Mega Compressor Shoot-out!

[Ermz]

As many of you might know, we've been hit with an influx of quality compression plug-ins lately. The developers are really starting to zero in and give us more lively, nuanced and musical compressors - bringing us ever closer to that elusive 'analogue' sound.

I've started demoing a bunch of these and thought it would be good to just lay it all down for future reference (after the demo periods expire), and make a public shoot-out of it.

Basically I've included 8 compressors in this shoot-out:

Waves CLA-3A
Waves CLA76 (Blacky)
Waves CLA76 (Bluey)
Softube CL1B
PSP Old Timer
Stillwell Rocket

and for control/reference purposes:

Waves SSL E-channel compressor
Waves C1 Comp

Some notes:

-Compressors 2, 3, 4 & 5 are THE SAME UNITS between each test. 1 varies in all 3, and 6 was a wildcard thrown in just for the bass.

-The reason that the sources are generally in a 'mix' is because we don't gain much benefit from hearing the tracks out of context.

-Whenever possible I tried to match the compressors numerically, and in absence of that option, by ear. For the most part they are all doing very similar things to the source, in the same ballpark.

Here we go:

Bass

Bass Raw

Bass 1

Bass 2

Bass 3

Bass 4

Bass 5

Bass 6

Drums

Drums Raw

Drums 1

Drums 2

Drums 3

Drums 4

Drums 5

Vocals

Vocals Raw

Vocals 1

Vocals 2

Vocals 3

Vocals 4

Vocals 5

Please pick only ONE out of each category as your favourite. The poll is public in order to stop people doing otherwise.

The results will be revealed after the poll closes.

Have fun!

 

[slayercannibalsuffohead]

That just fucked with my brain! Can hear fuck all difference, if any, between the lot. But I thought 1,1,5 was the go. Is there a lot of difference price wise between the lot? Not so much into the AE side of things, hence why I cant tell fuck all difference between em! Which re-enforces my opinion that songwriting is the big factor over production.

 

[::XeS::]

Yeah, it's very difficult to hear noticeable differences. Something is a little more natural and something else is more squashed.
For this reason, I think the cheaper one is the better one

 

[GarethSE]

5, 2, 1 for me

good stuff ermz

 

[botus99]

I'll check out the other ones later, but for the drums these were my opinions...

Drum 1 - Solid
Drum 2 - Better! The sublows seem to breathe out more
Drum 3 - Bouncier sounding? Seemed like it had a midrange focus and had some pumping going on
Drum 4 - Sounded a lot like #1 but with slightly more pumping
Drum 5 - Very balanced sounding, and my favorite. Had good lows like #2

 

[TheDude]

Wowoweewaa. I'm drunk and have absolutely nothing to add whatsoever, but to my drunken ears, it's all nuances so go for the cheap.

 

[Manicompression]

I liked bass 2, it seemed to bring out the brightness of it. Drums 4, seemed the most fat to me, and i couldnt discern much difference in the vocal but i think 4 may have been the one there. poll taken. Interested to see how this goes. thanks.

 

[jinxtigr]

Does it really count as a mega compressor shootout if it's mostly Waves? Bummed I didn't hear about this earlier- if you're on Logic or could send around uncompressed sources I could've shown you something.

Working from the mp3 dry sample hurts me, but mine sounds like this:
http://www.jinxtigr.com/temp/drums-6.mp3

It'd be fatter and more importantly glossier if I was able to run off the same uncompressed source as the Waves examples... costs less than Waves too, but AU-only. But there's Logic users in metal, right?

 

[Ermz]

I liked bass 2, it seemed to bring out the brightness of it. Drums 4, seemed the most fat to me, and i couldnt discern much difference in the vocal but i think 4 may have been the one there. poll taken. Interested to see how this goes. thanks.

Good call there. I agree on Bass 2.

For vocals in all honesty I can barely here a difference in this particular context. For drums I tend to like what #2 does as well.

 

[Manicompression]

Suprised this didnt take off a bit more. So what did i like???

 

[cobhc]

Sorry for bumping a nearly month old thread, but what were the results of this?

 

[Eduardo Apolonia]

If you guys want I can pass it through a pair of UA 1176s, UA LA-3As, SSL Fx-384, Smart C2, 1176AE for Mono (sorry only have 1 ) to add to this shootout.

 

[::XeS::]

Yeeeeeeeee!!!!!

 

[Mikaël-ange]

Yeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Agree with this

 

[Eduardo Apolonia]

I'll do it, just give me some time.

Ermz,
I need the settings you used for the compressors and actual gain reduction.

 

[LeSedna]

bumping, didn't see the thread and the end result would be epicly interesting.

 

[Ermz]

Sorry Eddie, I have no idea what I set the compressors to 2 months ago!

Apologies for forgetting this thread folks. Just didn't see that much interest so I figured the effort was not worth it.

Okay by memory here is how it is:

1) Bass: Waves CLA 1176 black
Drums: CLA3A
Vocals: Waves CLA 1176 blue

2) Softube CL1B

3) PSP Old Timer

4) Waves E-Channel Compressor

5) Waves C1 Compressor

6) Stillwell Rocket

 

[Nebulous]

Sorry to bump this old thread. Does the Rocket need an iLok?