Mpressor Riccardo?

[William Bowden]

I just went to your link/ad and saw the Mpressor there in the rack. I've done a bit of searching of course, but just wondered if you'd care to elaborate on your feelings about the unit for mastering?

I like your eq on the left, compressors on the right vibe too (well apart from the requisite unit - maybe that's why you're selling it ) wish my rack made that much sense!

The King

[Riccardo]

Ah! well spotted!
I had forgotten about the Requisite (the sale I mean). The only reason was rackspace (mine has got a few tricks up its sleeve ). That reminds me sooner or later I'll have to get a small Sterling pod and move a few things over to one side.

Well the mpressor was originally going to come in for a test and then possibly go into the recording studio but it never got there. It is very flexible, you can do almost anything (almost as the Alpha holds that title). I know it was never meant for mastering but you can make it work quite easily. The gain reduction meters are useless in a mastering environment but then again we are all used to listen rather than look. It doesn't sport stepped/recollable controls but recall is very easy as the knobs feel great and the indents/marks are extremely clear. If you look at it from this perpective the continuous pots could actually be bonus. Creative features like negative ratios are probably better suited to the mixing room but when it is doing straight compression it is very transparent. I very much like having the 1.2:1 ratio.
I don't know if you noticed that in some posts I charcterized the mpressor as being a "coloured" unit. Well it can be very coloured thanks to the "Gain" which is not a make up gain as it would appear. It is more akin to the IBIS color as it somehow creates a sort of perceived midrange punch (mild distortion). This is very useful when you need to add weight to anemic rock mixes as the midrange push carries a low mids weight that on the right material is very close to hitting tape at the right level with the right formulation. Other times it just doesn't work (you can set it to zero gain anyway). The tilt eq is quite powerful while being sweet. It is limited but very nice to have. I have sparingly used it when the mix was right and just needed touch up or down
I know I will sooner or later have to try a museq.

All in all a very nice compressor, build quality is top notch, relatively quiet when is use. it is not as quiet and transparent as the Alpha nor does it have its sibling many features but it delivers goodness on all fronts (don't forget it is a killer mixing comp as well as a creative writing tool).

thumbsup

Originally Posted by William Bowden

I just went to your link/ad and saw the Mpressor there in the rack. I've done a bit of searching of course, but just wondered if you'd care to elaborate on your feelings about the unit for mastering?

I like your eq on the left, compressors on the right vibe too (well apart from the requisite unit - maybe that's why you're selling it ) wish my rack made that much sense!

The King

[24-96 Mastering]

Originally Posted by Riccardo

I had forgotten about the Requisite (the sale I mean). The only reason was rackspace (mine has got a few tricks up its sleeve ).

I'm extremely interested! Is it a trade secret or may I ask how you modded your unit?

(Sorry to hijack the thread. If this isn't good here, can I ask you to PM, Riccardo?)

[Riccardo]

Originally Posted by 24-96 Mastering

I'm extremely interested! Is it a trade secret or may I ask how you modded your unit?

(Sorry to hijack the thread. If this isn't good here, can I ask you to PM, Riccardo?)

Nothing really special be honest. It is just that Danny kept upgrading the MKII units (before the MKIII) and I kept encountering "things that needed to be improved". I felt the unit even if it was one of the last MKII units made was a bit noisy so after a bit of investigation and a few trials me and a tech upgraded the PSU (Danny did the same with the "Hum control" .A few other minor tweaks/mods (super secret mod as the tech called it) resulted in a good 10 dB less "noise". Afeter having found the personal holy grail of LM2 Tubes (military NOS Brimars I went back looking and testing even more in order to find a tube that would be both reliable (as in less noisy) as well as a bit more transparent (the mids and low mids of the Brimars are to die for but probably a bit too coloured depending on the given material)
It is a unique piece. Performance varies even with rack position. I am sure you are aware how "sensitive" it is. Nonetheless there are times when you know the moment you hit the switch and you insert it into the chain it is going to work. It has a huge iron-fat tone. Works well in MS too!

[William Bowden]

Thanks for that, I just keep imagining what you could do in parallel with it for pumpy stuff!

The King

Originally Posted by Riccardo

Ah! well spotted!
I had forgotten about the Requisite (the sale I mean). The only reason was rackspace (mine has got a few tricks up its sleeve ). That reminds me sooner or later I'll have to get a small Sterling pod and move a few things over to one side.

Well the mpressor was originally going to come in for a test and then possibly go into the recording studio but it never got there. It is very flexible, you can do almost anything (almost as the Alpha holds that title). I know it was never meant for mastering but you can make it work quite easily. The gain reduction meters are useless in a mastering environment but then again we are all used to listen rather than look. It doesn't sport stepped/recollable controls but recall is very easy as the knobs feel great and the indents/marks are extremely clear. If you look at it from this perpective the continuous pots could actually be bonus. Creative features like negative ratios are probably better suited to the mixing room but when it is doing straight compression it is very transparent. I very much like having the 1.2:1 ratio.
I don't know if you noticed that in some posts I charcterized the mpressor as being a "coloured" unit. Well it can be very coloured thanks to the "Gain" which is not a make up gain as it would appear. It is more akin to the IBIS color as it somehow creates a sort of perceived midrange punch (mild distortion). This is very useful when you need to add weight to anemic rock mixes as the midrange push carries a low mids weight that on the right material is very close to hitting tape at the right level with the right formulation. Other times it just doesn't work (you can set it to zero gain anyway). The tilt eq is quite powerful while being sweet. It is limited but very nice to have. I have sparingly used it when the mix was right and just needed touch up or down
I know I will sooner or later have to try a museq.

All in all a very nice compressor, build quality is top notch, relatively quiet when is use. it is not as quiet and transparent as the Alpha nor does it have its sibling many features but it delivers goodness on all fronts (don't forget it is a killer mixing comp as well as a creative writing tool).

thumbsup

[Denis Goekdag]

It works really well for parallel pumping madness, yes :-)

[Riccardo]

Originally Posted by Denis Goekdag

It works really well for parallel pumping madness, yes :-)

Uhm....the Manley Backbone could be useful for that. Anybody using it for parallel processing?

[Waltz Mastering]

I don't do a lot parallel processing ,but when I do I use the Manely with good results. I was thinking of trying this with some compressors that have a little more spank and a bit less pump down the line.

[William Bowden]

Yeah I too hardly use parallel these days, I'm always willing to try new things though. I've a Backbone on order but mainly use my Muth mixer for parallel if I think I need it that is.

I guess I just thought back to the earlier days of pumpy dance stuff (mid 90's) - the compression we used to do was wild to say the least, and some recent stuff I've heard seems to be revisiting that era...

The King