Oh boy! i just got my HCL Solution stereo compressor earlier today and this thing sounds GREAT !!!!as soon as i got it i rushed to the studio and pluged it in just to make sure the thing would work. I put up a beat we had tracked yesterday and ran the compressor across the stereo buss just to hear what it would do. at first i had it so it wouldnt compress at all (peak Reduction and ratio all the way down) i brought up the input gain meters begin moving and... SIGNAL!!! It made the overseas trip and passed the first 2 tests (It truned on and passed signal)
from there i hit the meter switch to GR and brought up the peak reduction and ratio knobs, at first im not really hearing anything but i see meters showing me compression is happening, so i hit the bypass switch (putting it in bypass) and the mix seemed to get thin i look over at my asstistant and hes just smiling
from there i decide lets smash this 2mix!!! I bring up the input to about 3oclock (with the peak Reduction and Ration at about 11) and HOLY S*HIT the mix get's this really nice harmonic tone on both lo and hi ends i look over at my assistant and his jaw is on the floor
but one thing did kinda bugg me out. I hit the link switch the meters are still jumping around but not in unison they just continue on their own
so i start turning the input gain and realize that only one side is being affected
Im not to sure what this means but the more i mess with it the more i think this link switch is not working
I have e-mailed Albert about this and i hope he can explain it to me. The meters seem a little eratic and as i looked closer it looks like they used a paper cut out for the VU meter
Oh well im not one to complain to much about looks im more about the sound and i have no complains about that. Also if you really smash it with all knobs all the way up it just craps out, not a plesant sound. but then again most gear doesn't sound good when completely overloaded. Anyway,
Ive been working with a producer at a studio here in LA for a good 2 months straight now. He plays a little bit of everything gtr, bass, drumz..and piano being his main instrument. I have his bass going thru a demeter tube bass preamp into a channel on the SSL and on the insert a Urie 1176..Sounds Great. I changed the insert to my new S2 compressor without the producer knowing. He came into the studio at 6pm as always and begins making a beat... his Mpc is bangin drumz hard, he get a nice little piano riff going, he grabs his bass and begins to play... He looks over to me stops the beat and ask's.. "What did you do to the bass ?" i respond "Why whats wrong ?". He says "nothings wrong it just sonds big & PHATT "
i smile and show him "the handbuilt compressor from the Ukraine" ive been telling him about this whole month. He smiles back gives me a thumbs up and proceeds to turn the beat as loud as possible.
So overall im very pleased with my purchase its got a great sound with its own characteristics. I also compared it to an LA2a and it sounds some what similar. the LA2a seems to give the bass a little more color with less work but i was able, with a little dialing, to get the S2 to sound just as good. It seems the S2 is just cleaner sounding but if you want you can get some real grit and tone out of it. I think im falling in love. can't wait to hear their mic
