[mwagener]

Well, the first workshop is over, way too soon, in my opinion. I have to say it was a lot of fun and very educational for me as well. A big THANK YOU to Casey and Mark for being such cool guys. We did all the stuff that you always wanted to do, but don't really have time for in a ‘real’ production. I’m sure the musicians where quite bored at times (as evident by the empty bottle of Jack Daniels), doing the same part over and over until WE where happy with the microphone or the preamp, and during the workshop we probably didn’t have the ideal creative environment for getting the best performances out of them. But that was not our objective, this was OUR project, this time WE got to say: “I can do this better”. I was reminded, that sometimes it is not easy to explain in words what you have been practicing for so long that it became second nature, but it sure refreshes the memory.

Following are very personal opinions on the stereo bus compressor shoot-out (is it bus or buss?). Please keep in mind that the main objective was to find a stereo bus compressor with the least amount of color (for lack of another word) and the least amount of 'visible' compression artifacts. I just want the compressor to raise the dynamically low parts of the song a little without changing the mix. Casey and Mark, please chime in whenever your opinion differs from mine or if you have any additional comments.

First off, let me say that it was mindboggeling to have a chance to compare all those great machines and an extra special thanks to Fletcher, Dave Martin and everybody else who contributed gear to the shootout. It also was a pretty full plate, to learn 14 compressors within a few hours and very difficult to quickly find the optimum settings for the task at hand.

We recorded our (somewhat) final mix back to two tracks of the R-1 and fed that back to the compressors via separate busses of the R-1, so in essence we simulated a mastering session, where the mix could not be changed while compressing. Then we made our adjustments and recorded the results back to the R-1 in sync with the original mix, adjusted for level. There was no compression on the stereo bus on the original mix. We used the Massive Passive (boost at 2 ‘o clock, shelf up from 4.6 K) via the insert of the HEDD. The HEDD had the tape knob on 6 and the Pentode at 4, Triode was set at 0. The mix itself was very dense in the chorus but lighter in the verses, based on the arrangement and the recorded instruments. Compression was only used on the vocal track while tracking (17 – 20 dB on the Distressor) and on the drum submix (via the Spider, squeezed with the Chandler EMI TG-1 on limit)

Participants in the September workshop, you might want to stop reading here (yeah right), in order not get biased. I will have most of those compressors around for the September workshop for you to come to your own conclusions.

All the compressors where great in different ways for different applications and as a real Gearslut I would kick neither one of those out of my studio.

Here we go, in no particular order:

JOE MEEK – SC2 V1.07:
Too colored for the task at hand, odd controls, we were not sure if this one was working to specs.

MANLEY – VARI-MU
Created great harmonics, we didn’t really hear the compression (which is good) but it had somewhat of a loose bottom end around 100 – 200 Hz. I am not sure exactly which model Vari-Mu this was (T-Bar mod or not), maybe Dave Martin could shed some light on this, as it was one of his compressors (thanx for dropping them off Dave). My mastering engineer uses the Vari-Mu with great results, but I would not pick this one for the permanent WireWorld equipment list, because it does not make much sense to go through the same compression circuit twice.

MANLEY - ELOP
Absolutely great to squeeze drum submixes, similar sound to the Chandler TG-1. For the stereo bus it was a little too colored. This makes a great tracking comp.

MILLENIA – TCL2
This one has a very thick color and is a little too slow for the stereo bus, for my taste.

CRANE SONG – STC-8
This is my personal favorite and it WILL make the permanent WireWorld equipment list, just have to decide on which version. The STC-8 did exactly what we were looking for; it made the mix sound bigger without changing the relationship of the instruments to each other. It brought up the dynamically lower parts of the song without squeezing the louder parts audibly. It also had the added bonus of a built in peak limiter, which allowed us to raise the overall level of the mix some more, even though we didn’t use that function on the comparison track. The presets allowed for settings from (slightly) colored to absolutely transparent and I can’t wait to dive deeper into the different settings. The STC-8 glues the mix together in a very positive way. Thank you Mr. Hill.

INNER TUBE – STEREO SQUEEZE BOX
This is a very ‘warm’ and round sounding compressor. It is very involved in terms of interaction of the different controls, but allows for a big variety in settings. It was THE hardest one to figure out.

DRAWMER – ME 1969
Very colorful and very fat sounding box.

AL SMART – C2
This is the compressor to get (out of the bunch tested) if you are looking for the ‘modern squeezed’ sound. Very HiFi sounding, but not subtle by any means. It’s also very easy to set up and we liked that it had one knob controlling both of the outputs when switched to stereo link. The crush button creates a very interesting sound. Gotta dive into that some more as well. This one is moving straight to the top of my equipment wish list.

PENDULUM – ES-8
The pendulum was a very pleasant surprise, both in the drum submix test and the stereo bus compressor shoot-out. It has a big bottom and an unexpectedly clear top end for a tube compressor, very easy, detailed controls with a wide range for input and output.

CRANE SONG – TRAKKER (stereo linked pair)
The two linked Trakkers had a very open sound with a nice top end. They had a little more color and were not quite as big as the STC-8 on the stereo bus. If somebody already has the STC-8 this would make a great addition for tracking (hence the name, I guess), but I wouldn’t hesitate at all to use them on the stereo bus either.

MANLEY – SLAM
Great box. The SLAM is another unit that requires a lot of time and experimentation to get familiar with all the possible combinations of settings and I’m not sure that we exhausted all of them for this test. It was definitely the cleanest tube of the bunch. During the recording part the A/D kicked major butt.

API – 2500
Nice color on all settings, it definitely adds its own character to the mix. Given the somewhat hot level of the original mix, we had a hard time to get it NOT to compress. I guess a variable input control would be an improvement to the 2500; it seemed to be very sensitive.

DAKIN – 91579 (stereo linked pair)
Very colorful, NEVEish sound. I would definitely consider those for tracking. They worked fine on the stereo bus but were not what we were looking for in terms of transparency.

CHANDLER TG-1
This is the most colorful beast of the bunch. It is the absolute monster on drum submixes and makes a great tracking compressor for a lot of instruments and voices. Needless to say it was not what we were looking for on the stereo bus. This one should be on everybody’s wish list.

EMPIRICAL LABS – EL8 DISTRESSOR (with stereo link option)
I have been able to make the Distressors work on almost anything when tracking, but I was not sure about using it on the stereo bus. Well, now I am, big surprise. It sounds bright and open and is very versatile due to the extensive, easy to handle controls. If I had to start a studio from scratch this would be my first set of compressors.

...and last but definitely not least:

FMR – RNC
This little box had surprised us in a very positive way during the drum submix test, by squeezing the heck out of the drums and adding a lot of midrange color to the pie. On the stereo bus the added midrange wasn’t really what we were looking for, but if set to a lower compression ratio it was not bad at all and faired very well with the ‘BIG DOODS’. Considering the price it should be in every studio’s rack.

There you have it. As mentioned above, our tests were not very scientific and had a very special goal in mind. It helped me making a decision for the WireWorld stereo bus compressor. I guess I’ll have to click the GIMMIE button next to the CraneSong STC-8 on the Mercenary website soon.

More on this after the September workshop.