderate use, as many have said. Finally, try just saturating cassette tape for compression.

Greg

[joel hamilton]

I use a nice 2mix comp rooms to tape, and I have been really liking the DBX165a for the mono OH (a 47) lately.

It is a program comp, so it responds well and "dims" things in the high mids a bit, which is nice. Cymbals hurt.

[stillafool]

I'm not too crazy about plugin's for alot of things (particularly delay and reverb), but I think some of the compressor plugins are right on the money. I particularly like PSP's vintage warmer and waves' renaissance compressor. The latter I use on drums quite a bit. The vintage warmer is my favorite plugin of all time, reminds me alot of the 1176.

[jayrope]

get a RNC 1773 compressor for 200 $ dolrras and save the rest for a good tape machine. no plug will do it right yet. two many losses: less body, definition, detail, warmth, all of that, in the digital domain.

distresser? just a stress tool. if you record right you won't need it. your mastering engineer will be happy and your sound will be not stressed

i do computer music since 1980 - and while overusing plugs i had to learn, that there's a lot of uses where teh digital simply can't compete, even with lookahead.

good luck.