I'm looking for a new compressor to work mainly on vocals during mixing but flexible enough to use on other sources occasionally. A few months ago I used a Summit DCL200 which I loved. It could be used very subtley with just enough of its own sound to add a bit of sparkle, without really changing the character of the original source. Before I buy this What else of a similar kind of characteristic should I be auditioning ?
Thanks
-Peter
Comments
Originally posted by Fletcher: ] I also really like the Avalon
Originally posted by Fletcher:
]
I also really like the Avalon Design VT 737-sm in that application as well. The mic amps sound lovely, and I've often found the compression to work very well with most vocals...but the equalizer...oh, yeah!! Just a tad on the top and whoo-hoo...air and shimmer like you have wet dreams about.
As always...Your mileage may vary...
What do you find the 737-SM to be good at? I used one a few weeks ago while mixing for vocals and bass. I also tried the mic pre with a 421 for reamping some guitar stuff. While I liked the compressor and the EQ was cool I got the feeling that it made everything kind of big and mushy in a good way. But, I don't know what I would use it on if I owned one.
Originally posted by Jay Kahrs: What do you find the 737-SM to b
Originally posted by Jay Kahrs:
What do you find the 737-SM to be good at? I used one a few weeks ago while mixing for vocals and bass. I also tried the mic pre with a 421 for reamping some guitar stuff. While I liked the compressor and the EQ was cool I got the feeling that it made everything kind of big and mushy in a good way. But, I don't know what I would use it on if I owned one.
I've used them on bass, on the "front of the kit" drum mic...occassionally on vocals, on alot of stuff. I find it to be a pretty damn good 'Swiss Army Knife' kind of tool.
Thanks Fletcher/Brad. I hadn't thought of the Crane-song or even
Thanks Fletcher/Brad. I hadn't thought of the Crane-song or even heared of the Pendulum units. I've asked my dealer to try and get loan machines to try out. The Crane-song trakker sounds like a similar unit to the distressor (which I have ). Does it use similar technology ?
Are there any others before I draw up my short list ?
Thanks again
-Peter
The "Trakker" in some ways is the next step in the evolution of
The "Trakker" in some ways is the next step in the evolution of the 'distressor'. Don't get me wrong, I love my 'distressor's, and generally have at least two on every session I do [hell, I'm the guy that named the unit the EL-8...because after a couple years of passing the prototype back and forth, I was 'elated' with the product].
The things I wanted different with the Trakker from the Distressor were things like more headroom on the front end. I wanted the ability to change settings quickly [on the EL-8 you have to page through things to change settings...on the Trakker, it's a 16 position rotary switch]...stuff like that.
I think you'll find the Trakker a bit larger and clearer than the distressor, the EL-8 a bit more aggressive than the Trakker.
They really use entirely different technologies to accomplish similar (yet tonally and texturally different) feats.
As for the 'Pendulum' stuff...have your local dealer get in touch with me, at this point you can only get the stuff from Mercenary or factory direct...so if your dealer calls we'll do what's known as a "dealer accomodation" for him.
Best of luck with your decision!! (ahhh, in a few years you'll have them all...right now you're just deciding which to get first ;) )
For cutting vocals...sure, there are a ton of them that really s
For cutting vocals...sure, there are a ton of them that really seem to have it all over the DCL-200. The DCL-200 was originally designed by a guy named David Hill, who has a new company [long story/ugly court battle] called Crane Song LTD.
His new designs are way more versatile and "sweet" sounding than his past work. The "Trakker" has the unique ability to sound like a DCL-200, an LA-2A, a DBX-160-VU, an LA-4, a Neve 2254 and more than a few others.
In the more budget conscious ranges, the Empirical Labs EL-8 "Distressor" also has the ability to attain a smooth sheen/light sparkle kind of distortion...all the way up to some serious "Trent Reznor" agressive distortions from hell. For a couple of years I used to joke that my favorite "tube compressor" was wall to wall IC chips!!
I also really like the Avalon Design VT 737-sm in that application as well. The mic amps sound lovely, and I've often found the compression to work very well with most vocals...but the equalizer...oh, yeah!! Just a tad on the top and whoo-hoo...air and shimmer like you have wet dreams about.
There are others that will handle the stereo thing better than the DCL-200 as well as [IMO] doing vocals better. The Pendulum Audio OCL-2 (optical based) is one of them, as is the Pendulum Audio ES-8 (Variable-MU based). The Drawmer 1969 (J-FET based) also has a shimmer with air and a great big set of brass balls. The mic pre with the compression is a great combination, but frankly, I'm pretty biased about that because it was designed specifically for me.
As always...Your mileage may vary...