About to replace Distressor with Daking FET II

[Brad McGowan]

I'm just about to do what is probably considered the unthinkable around here. I'm about to put my Distressor EL8X up for sale and replace it with a Daking FET II compressor. Here's my rationale:

1. The Daking has a cool tone I like and offers transparent compression I can't hear. I perceive less user options as a positive for creative flow.
2. I don't have outside engineers using my studio so I don't need to lure guys with specifiic pieces of gear.
3. The music I record doesn't necessitate the "modern sound".
4. I'm not currently using the Distressor for much more than kick or snare during mixdown.
5. I'm kind of over the super nuked drum sound.

Before I pull trigger, are there any reasons I might regret the decision? Something I'm not considering? In the end I'm obviously going to make my own decision, but it's always fun to bounce ideas off other gear addicts.

thanks,
Brad

[Musiclab]

No they're both fine compressors, now the best of both worlds is just to add the daking to what you already have, but if one has to go I wouldn't sweat it

[Brad McGowan]

Unfortunately the bank account won't allow it at this time. I could always buy back the Distressor later for about the same price that I sell it at. The Distressor seems to hold its value better than most stocks apparently. I'm mainly interested in having something in the rack that I totally love, not just kind of like occasionally.

Brad

[RCM - Ronan]

You would have to pry my Distressors out of my cold dead hands, but it sounds like you are making the right choice for you.

You are making me a bit bummed that I did not try the Daking out at AES though.

[Brad McGowan]

Well I could always swing by and you could try mine.

I did a little compressor shootout last night. I surprisingly really liked the FATSO tracking comp hitting 1-3 dB with the tranny engaged. It had a lot of smack and gusto. My Aphex 661 also sounded really cool with the high frequency expander adding some presence.

Brad

[motown67]

I think that you should go with your instincts, better yet do let your ears make the decision. Have you tested a the daking compressor against the sound of the EL8x? If so and you like it get it. Who care what others think.

[ssaudio]

Originally Posted by Brad McGowan

I'm just about to do what is probably considered the unthinkable around here. I'm about to put my Distressor EL8X up for sale and replace it with a Daking FET II compressor

I did exactly the same thing about a year ago for my own studio and haven't looked back once.
I reckoned at the time, and still believe, that once the current hype dies down I'll be able to buy the Distressors back for less than what I sold them for - IF I want them, that is - right now I can't see past the Dakings

[soundbarnfool]

I've got a pair of the Dakings that I use for lots of different things. They are a really useful tool - and great when used as a pair.

[bushwick]

Yo. I had four dakings comps and sold two. I now regret having done that. They really are fantastic and leave things much less colored than other comps I have. For snare, I think they are fantastic and I prefer them sometimes to my 609CA - depends. They are cool on mix bus and overheads as well. Its so funny about this stuff or these in particular; I flip flopped about em for some time but I really do like em at this point and that won't change. Geoff did some nice work with these.

josh

[Brad McGowan]

I'm really looking forward to trying out the Daking on kick and snare. Hopefully I'll have it by next weekend and will be able to report back. If anyone is looking for a Distressor, please PM me. It looks like I have one for sale.

Brad

[ssaudio]

Originally Posted by bushwick

Geoff did some nice work with these.

He sure did.
I think they are honest tools that work in a classic way, no thrills, no extras, just pure solid quality. Does exactly what it does on the tin

[DrSax]

Let us know how you like it after you get a chance to work with it for a bit...... I love my Daking FET II's - use all three on every mix..... and of course I'm diggin your old 1176 Clone also Brad..... much different than the Dakings but still very nice.......

[themaidsroom]

good move
my distressors are my least
favorite compressor

[DrSax]

These are so very versatile... I've got clients at #1 and #2 on the R&R smooth jazz charts right now (I produced and mixed - Dave Koz and Eric Darius) and the Daking FET II's are all over those songs. Last week they were reversed on the charts - so it's my first back to back #1's as a producer! - Anyways..... sorry for the shameful celebration - I'm just a little excited.... back to the subject at hand - I used the Dakings on the lead sax tracks, electric guitars, bass, kick, snare and also on the mixbuss. On the mixbuss they just make everything nicer, wider, and more depth - takes the edge off digital but still maintain the clarity, tightness and low end - and pumping the makeup gain is a beautiful thing - the output transformers are magical...... I know I've raved about these a lot here on Gearslutz but I really can't say enough good things about them. I have three of them and wish I had 20 of them......

[Acko]

I'm not a distressor fan at all, I tried for years to like it. But now the distressors just gather dust, I use the gates sta level for parrallel processing on bass and kick and that's all the compression I use for the entire mix these day's.

Through the years I had always sought an impactful natural sound and to my suprise I began achieving this when I simply started focusing on balance and depth and leaving compression and eq, for the most part, out of the picture.

However reading descriptions of the Dakings, I'm tempted to try them out myself on the mix buss.

[Ollie]

I really have nothing bad to say about either of them. They are both very good compressors. They are different. Have you had the Daking and Distressor side by side so you can determine what they are most useful on? I own a pair of each and I am fond of them for different things. I think another excellent choice for you to try out as well is a Chandler LTD-2.

IT is always best to get the pieces in your space and decide what has the most overall value to you - They are all good tools

[ssaudio]

Originally Posted by Acko

I'm not a distressor fan at all, I tried for years to like it. But now the distressors just gather dust, I use the gates sta level for parrallel processing on bass and kick and that's all the compression I use for the entire mix these day's.

Through the years I had always sought an impactful natural sound and to my suprise I began achieving this when I simply started focusing on balance and depth and leaving compression and eq, for the most part, out of the picture.

However reading descriptions of the Dakings, I'm tempted to try them out myself on the mix buss.

That's pretty much how I arrived at getting my Dakings - I use my Tube-Techs for what the Dakings don't do

[Brad McGowan]

I wanted to give everyone an update on my situation. I received the Daking last night and brought it down the studio to do some informal shootouts against some of the other compressors in my rack that I felt might cover similar applications: Distressor, dbx160X, Aphex 661, FATSO. I basically inserted the various compressors on some kick, snare, drum room, vocals, bass, and guitar tracks while auditioning in the context of the mix. Here’s some of my initial impressions in random order:

1. I should spend more time trying out all my compressors in applications where I wouldn’t typically think to try them. I was surprised to discover new uses for some of my tools that I thought I knew. I was pleased to discover how much I liked the FATSO in spank/GP mode on drum room. The Aphex with release at its quickest and attack at almost its fastest also sounded incredible Distressor-like (Brit mode engaged). The FATSO also sounded great on snare in tracking comp mode with the tranny engaged.

2. I really like the overall tone of the Daking. Just running audio through the unit’s line amp seems to add a nice sheen and weight to sources. I found myself turning up the make-up gain much more than I probably needed to.

3. Distressor vs. Daking on snare drum: I was able to dial in similar sounds on a submix of top and bottom mics on a Black Beauty. I think I had the Distressor set to 6:1, detector HP, attack=9.25, release=3, 3-5 dB of compression. I had the Daking doing a similar amount of GR at 5:1, 32ms attack. All of the release settings were very musical, but I found myself gravitating towards Compex auto, Fairchild 6, and 0.5s on snare. The Distressor seemed to give me a modern smack with an explosive sustain and bloom of the shell resonance (due to my choice of fast release). The Daking release times are much slower so I wasn’t able to get the same thing happening with the sustain of the drum, but the drum had gained a certain heft and authority in the lower mids that the Distressor didn’t seem to have. Since I have a Transient Designer I didn’t feel like I was really being robbed as far as the sustain goes. The TD makes it easy enough to dial back in. Fiddling with all the knobs of the Daking I was able to dial in anything from subtle wave shaping to heavy handed dynamic control that really leveled out the performance in a musical way, while always adding a pleasing tone to the source.

4. Distressor vs. Daking on kick drum: I think the Distressor is capable of a greater variety of kick drum sounds due to its ability to provide faster release times and really mangle the waveform. However, like for the snare drum, the Daking gave me musical dymamic control while adding a weight and authority to the sound. No matter what I set it to it never sounded bad…release times were always natural. I found I was able to use the Aphex to pick up where the Daking left off as far as quicker release times and a high pass filter in the detector. I achieved a really huge bottom end on an outside kick mic using the Aphex. So I think the combination of Daking and Transient Designer would really allow me to control and shape a kick drum sound in whatever manner I needed.

5. Having a Transient Designer is divine. I can’t imagine getting by without it.

6. Vocals: Normally I enjoy using the UAD LA3A or Waves RenVox plugin on vocals. I find both of these tools offer a reasonably artifact-free way of controlling vocal dynamics while enhancing the midrange in a musical way. The Daking sounded super sweet on vocals. I tried numerous combinations of attack and release and they all sounded extremely good. The Fairchild settings and the 0.5s worked especially well. In the mix the vocal gained a “sounds like a record” sheen and focus that allowed it to really allowed it to cut through even at lower volumes than I could get away with using the other tools. It was subtle but it just seemed to a have a little more of that reach out and touch it 3D-ness happening. I think the Daking is going to become one of my favorites for vocals during tracking and mixing.

7. Bass: I find myself getting a lot of mileage out of the UAD LA3A plugin, dbx160X, and recently FATSO on bass during mixes. What I generally look for from a bass compressor is dynamic control that retains the size and impact of the bass. I usually find that most compressors always make the bass sound much smaller and wimpier than the dry track always sounds to me. For that reason I tend to rely on parallel compression techniques a lot. As with vocals, I found it hard to dial in a bad sound on bass using the Daking. All of the releases worked very well on bass and helped to retain the natural sense of the player’s dynamics while helping even out the performance. I found I was able to get similar sounds out of the LA3A and Daking compression character wise, but the Daking again added some additional weight to the source that wasn’t there before. The dbx160X, in contrast always sounds way more obvious to me in the way that it compresses in hard knee mode, but I kind of like the way it pumps on bass guitar and makes it sound really in your face. I think I’m going to like the Daking as a tracking compressor on bass because of the way it handles the waveform in a transparent way.

8. Distressor vs. Daking on drum room: This is the only application where I didn’t like the Daking. Well I should clarify that. If I was just going for a controlled and natural room sound, then the Daking does the job just fine. However, if I want that blown out sucking room sound that sounds bombastic then the Daking just won’t go there. It’s release time is just not fast enough. The Distressor really does this kind of thing quite effortlessly, especially with Brit mode engaged. However, I found myself getting a very similar sound from my UAD 1176 with all buttons in. And as I noted above, I was really surprised to find that the Aphex gave me a sound in this ballpark (although with less harmonic distortion). When was realized I could get this same Distressor-like behavior from my FATSO in spank mode as well, I realized that I had all my bases covered and that I wasn’t going to miss the Distressor.

9. Daking on guitar: just running signal through the line amp made the guitar sound way better in the midrange. Magic. I love it.

In each application I tried I never found myself absolutely blown away by what the Daking was doing (well maybe vocals) compared to any of my tools. But what did blow me away at the end of my experiments was that the Daking sounded good to great in every single one of those applications and was very easy to dial up a workable sound, whereas everything else only sounded inspiring on one or two things. I think that’s the magic of this box, and something I will come to appreciate much more over time.

Brad

[QRS]

brad , thanks for your update - very interesting!
and this was great (you`re so right!):

1. I should spend more time trying out all my compressors in applications where I wouldn’t typically think to try them. I was surprised to discover new uses for some of my tools that I thought I knew. I was pleased to d....

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Brad McGowan

I wanted to give everyone an update on my situation. I received the Daking last night and brought it down the studio to do some informal shootouts against some of the other compressors in my rack......
9. Daking on guitar: just running signal through the line amp made the guitar sound way better in the midrange. Magic. I love it.


Brad

Electric guitar is one of my favorite applications with the Daking. The Daking sounds good on the two mix as well.

[jchadstopherhuez]

Originally Posted by Brad McGowan

9. Daking on guitar: just running signal through the line amp made the guitar sound way better in the midrange. Magic. I love it.

In each application I tried I never found myself absolutely blown away by what the Daking was doing (well maybe vocals) compared to any of my tools. But what did blow me away at the end of my experiments was that the Daking sounded good to great in every single one of those applications and was very easy to dial up a workable sound, whereas everything else only sounded inspiring on one or two things. I think that’s the magic of this box, and something I will come to appreciate much more over time.

Brad

that pretty much says it for me too !!

if you dig the comp line amp sound on guitars....you should hear the daking eqs !!!

i'm still toyin with selling one of my pair of daking comps....everytime i think i am not gonna miss em...i end up using 4 on a mix..and re-consider !!

daking is GREAT gear !!

cheers,

jchristopherhughes

[Brad McGowan]

Originally Posted by QRS

brad , thanks for your update - very interesting!
and this was great (you`re so right!):

1. I should spend more time trying out all my compressors in applications where I wouldn’t typically think to try them. I was surprised to discover new uses for some of my tools that I thought I knew. I was pleased to d....

Yeah, I think it's a good idea for all of us to do from time to time. What it made me realize was that I already had a handful of nice tools that are more than capable at doing things I thought only the Distressor could do (or insert whatever unit is on the proverbial pedastal).

What all this also made me realize is that I do like what the Distressor does and I will probably one day find myself owning one again. However, unlike the majority of people here, I actually want less tools. I want to have a very stripped down selection of gear that I am inspired to use 100% of the time. I don't want or need to have things around that only help 5% of the time. I'm a less is more kind of guy.

Brad

[Brad McGowan]

I'm still loving my Daking comp. I used it to mix all the vocals on my record. I'm hoping to have final masters in hand later today so I'll try to share some sound clips later this week.

Brad

[seanastill89]

If anyone can, try out one of the Daking Mic Pre/Eq's (522708 If i remember rightly). Hands down, one of the nicest, most musical, yet full-ranged mic pre or eq's I used yet.
The pre can go from a very smooth, transparent clean, to a signal destroying crunch that is still somehow musical and maintain quality and level.
The eq is SUPER musical, everything sounds great through it. I especially love it on drums and guitars, although it works nicely (session dependant of course) on pretty much anything.
As far as the sound goes in general, the closest I think that I can describe it is somewhere between API and Neve.
Give it a go if you get the chance.thumbsup

Sean

[jbjoubaud]

Hey Sean,
Still loving your avatar man, cracks me up every time !!!

[keano]

How would the Daking compare to the Summit TLA. Could I get similar opto tone but different?

[DeyBwah]

Hey Brad!

What a wonderful in-depth review man! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with your comps!

From your experience, it seems the Daking FET II might just be the ticket I was looking for, a versatile tracking comp that will sound good on MANY sources and styles. I'm not looking for a specific radio edge sound, but more of a natural sounding enhancement.

I was wondering if you have had any experience using Mohog or Essence comps? If so, how do they compare to the Daking?

Here's my thread.. Vocal Tracking Compressor for Versatile Male Vox; Budget: Around $1-2k

Cheers!

[geoffdake]

Thanks guys. We try to make simple, easy to use tools. Get home early,

Geoff

[warhead]

I gotta say, the FET3 is really a great place to look for the same control and very similar tone to the FET II units. The variable stereo linking is also way cool! I like the variable controls on the FET3 also...

War

[studio825]

You will surely miss the distressor on snare.I know I do!