Good hardware compressors to strap across the 2 bus

I'm talking out of the box mixing.  What have you used and worked really good?

The Classics are the C1, API 2500, Drawmer & 1178 (for gritty R&R), SSL.

Portico 5043 gets some play along with the Neve 33609.

I noticed quite a few mixers are skipping the compressor these days but putting some nice preamps/EQs like the 1073 or the API EQs on the two buss. Something to take it up a notch. Very expensive approach but very competitive.

I use the Portico 5012 preamps into the 5043 myself or nothing.

Here is what I am currently building. Coming out of the box from two lynx cards TwoA and TwoB for 10 outs into a Dangerous Summing box then two alternate paths one with the 5012/5043 and the other pristine. Both of these go back into the box.

Dave,

almost any linkable compressor should work - the better, of course, the better.  I'd love another portico channel strip to stereo out, but alas, I can't find that spare $3000 I had in my wallet.  The RND Portico 5043 compressors should work nicely - they come as a stereo pair as per Middleman. 

I use a stereo pair of Komits, which is a compressor followed by limiter.  The comp chips are THAT, like the SSL.  The limiter is an analog brick wall limiter that can get crunchy if pushed hard.  Best of both worlds, since you can dial up your compressed sound and keep out nasty overs and/or saturate the devil into a sound.  These are the older, hand made units from Bugin/McDaniel - Burgin took the design to Radial.  They have a lunchbox version that is quite cheap ($450? a unit), but whether it sounds as good I can't say.  Kevin Burgin left before it was finalized.  You could probably get a good deal on Radial's 8 channel mixer lunchbox unit w/ a pair, and add different units later (since you were asking about the D_Box).

On the low end side, I've heard that people use the art tube compressor for stereo outputing and it works well for small gain changes.  I doubt if you get the quality of more expensive units if you drive it hard, but for slight compression (along w/ sofware comp - the PC SSL bus is really good) it should work well and add a bit of analog taste. 

But if you can swing it, a high-end stereo comp is one of the more useful tools I've found in the digital world of sound.  Softsynths sound better going through it - it seems to add some of the "air" and dimension one expects to hear in "real" synths; acoustic stuff sounds right coming in through high quality gear, and it gives the user confidence.  It also means you can't use the excuse that your recording sucks because you don't have X Y or Z gear.  Well, people do, but that is just silly - if you can't get a good sound from good equipment and can only use one specialized piece fo hardware on each instrument you've better have a big budget because excuses get old.

Anyway, that is my take.  Don't get a divorce over equipment (the reason I don't have a second Portico yet) but don't short yourself, either.  buy as good as stuff as you can afford and most of the time it will stick w/ your studio.  Good stuff isn't the end all, but can help with that last little bit of sound.

@

The RND Portico 5043 compressors should work nicely - they come as a stereo pair as per Middleman.

The 5043s are affordable for sure and would get me set up for further variations on a theme.

Mod Bod

Middleman


The Classics are the C1, API 2500, Drawmer & 1178 (for gritty R&R), SSL.

Portico 5043 gets some play along with the Neve 33609.

I noticed quite a few mixers are skipping the compressor these days but putting some nice preamps/EQs like the 1073 or the API EQs on the two buss. Something to take it up a notch. Very expensive approach but very competitive.

I use the Portico 5012 preamps into the 5043 myself or nothing.

Here is what I am currently building. Coming out of the box from two lynx cards TwoA and TwoB for 10 outs into a Dangerous Summing box then two alternate paths one with the 5012/5043 and the other pristine. Both of these go back into the box.

Talk to me a bit about the Dangerous 2 bus.  Do you have the expensive one or the LT?  I'm guessing you like it or you wouldn't have mentioned it. 

The Dangerous LT. Yes, I like it.
 

Well, I went with the advice on Fab Dupont's site where he says the sound quality is the same but the feature set different. I did not compare the two but took his word on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rejs_mXyE1E 

Listen to that video and you get the differences and I did not really need or desire the features of the 2 Buss. The LT was good enough and slightly less cost.

Art Pro VLA II, Best bang for the box!!!



http://artproaudio.com/art_products/signal_processing/tube_compressors/product/pro_vla_ii/


It comes with great hand selected 12AT7 Tubes. It has the same excellent sound as much expensive units. Many producers & mixing engineers and also bigger studios use this device because of its excellent sound,  example David Bowie...
 
If you want you can easily change them to Mullards tube, telefunken or NOS etc..

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/geekslutz-forum/126836-pimp-my-pro-vla.html 
 




Elysia Xpressor are a great MasterBus comp too

http://www.elysia.com/hardware/xpressor/introduction/

 

i had fun using a distressor...

worked fine.

droddey


For one that punches way above its weight and is also useful for other things besides the main bus the Drawmer 1968 is a good choice. It's 1U, so doesn't take up much space. It's got enough flexibility to do a lot of things but isn't one that you can sit there forever tweaking. It has well thought out settings that are good for things like the main buss, guitar bus, drum buss, and so forth. It's dual mono or stereo so it can be used multiple ways in the mix or during tracking. And, as such things go, it's not expensive.

Just checked that out.  Wow, that's a beauty.  Worth putting in the rack just to look at.