best software compresser?

Torque · Post by **Torque** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:11 am

iZotope Ozone

that is all........

alland · Post by **alland** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:18 pm

i've been using waves stuff for years but i think i'm getting tired of it... seems that no matter how you set things it still kind of limits you to being super clean and neat. not much room for experimentation...

whats this UAD-1?

a.

sorgenkind · Post by **sorgenkind** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:51 pm

I got nice results with T-Racks from IK Multimedia.
It's standalone though ( I do not have the vst version) a bit expensive but it gives a nice and warm touch to the material.

Martin Decara · Post by **Martin Decara** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:07 pm

alland wrote: whats this UAD-1?

http://www.uaudio.com/products/digital/ ... index.html

I think I will go for the UAD Card... (The Flexi PAK)

Thanx

sorgenkind · Post by **sorgenkind** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 12:32 pm

mmmh... makes me willing to buy a desktop for the studio again....

stefan erhalder · Post by **stefan erhalder** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 12:51 pm

i'm using the waves compressors since years too - i think they are nice for technical jobs, they sound clean and don't color the sound too much. the psp vintage warmer has not been mentioned yet - it colors the sound, like some of the very nice emulations of classic compressors that come with the uad bundle or the t-racks suite. finally it's a matter of taste.

steffensen · Post by **steffensen** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 2:48 pm

stefan erhalder wrote:i'm using the waves compressors since years too - i think they are nice for technical jobs, they sound clean and don't color the sound too much. the psp vintage warmer has not been mentioned yet - it colors the sound, like some of the very nice emulations of classic compressors that come with the uad bundle or the t-racks suite. finally it's a matter of taste.

it colors in a bad way imo. the bass area gets all squashy.

Sonalksis SV-315 is imo the best coloring compressor of all. Waves RComp aint to bad either (its very similar to the 1176).
btw, if u really want color, check out the Voxengo Crunchessor, and/or the Kjaerhus GUP-1.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:33 am

i just thought i'd throw this into the ring to see if anyone feels the same as me about compression.
basically i dont use it, or hardly at all.
i used to use compression all the time, ive got a rack full of nice hardware compressors, but only use them in extreme cases.
theres different reasons for using compression, either as an effect, or as a limiting device or to increase density.
for the last few years i've been concentrating on my envelopes and levels so that i dont need to compress a whole mix. you have much more control over the groove by getting the envelopes right, if you slap a compressor over the mix, it changes the groove. so light limiting is usually enough.
in the past i would switch on the compressor, and find that the mix instantly sounded fatter and louder, it's like an easy (and lazy ) way to get instant results, but with experimentation, ive found that i can get louder and fatter mixes by spending more time on the groove structure, being careful with bass and subs etc. and watching for spikes on my meters, then going in and adjusting everything till there are no spikes.
ok it takes longer., but i think it's worth it.
i also find that compressing individual sounds usually deteriorates the quality of that sound, ok if you are after a specific effect like pumping, theres no other way.
one advantage of compression is to bring cohesiveness to a whole mix, but if i need to do this, i apply very very light compression.
i suppose what i'm saying is 'I think before compressing '