Which hardware compressors have ratios as gentle as 1.5:1 or 2:1?

Many of the good sounding ones have stuff like 4:1, 8:1, 12:1, even 20:1. Some of the "classics" have a sweet 12:1 with super gentle slopes.







I'll start;

The Distressor has a 1:1 and a 2:1.


Anything else?

Fair call, they are modelled off hardware compressors, so I understand that's why they have their set ratios. That's fair enough. It's how it behaves that's important, not just the number on the dial.

godino


Thanks again Danny
 
I'm reasonably happy with my sound, its just that the video threw me a bit -as you mention I
suppose you have to be careful learning from videos/books
 
Currently I am using a strat with a very clean sound, infact its one of the old squier originals strat copies from 82/83
which I always find a nice guitar to play
 
I've already dusted down my old behringer hardware compressor to add a little compression before DI'ing
I'll do a bit of testing and see what difference it makes 
I take it I dial a fast attack time?
 
Rain - Yes you are right danny's posts are also informative and well worth reading(perhaps cakewalk should pay him a retainer LOL!)
 

You're quite welcome. Yeah try that Behringer. Believe it or not, that's exactly what I use in my home studio. People laugh at me when they see it, but it's a perfect little "conditioner" compressor for going to disc. I have the MDX 2400 multi-com....4 comps in one. Nothing special, but it's perfect for that little bit of conditioning.
 
LOL Cakewalk hates me....I couldn't sell them on a free "made for them" guitar sim plug that blows Guitar Rig 4 out of the water imho. LOL! Thanks for the kind thoughts though....you and Rain are making my morning...thanks guys! :)
 
Matt: LOL good catch brother...yes, my bad, I meant 1.5:1. I always forget that "point" and have said this wrong so many times, I can't even begin to count. To be honest, I don't think I have EVER put the point in there while talking about that ratio. I promise to start though...thanks for the heads up. :)
 
-Danny

Wow. This is interesting. Mr. Owinski wants "everything" to be "even".
It shows, in that he compresses everything by at least 6db. 
That's pretty over the top, at least for me. 

Actually, the generic PT compressor does sound pretty transparent though. 

The eq section was pretty good.

But then, he goes on to talk about overcompressing and how bad it is.

I know I'm missing something. I mean, he writes books and makes movies and stuff. I don't.
But, then again, I never did quite 'get' how a compressor can make things louder unless you compress the peaks also. If you have a slow attack per Mr. O, the transients get thru and then it compresses the averages (everything after the initial hit). That would seem to imply higher peaks and lower averages.??

I don't know, I think I get more and more confused about compression as time rolls on:)

Is this standard practice (6db compression)?

Well, passed that initial transient which goes through uncompressed, the remaining portion of the signal you're compressing can be made a bit more even so that, as a result, when you crank the make up gain, will also be made louder. 

So you don't lose the punch but you can make the sustain/decay part of the signal more even and then louder.

"Well, passed that initial transient which goes through uncompressed, the remaining portion of the signal you're compressing can be made a bit more even so that, as a result, when you crank the make up gain, will also be made louder.  "

In my experience, when you crank up the make up gain, the signal will then be too loud in the mix as the peaks will pass through. On drums say, the peaks are pretty much 'the sound'. So, by compressing, you're actually turning the averages down. 

"So you don't lose the punch but you can make the sustain/decay part of the signal more even and then louder."


Huh?

Here's how I think of compressors. Peaks are compressed so the whole signal is more unified. Thus allowing you to raise the gain (ie: louder). This pic may be a little extreme but I think it gets the point across.

Rain


Well, passed that initial transient which goes through uncompressed, the remaining portion of the signal you're compressing can be made a bit more even so that, as a result, when you crank the make up gain, will also be made louder. 

So you don't lose the punch but you can make the sustain/decay part of the signal more even and then louder.

If you let the peak through what is the make up gain for? Doesn't the peak get sort of loud? Maybe too loud?










I think a lot of old timers like to use the make up gain stage to squash the peaks, that sneak past the slow attack, up against the driver in the output section so that they can get some really sweet harmonic distortion and compression going on AFTER the compression stage.

That's what makes an 1176 sound like an "1176"... banging the output section so it gets thick and sweet!!! 
This was a bad example; The 1176 has such a fast attack range that it isn't a good example for a discussion about slow attack times.

replaced with: That's what makes an LA2A sound like an "LA2A"... banging the output section so it gets thick and sweet!!! 

Tricks like that are common with old time hardware guys... and they/we developed habits that make good sound but don't necessarily make a lot of sense if you think you have some "idea" of how a compressor works.




In the world of dsp, a compressor can be used more literally. The signal can be specifically compressed with great detail and the make up gain up can occur without distortion. There is a greater opportunity now, than ever before, to learn about what your compressor is doing and how it relates to what you think you are hearing.



best regards,
mike







  edit

Sorry for the confusion there, that's not what I meant - just that the portion of the signal that gets compressed can then be made louder.

But yes Tim, the results I had in mind were along the lines of the images you've posted.

mike_mccue

Rain


Well, passed that initial transient which goes through uncompressed, the remaining portion of the signal you're compressing can be made a bit more even so that, as a result, when you crank the make up gain, will also be made louder. 

So you don't lose the punch but you can make the sustain/decay part of the signal more even and then louder.

If you let the peak through what is the make up gain for? Doesn't the peak get sort of loud? Maybe too loud?










I think a lot of old timers like to use the make up gain stage to squash the peaks, that sneak past the slow attack, up against the driver in the output section so that they can get some really sweet harmonic distortion and compression going on AFTER the compression stage.

That's what makes an 1176 sound like an "1176"... banging the output section so it gets thick and sweet!!! 
This was a bad example; The 1176 has such a fast attack range that it isn't a good example for a discussion about slow attack times.

replaced with: That's what makes an LA2A sound like an "LA2A"... banging the output section so it gets thick and sweet!!! 

Tricks like that are common with old time hardware guys... and they/we developed habits that make good sound but don't necessarily make a lot of sense if you think you have some "idea" of how a compressor works.




In the world of dsp, a compressor can be used more literally. The signal can be specifically compressed with great detail and the make up gain up can occur without distortion. There is a greater opportunity now, than ever before, to learn about what your compressor is doing and how it relates to what you think you are hearing.



best regards,
mike







edit

If we start w/ a signal that already peaks near 0db, of course there's not much we can do unless we tame those peaks/transients too - but, unless you set the attack time to 0, something will get through, no? I think Owsinski assumes that you're working on material that still leaves you a bit of headroom to push the volume. 

I don't know, really, that's how I understood what he meant.

"the portion of the signal that gets compressed can then be made louder."

I guess I got confused while considering that a note's trail can be made even louder with a faster attack.

The idea that a slower attack is useful for making the trail of a note louder seems to be countered by a limit to the potential for make up gain defined by the peak that passes through.

In other words, make up gain turns up everything... not just the stuff that gets compressed. So if you let a peak sneak through you can only turn it up until the peak hits the top... OR, you can purposefully go beyond that and push it in to distortion for a distinct sound.


best regards,
mike