A-Designs Audio HM2 Nail Compressor/Limiter by IGive'nTakeInfo
I purchased the A Designs NAIL with the intention of using it on the 2-Bus. I strapped it there for the first week as i ran some mixes through it and got familiar with the two different threshold controls, the mix (direct/compressed signal) control and the side chain filter. As i finally wrapped my head around what these controls were doing I quickly realized the control this box gives you, its amazing.
Mix is obvious, its parallel compression without the headache of busing...its right in the box. so you can crush the signal and then pull back the blend towards direct to get back some of those transients...in essence your just bringing up the lower volume sounds without bringing down the higher volume sounds. The side chain also obvious, it tells the detector to ignore signals below the frequency you choose so kicks/bass don't cause gobs of attenuation on the whole track.
the coolest feature is the threshold and hard threshold. When the hard threshold is "off" the threshold acts like the input of an 1176 or the gain of a la2a in that the more you turn it clockwise, the more gain reduction you are getting. If you set this to a decent amount and then turn the "hard threshold" clockwise you will notice compression still occurs to the same attenuation, however, less often. this is because the amount of gain reduction you choose using the threshold control will only activate when the program material signal passes the "hard threshold" you set.
I have had this box a month now and im loving its possibilities. I started using in on my front end during tracking and its been great on EVERYTHING. kick drum, snr, overheads...electric gtr, bass, acoustic guitar, vocals it just gives u so much control you can dial in a setting for every situation. I do however still prefer using my 1176LN on vocals and bass guitar...but i would not be unhappy if all i had was the NAIL for this job either.
A designs hit it out of the park, thanks!