I respect your opinion on gear. I am hearing you say the Distressor doesn't cut it. Could you be more specific?
I am ready to buy tracking compression, but have heard that
the Distressor is the only one that is NOT a one--trick-pony.
Is it NOT a swiss armyknife unit?
My other choices are
Manley ELOP,
pair of Daking
pair of Chandler LTD
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I like compression that is transparent .. and that's why I favor
I like compression that is transparent .. and that's why I favor EL OP types like the Manley EL OP and the LA2a, LA3's.
One of the things the Distressor does is add distortion to emulate tube and FET characteristics ... IMO with not too much success. The impressions I have of the Distressor were from when outside engineers brought them into my studio and used them. This happened quite a few times and I feel I have had enough exposure to them to make a call, but I have to admit I haven't really ever had much "hands on time" with them.
I just didn't like the sound of them and to me they were pretty typical of VCA based compressors which I really don't care much for... I did not think that when a/b against FET and EL OP types that they sounded like them ... it was kinda close but really not the same ..
The Distressor has a sound of its own and a lot of people like them ... I am not saying Empirical has laid a big turd with the Distressor ... it is well built with quality components .. and if you like that sort of thing then I say go for it ... I just don't care for it myself ... no product is going to appeal to everyone, no matter how good it is.
I have a distressor and love it on vocals. I ussually put it in
I have a distressor and love it on vocals. I ussually put it in the BRIT mode and 10:1 optical compression setting. It can handle a wide variety of vocal tricks if you do that. I dont really engage any of the 2nd and 3rd harmonic distortions when tracking vocals. I think this gets a little too dirty sounding.
The only other compressor I have is my RNC and truth be told I don't like that, but lots of people do. For rock vocals in my opinion the distressor is pretty cool.
Justin
The Crane Song LTD. "[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.cranesong.c
The Crane Song LTD. "[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.craneson…"]Trakker[/]="http://www.craneson…"]Trakker[/]" is another unit in the chameleon vein of gain reduction cell operation / control... a fair measure larger and clearer sounding than the EL-8 but not quite as aggressive.
It really depends on what you're looking to achieve... the Trakker is more "HiFi" than the EL-8 but IMNTLBFHO the EL-8 is more "rock and roll" than the Trakker.