Done. Thanx.

Thanks for this!

Me thinks: F, then C and on third base D.

Looking forward to that PM!

You have it. Thanx!

This is the least scientific response I could give.
Avoiding good speakers, panning, EQ, and frequency analysis.

Just going on feel...

First listen:
C, A, E ... then ... unsure. (YOU, are two)

Second listen:

c (feels like a master)
f (didn't like at first)
a (feels a step below the master)
d (does compression evenly)
e (went from 3rd to 5th, mono vibe)
b (wasn't choice for this material)

Excited to try this in studio
Strangely only interested in figuring out... which was the BX. Was it D ?
Guessing BX is D (possibly the mystery f), and Waves is B.

I own none of this gear,
so these are not "educated guesses" but more-so imagination bias.

Thanx, check your inbox!

There needs to be a "spoiler" thread, a thread that is _about_ this thread, so that those of us who know the answers can discuss things in light of them. Oh come on! You all know that you want to!!!

I hear you, man, believe me. But please, think about it. People can't resist spoilers for too long. It's human nature. And I still feel the worth of this lies in the unspoiled nature. By just listening, people react on feel and emotion and not by price tag.

Ah fair call. And I suspect that word might spread across other threads and so forth. Hmmm...but OMG!!!

Take comfort and pride in belonging to an exclusive group who is in the know. ;-)

Hi to everyone here, this is my first post here in GearSlutz.
I registered just to give my opinion to this awesome shootout!
Keep in mind that everything I wrote about every single track is just exaggerated in comparison with others, just to give a more complex opinion and to zoom in too much.
It's also written in the form of my personal notes, I hope You will understand it.

This is my thought about:

0dB:
A: snare compressed, more oh sound, low freq on bass no much presence, bass little more lost in the mix, a little hidden Hammond
B: thin snare, bottom bass, hi-hat little far, sterile Hammond, something’s missing to me
C: open, more bass sounds deep and comfortable, glued kick and bass, great transients, nice saturation sound, guitars a little hidden, maybe I can hear slightly more compressed overall
D: more defined in the upper freqs, more open stereo (L, R) sounds, punch on the snare, not much bottom end, hi-hat sound more forward, guitars forward, Hammond forward
E: softer snare, impotent kick and bass, great stereo image, lead and backing vocals sound great here, wide guitars, wide Hammond great vibe
F: thin punch snare, punch kick, backing vocals more forward, harsh Hammond

+3dB:
A: good kick bottom,
B: more defined guitars, deep kick,
C: snare went away, glued overall, saturation, kick and bass glued, massive aggressive sound
D: more punch overall, snare thin, power guitars, vocals and backing good
E: 3d sounding overall, great vocals and backing, reality for kick and bass, good sound Hammond,
F: far snare but opened up, maybe flat sounding

I hope I get those feeling right. Can't wait to see the results!

Cheers.

TonnoBass

Surprisingly we have a TON of those over the years ...
but barely any that remain fully blind.

The blind test is 100% necessary to remain silent on the results.

This should be required viewing...

Thanx a lot for your kind words and detailed response - and welcome to GS.

PM on the way!

Thanx for your support on the matter, much appreciated!

The differences are so minute, but I thought C and A most favoured the vocal vowels at the 0:07 mark. I would appreciate a PM with the reveal, thanks!

Coming, thanx!

Can someone count the results? So, we can see which comps majority of people preferred.

It's not that easy, because often folks have more than one favorite or at least mention more than one in a certain order.

Just listed to this again. E and B have more presence through my current headphones. Tough test. Would you mind PMing me the details please? Cheers

Exactly. There is no simple way to tally when so many people offer their impressions without a specific order of preference. It's not a poll. In many ways this is more informative, even if it's not as easy to quantify.

Thanx, PM coming up!

Perfectly summed up. There was some kind of system a fellow user suggested and implemented a lotta pages ago, may have to check again.

Exactly thread i was looking for! I purchased Waves G-master a few days ago and im having such a hard time to hear any difference until i squeeze the life out of it and was wondering if hardware comps maybe do much better job (i tested few other plugs with similar results). It looks like the plugin cant be anywhere near as far as i thought from hardware and i just need to train my ears more i guess

And to actually answer - honestly i can hear a "significant" difference only in B, as it feels more open/with more life or how to describe it, with slightly different tone, and maybe thats why i also prefer it by a hair.
I feel like if i would listen more carefully over and over again, i could maybe discover more differences...but i also feel that if im not able to tell after 2 rounds, then i dont see a point really. IMO its so close that it wouldnt matter in a real situation and even less to an avarage listener.

I would love to see results if you could pls send them in PM, OP.

Thanks!

Thanx for your feedback. I agree that typically with hardware compressors you can go a little further and still sound good. In fact, often times that's the whole point of using them because when you push them right they bring excitement. That's where software often crumbles, at some point it just sounds flat.
However, the SSL bus compressor is typically used in a much milder manner with the needle just moving. Of course there are engineers who do use them harder and get great results, too.
It takes longer than you like to really hear compression in its nuances. Until you do, you often risk overdoing it because you really wanna hear it. With the SSL, even if the needle barely moves, it's already doing something. While I have no problem pinning the needle of an 1176 on a vocal or bass, I never reach 4db on the meter of an SSL type bus compressor. 2db is the sweetspot for me and many others. What you want is missing something when you turn it off. Listen to your lowend. If you hit the sweetspot, it gets round and glued. If you go past that sweetspot, it gets lost. Start with long attack and fast or auto release. Focus on different elements each time you listen.
I agree that B is the only one sounding distinctly different. It has a different compression action and doesn't grab as much. You can see it in the much spikier waveform, too. This can be open and desirable to one, and lame and defeating its purpose to the next one. ;-)

PM coming.

I'm a beginner and I'm afraid my ears are not good enough to appreciate the differences however I'd still be interested in the results to make sense of other people's comments.

thanks

You got it, PM sent. Thanx.

Hello everyone.

My first option would be between C, F and D. Thank you very much for your dedication, I await your response.

Thanks in advance!

Thanx for chiming in, check your inbox.

Alright, guys, found some spare time and conducted a great part 2 of this shootout. More contenders and of course another song.

Included (alphabetically):

Analog Obsession BusterSE (free), bx townhouse, Cytomic the Glue, Slate FG-Grey, Smart C1, SSL X-Rack, SSL native v6, UAD, Waves

Before I start that thread, is there any software SSL emu I MUST include (has to be demoable, I don't buy anything for this purpose and otherwise don't need any) for anyone to be absolutely happy? Can't promise anything, but thought I'll ask.

DMG Trackcomp2 in G-Bus mode (demoable). Thanks!

Feared so. ;-) My demo just expired some weeks ago. I'll see what I can do.