Upcoming compressor shootout! :)

ibanez_dude · 10-11-2011, 12:53 PM

So, I'm a happy camper right now. Not only did our pastor give me a large check to spend on audio equipment, with part of which I picked up 2x DBX 1046 comps and 2x DBX 166XS comps at a discount, but I just stumbled on another deal. I found a Presonus ACP88 and 2x TC Electronics C-300's at a good price too, low enough that I'm guaranteed to make my money back, whichever 12 channels of comps I end up selling. We can't afford to keep all of these, and we have no need for 24 channels of comps, but now I get to take some time and have a proper shootout. Gonna record some dry signals from the musicians and have a blast with this one. Should be interesting, they're all fairly different comps. I'm especially intrigued by the TC Electronics comps, they appear to be digital comps with a number of different "presets" for different instruments/voices. I'm hoping the ACP88 ends up being better than the 1046 too, cause I bought the 1046's for vocals, but I'm not sure whether I like them or not, I seem to be able to hear the comp breathing a lot.

Maestro_dmc · 10-13-2011, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibanez_dude

So, I'm a happy camper right now. Not only did our pastor give me a large check to spend on audio equipment, with part of which I picked up 2x DBX 1046 comps and 2x DBX 166XS comps at a discount, but I just stumbled on another deal. I found a Presonus ACP88 and 2x TC Electronics C-300's at a good price too, low enough that I'm guaranteed to make my money back, whichever 12 channels of comps I end up selling. We can't afford to keep all of these, and we have no need for 24 channels of comps, but now I get to take some time and have a proper shootout. Gonna record some dry signals from the musicians and have a blast with this one. Should be interesting, they're all fairly different comps. I'm especially intrigued by the TC Electronics comps, they appear to be digital comps with a number of different "presets" for different instruments/voices. I'm hoping the ACP88 ends up being better than the 1046 too, cause I bought the 1046's for vocals, but I'm not sure whether I like them or not, I seem to be able to hear the comp breathing a lot.

That does sound interesting. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ACP88, since we have 2 or 3 of those in our shop, but I've never tried them. The TC also sounds very interesting because of the presets. Will you be posting comparison samples? That would be fun to hear.

Have you ever considered strapping some compression on your sub -groups (a la Dave Rat )? I've been doing this for a while now, especially with group vocals: Compress the individual channels, then compress again at the sub-group level. It helps "glue" the voices together better. Plus I can dial back the compression a bit in both places which tend to make it much more transparent.

The TC comps might be ideal for this task.

Here's a couple links where DR talks about that:
Article 1
Article 2

The guys brilliant, I learn the most interesting stuff from him . . .

ibanez_dude · 10-13-2011, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maestro_dmc

That does sound interesting. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ACP88, since we have 2 or 3 of those in our shop, but I've never tried them. The TC also sounds very interesting because of the presets. Will you be posting comparison samples? That would be fun to hear.

Have you ever considered strapping some compression on your sub -groups (a la Dave Rat )? I've been doing this for a while now, especially with group vocals: Compress the individual channels, then compress again at the sub-group level. It helps "glue" the voices together better. Plus I can dial back the compression a bit in both places which tend to make it much more transparent.

The TC comps might be ideal for this task.

Here's a couple links where DR talks about that:
Article 1
Article 2

The guys brilliant, I learn the most interesting stuff from him . . .

I've heard of it, but never tried. Maybe I can free up a channel or two to try it out. I did it all last night, but I'll have to write up a review later

ibanez_dude · 10-13-2011, 01:57 PM

Very interesting articles btw. I've always had a lot of respect for that guy, he's not only a genius but seems to have his head screwed on right as well. It's great to here someone in the industry talk about ethics like that.

ibanez_dude · 10-13-2011, 02:19 PM

I might keep another 2 channel compressor around to try it out, cause we have 3-5 vocalists usually, and the TC "Composite" (Multiband) setting might work really

**surferdude9375** · 10-13-2011, 03:03 PM

Compressors without attack and release control are useless in my opinion. Thats probably what the instrument selector on the C300 is doing but call me oldschool I'd rather have the knobs to control it myself. There are a ton of tricks you can do with compressors.

ibanez_dude · 10-13-2011, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by surferdude9375

Compressors without attack and release control are useless in my opinion. Thats probably what the instrument selector on the C300 is doing but call me oldschool I'd rather have the knobs to control it myself. There are a ton of tricks you can do with compressors.

Ya, that's why I think the dbx 1046 ended up not doing it for me. The C300 however seems to do some things really well, so it's a keeper. It works great on speech and vocals, I'm keeping one for the pastors wireless mic, and probably another for compressing the vocal submix.