Drum bus compressor?

[wes]

hey i need advice on a drum buss. i can proberly spend up $1100 or so. the ones i have been scoping out are the drawmer 241, drawmer 251,or toft DC-2 which is a bit cheaper. if you guys have used any of these or have any other recomendations let me know,

thanks,
wes

[dokushoka]

What kind of drums sounds do you like?

[cap217]

hmmmm, for what you are asking I would say the UAD card or waves SSL. The 2 thoughts are

1176's

SSL mix-buss

[wes]

i mainly do inde/hardcoe/punk type of stuff, i just want a nice outboard compressor to smash drums through. the other comps i have is a distressor and joe meek twin Q. i also have the uad card, which i enjoy, but i want to get my hands on something for the drum buss

[rob S]

Originally Posted by wes

i mainly do inde/hardcoe/punk type of stuff, i just want a nice outboard compressor to smash drums through. the other comps i have is a distressor and joe meek twin Q. i also have the uad card, which i enjoy, but i want to get my hands on something for the drum buss

get another distressor and link em.
thats gonna be your best $1100 spent.

[Drumsound]

You'd be amazed with what a lowly RNC can do on a drum bus parallel...

[Levi]

The EMI TG limiter plugin is pretty darn amazing for that... and might save you some $'s for other things... such as food!

[studjo]

I'm not a huge fan of the Drawmer 251 or 241 in the studio - I absolutely love em in a live application.

the second Distressor is a very good option - prolly the best. I use em allways on Drum mults and drum busses.

another great comp-style would be SSL - Smart C1/C2 or the real SSL 3.. (I forget those numbers and I don't own one :( ) I have a great DIY SSL clone that a friend built - I really love that thing on drumbuss or 2bus. I'd say it's the way to go for indierock stuff (building it youself is very indebendant and it raaaawks)


Jo

[Mike Caffrey]

There is no question at all - second Distressor.

[mac black]

I love the stressors but it sounds like ur looking for alan smart C2 (with the 'crush' ...) always gets the indie boys goin

[HudHudson]

Joemeek SC2 (the early ones) can smash & pump like a mofo.

[ulysses]

It's a bit more money than you're talking about, but we built the RMS755 Super Stereo compressor specifically for stereo bus duties, and it really shines on drums in particular.
You can visit our website for more info.

[Jan Folkson]

While I love my pair of distressors and use them on every mix, I've never liked them in stereo. There are several good stereo compressors under 2k (which is a bit above your budget), but it'd probably be worth checking out the Neve Portico, or the Drawmer 1968. Both could be had for under 2k.

I had a Drawmer 241 and didn't really care for it in the studio.

[wes]

i think iam just going to have to tuff it out for a drawmer 1968, it sounds like it would work best. i also like to ideah of haveing the 1968 because i can also compress mono tracks if i want.

[Kingtone]

another vote here for the drawmer 1968
i also use it for tracking overheads through. smooth!
as a drum bus comp.. its great

[dokushoka]

If all you want to do is smash stuff, I'd recommend a symetrix 501 or a level-loc. Both are capable of wonderfully "ignorant" limiting that can make the drum buss sound pretty exciting.

[mjlaudio]

not exactly a drum buss compressor but a transient designer could do wonders.....probably more so than any 1100 dollar stereo comp

having a pair of distressors would rock as well.

[pixelhead]

The ultimate hard rock compressor dbx 160x. Grab 2 for around 450 and have a little left over for 3 more

[dokushoka]

Originally Posted by pixelhead

The ultimate hard rock compressor dbx 160x. Grab 2 for around 450 and have a little left over for 3 more

[crypticglobe]

Originally Posted by mac black

I love the stressors but it sounds like ur looking for alan smart C2 (with the 'crush' ...) always gets the indie boys goin

That's what I was going to say!! I recently picked up a C1, but auditioned the C1 and the C2 together before making my choice. I was buying for mix bus, and preferred the C1 on that... but I tried them on a few other things while I had them.

I was blown away with both on the drum bus, but the C2 was the end all be all, on drum bus for rock. As a matter of fact... I am thinking about adding the C2 to the future budget as well... just for that. I haven't a/b'd paired distressor/neve 33609/Alan Smart C2... but I have used all 3 now... among others... and the C2 made me say "WOW!" more than just about anything I can remember.

I would get that... actually... I am going to myself eventually for that very reason.

[Black Seal]

On the cheap, I recommend an Aphex Dominator. It just squeezes the piss out of the drum buss. Maybe it's not for you, but I'm still chubbin'!

Perry

[picksail]

Waves TransX followed by Digidesign SMACK

[edvdr76]

I use a Summit DCL-200 on the drum buss. I also throw the bass in there to glue it to the drums. The Summit just gives my drum and bass tracks a nice big tight sound.

[thejook]

33609

[Brad McGowan]

I'm thinking of selling my dbx 160X. If anyone is interested PM me.

In the past I've been using the PSP Mastercomp plugin on my drum bus. The mix control is a really nice feature that allows you to do instant parallel compression. I just finished building an SSL compressor clone though (with output transformers) so I think I will start using that instead.

Steve--regarding the C2 on drum bus. Do you like just running the whole drum bus straight through? Or did you find it worked better in a parallel setup?

thanks,
Brad

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by thejook

33609

Wow $1100 for a 33609?

Where?

I will buy it right now.

[Tamra]

my favorites so far, right around your price range, the Meek SC2 1.05 (got mine for about 950 on Ebay) and DBX 160VU (got a pair for 1100 on Ebay).

[Jason Poulin]

distressors





they abuse, mangle and nuke.



Jason

[six_wax]

Originally Posted by crypticglobe

...and the C2 made me say "WOW!" more than just about anything I can remember.

My SSL comp went down in the midst of a slew of mixes this week, and just for giggles I grabbed a C2, you know, to keep that rack spot warm while the SSL is under the knife... Hadn't gunned through one before today...

Sweet Jeezus a la Mode, is that thing a beauty! Not the same attitude as the SSL, but way, way frickin' cool...