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Classic Compressors Classic Vocal Compressors

Further Vocal Coloration & Enhancement
Choosing The Right Compressor For The Job Smash & Grab: Compressors For Drums
Max Bass
Hardware > Processor Recording
What About Other Instruments?
By Mike Senior Published September 2009 Chained Compressors & Precompression Fader
Rides
Now that we have digital models and dynamic convolution technology, we're
Parallel Compression Explained
spoilt for choice when it comes to classic compressor avours. But whether
Which Classic Hardware Is My Plugin Modelling?
hardware or software, which is right for which job? Help! I'm Drowning In Jargon
Suggested Compressors In Brief
At its most basic level, compression can be seen
The Producers: Selected Discography
merely as alaboursaving solution to mix-
balance problems: if you control the levels of an
overly dynamic instrument, it becomes easier to
nd aconsistent fader setting for it. While the Readers' Ads
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with, there is still acertain logic behind the
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In this article, then, I'll try to shed light on which classic

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compressors tend to be used in which processing
situations, based on my ongoing research into the
techniques of 'Alist' engineers and producers (see the
box at the end of the article for their backgrounds). I'll
also look at afew of the design features and
sidee ects that adapt the di erent processors to
these tasks, as well as talking about some of the ways
they're actually combined in realworld sessions.

Classic Vocal Compressors

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Classic Vocal Compressors

Let's start where the money's at in most
productions: those allimportant vocal parts.
There's no shortage of con icting opinions
from those in the know, but certain
compressors do seem to crop up agreat deal
more than others.

Where transparent level control is required, Adam S Series Monitors - NAMM 2017
the Dbx marque is apopular choice, with Uploaded 1 hour 3 min ago
engineers such as Steve Churchyard,
Humberto Gatica, Eddie Kramer, Ed Cherny,
and Mike Clink all speci cally namechecking
the Dbx 160series processors. The clean,
predictable response of the lowdistortion,
Blackmer VCA gainreduction element is clearly
part of the appeal: "ADbx 160 works really well
if you just want to protect the tape, comments
Ed Cherny, for example. The majority of SOS
readers working with highheadroom, 24bit
AD conversion will be less concerned than
Eventide Fission - NAMM 2017
analogue engineers about tting their Uploaded 3 days 14 hours ago
recordings into the dynamic range of the
recording medium, but cleanersounding
compressors can be just as useful while mixing,
especially on instruments with complex
harmonics (12string guitars, pianos and
harpsichords, for instance), which can respond badly to distortion.

However, the compressor's speed, achieved through afeedforward circuit design, also seems
to be akey feature for many engineers, with Mike Clink referring to his 'fast and quiet' Dbx
160s and Steve Churchyard commenting that "typically the Dbx 160 seems alittle faster than
1176s or Fairchilds, so if Ineed something with afaster attack time, I'll use that instead. In fact,
so fast can this compressor react that it can easily generate distortion as it tracks individual Jake Gosling: Creative Co-writing
waveform cycles, especially on later models with variable attack and release controls, so you do Uploaded 2 weeks 4 days ago
need to listen carefully for this. Whereas the original Dbx 160 was ahardknee device, the later
165 retained the same basic design while adding in an 'Over Easy' softknee compression
curve, and this markedly improves its capabilities with regards to unobtrusive control of
extreme level uctuations. In the words of Mark Nevers: "You can squash the shit out of it, but
you don't hear it.

Despite their reputation for cleannness, later Dbx models do still o er subtle colour and
attery to the vocal tone, by virtue of their transformercoupled inputs and outputs. Highspec
transformers can contribute akind of euphonic, lowlevel, frequencydependent distortion that
regularly elicits descriptions such as 'warm' and 'fat', and which is often called upon to make
vocals seem somehow 'larger than life'. The combination of VCA gaincontrol and audio
transformers can also be found in Focusrite's Red 3 and Red 7 units, which also exhibit this
kind of subtle warmth and are used for vocals by producers such as Steve Power and Stephen
Hague.

The ability to heap gainreduction onto avocal without audible sidee ects is associated with
another wellknown unit, the Teletronix LA2A (now reissued by Universal Audio), which
achieves its lowdistortion softknee characteristics, as well as aprogrammedependent release
time, using aunique electrooptical gainreduction element. This unit has been in regular use
since the '50s, and could lay astrong claim to being the most popular vocal compressor of all.
Where the Dbx's feedforward VCA and solidstate circuitry are fast, controlled, and clean, the
LA2A's electrooptical feedback design works more slowly and in anonlinear fashion, which
nonetheless produces very musical results, preserving the impression of performance
dynamics despite quite extreme level management. While it, too features audio transformers,
it also rounds out the tone via its internal valve ampli cation stages. "Iadded the LA2A for
warmth, comments Serge Tsai, for example, echoing similar 'gentler and warmer' epithets
from producer Glen Ballard.

However, afew highpro le engineers have also learned to take advantage of the extra attitude
on o er from this king of smoothness as you push it outside its comfort zone. "Sometimes the
LA2A works really well [on vocals], says Joe Barresi. "If you're looking for more dirt you can
turn atube compressor up alittle more. Joe Chiccarelli recalls asimilar tactic when producing
the White Stripes: "Jack [White] always wanted more distortion on the vocals... When it came to
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the mix, Jack wanted still more edge, so Ioverloaded an LA2A compressor... This meant that
Iwas getting the distortion from the last tube stage of the compressor, which creates areally
beautiful distortion.

The LA2A's winning combination of electrooptical compression, transformers and valve

ampli cation can also be found in acouple of other units wellrespected for vocal use, Tube
Tech's CL1B and Avalon's VT737SP, so if you like what an LA2A can do for your vocals you may
nd that these models provide useful alternative colours. For faster, cleaner, more VCAstyle
control, and aslightly crisper transformerfree sound, Summit's TLA100A and DCL200 are also
popular with audiophile engineers such as Al Schmitt, Jon Gass and Tony Maserati. "Ifound
Icould use it on vocals that Ineeded to squish afair amount but didn't want to lose all the nice
top Igot o the microphone, explains Joe Chicarelli in an interview on www.summitaudio.com.

If you like the character of the LA2A's nonlinear optical gain element, but the valve distortion
artifacts aren't appropriate, then the slightly faster, valveless version of the same basic design,
the Teletronix LA3A, provides another option favoured by two of the most respected mix
engineers on the planet: Bob Clearmountain and Tom LordAlge. "To make avocal command
attention, says LordAlge, "I'll put it through an LA3A and maybe pummel it with 20dB of
compression, so the meter is pinned down. If the beginnings of the words then have too much
attack, I'll put the vocals through an SSL
compressor with areally fast attack, to take o
or smooth out the extra attack that the LA3A
adds.

Further Vocal Coloration &

Enhancement The hugely popular Teletronix LA2A (now built by
Universal Audio, and one of the rst units modelled
for their UAD platform) is great at transparent gain
Beloved of Beatles engineer Geo Emerick is
reduction, but can also yield the kind of vocal
the rare and mindbogglingly expensive overdrive favoured by artists like Jack White of the
Fairchild 670 stereo valve limiter (and its pretty White Stripes.
much identical 660 mono sibling), and his
penchant is shared by other highpro le
names such as Roy Thomas Baker, Steve Power
and Tom Elmhirst. Where the LA2A will give
you fairly slow attack times, the Fairchild has
amuch faster, submillisecond, onset, as well
as adi erent type of extremely softknee
compression curve, courtesy of its valvebased
'varimu' gaincontrol circuit the
compression curve is unusual in that the ratio
just continues increasing as the input signal
level gets higher.

While these characteristics mean that the 670

can control levels very e ectively, probably the Many engineers use the Fairchild 670 for the subtle
main reason that top engineers call on it is sonic enhancement of its circuitry as much as they do
actually for the sonic enhancement of its for gainreduction. Although the original is now
circuitry, which incorporates atotal of 20 valves prohibitively expensive for all but the most maniacal
of collectors, there are some excellent software
and 14 transformers! Geo Emerick always put emulations, such as this one from Universal Audio.
the Beatles' vocals through it for precisely this
reason: "Just the sound of the ampli er, even if you didn't do any limiting, just added acertain
presence. Steve Churchyard also talks about using the 670 "more for the sound than for the
compression, asentiment echoed by Tom Elmhirst in SOS August 2007.

The Fairchild 670's extreme rarity, combined with its ability to make notes, in the words of Jack
Joseph Puig, "long and lush and beautiful has spawned not only fastidious modern hardware
replicas (such as Anthony DeMaria's ADL670 and the Analogue Tube AT101) and
heavilyinspired variations (EAR's 660, Fairman's TMC, Manley's Varimu, and Pendulum Audio's
ES8, for example), but also aslew of software emulations so you don't need to look too far
these days to nd something akin to the Fairchild sound. If you like what you hear, you might
also want to hunt down emulations of some other vintage valvebased varimu designs, such as
the Altec 436, Collins 26U1 or 356E1, Federal AM864U, Gates StaLevel or Level Devil, RCA
BA6A, and Universal Audio 175 or 176. Fairchildren they aren't, but each is nonetheless packed
full of its own unique vintage valve character, and is frequently referred to reverentially by mix
engineers. Michael Brauer, for example, used aGates StaLevel and aFederal AM864U
alongside theEAR 660 for his mix of Coldplay's recent hit 'Violet Hill'.

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The nal classic vocalprocessing contender is Urei's 1176 (and the same marque's
nearidentical stereo 1178). Whereas the 670's valves are smooth and warm, the 1176's equally
fast FETbased design brightens the tone and adds extra edge and excitement in away that has
made it a xture on vocals for many top engineers for ahalfcentury. People di er in terms of
how exactly they use it, particularly with regards to the choice of ratio setting, so it pays to
experiment with this aspect of any emulation and don't forget to try the unusual 'all buttons'
mode if it's on o er, as it is, for example, in Universal Audio's software 1176LN for the UAD
platform. The 1176's enormous popularity has given rise to legions of impersonators, including
hardware units such as Universal Audio's reissued 1176 and Purple Audio's MC76, as well as
myriad software emulations so this should be one of the easiest compressor sounds to get
hold of, even if you're working on abudget.

That pretty much wraps up the vintage units,

but we can't leave the topic of vocal
compression without touching on one very
popular modern processor too: the Empirical
Labs EL8 Distressor. This phenomenally
versatile, digitallycontrolled, analogue The Urei 1176 is famous for adding asense of edge
compressor, introduced in 1995, was designed and excitement to vocals.
partly to emulate the characteristics of
di erent classic compressor actions, including those of all four principal units we've discussed
so far: Dbx 160, Teletronix LA2A, Fairchild 670 and Urei 1176. As such, it's not easy to say
exactly what kind of compression you'll get if you dial up aDistressor emulation, although
alittle knowledge of the way the aforementioned classic compressors work may provide you
with some useful pointers. What is worth aspecial mention, though, is that the Distressor has
anumber of builtin, sidechain EQ options, one of which emphasises the upper-mid
frequencies in the detector circuit and thereby reduces sibilance problems that can often
accompany heavy compression.

Smash & Grab: Compressors For Drums

It's pretty clear, looking at the practice of real engineers, that fastacting compressors and
limiters are the most popular ones for drum processing. No prizes, then, for guessing that, of
the models we've already encountered, the LA2A doesn't really get alookin. Units from Dbx
receive mentions in this role from the likes of Tom LordAlge, Jack Joseph Puig, and Butch Vig,
while Glen Ballard singles out the 160X variant for special praise: "Ithink the 160X is the best
compressor for drums that I've found. You just give it alittle bit on the kick and snare while
you're recording and it brings them into focus. Idon't think you can nd anything better for
kick and snare they're amazing! You can really slam them too! Ilove the fact that they have
areally quick recovery, and you can exaggerate it if you need to. The extremely fast attack and
release times available on many Dbx units are particularly worthy of investigation if you nd
yourself in a situation where you really need to sculpt the front end of your drums with
precision.

The Fairchild units have been responsible for much drummangling ever since the 670's
prominent use by Emerick on Ringo Starr's kit, and since then engineers including Steve
Churchyard, Tom Elmhirst, Manny Marroquin and Elliott Scheiner have all used the Fairchild
brand for drum processing, on account of its colourful sonics and speed. "The 660 has anice
smooth sound, comments Fabian Marasciullo, "and it really controls the peaks. However, the
670 also has an unusual trick up its sleeve in that it has M/S matrixing built in, allowing you
independently to compress the Middle and Sides components of astereo signal. By plugging
the 670 into adrum bus and then compressing the Sides signal more heavily, you can
emphasise and/or pump the room sound without compromising the transient snap of your
main kick and snare sounds.

It's no surprise that Urei's 1176 and 1178 processors also crop up frequently, with mixing
heavyweights such as Chris LordAlge, Michael Brauer and Rich Costey all partial. Despite the
reputation these units have for fast attack, though, LordAlge was actually using an 1178 more
for its sonic avour with slower attack settings when we interviewed him back in SOS May
2007. Rich Costey's preference for aparallel processing setup with this compressor also
suggests that the tonality of the Urei, especially when driven hard, was of more importance
than its ability to catch transients. (See the 'Parallel Compression Explained' box for more
information on parallel techniques.)

It's to be expected that Empirical Labs'

Distressor also turns up frequently when drum
processing is discussed, but that's not just
because of its emulative power: it has also

Empirical Labs' Distressor is one of a few 'modern

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earned areputation of its own, particularly for Empirical Labs' Distressor is one of a few 'modern
classic' hardware compressor designs, and is
its 'Nuke' brickwalllimiting mode, which has
incredibly versatile. As well as mimicking some
alogarithmic release time originally optimised
longerestablished designs, it brings some of its own
for pulverising roommic recordings. The special tricks to the table.
sidechain highpass ltering is handy, too,
where you want to compress adrums bus heavily without the kick drum triggering excessive
gain pumping, and the ability to switch di erent harmonic distortion avours in and out of
circuit provides agreat deal of tonal exibility. Perhaps because of the compressor's enormous
power to mould the envelope and timbre, Michael Brauer, Joe Chiccarelli, Fabian Marasciullo
and Robert Orton all use parallel processing setups to give extra control over the extent of its
contribution to the mix. Take Marasciullo, for instance: "On drums [the Distressor] gives me an
attack that no other compressor can give me. Iwill have one drum just raw, exactly as it was
given to me, with just abit of EQ on it. Iwill then mult it into aDistressor and that will give it
this extreme attack, and then Iblend it in the way Ilike it.

Moving on from the vocal workhorses, another compressor renowned for drums is the
TG12413, alimiter originally built into each channel of the Nevedesigned custom consoles that
EMI studios used for famous records such as Abbey Road and Dark Side Of The Moon.
Although original units are as rare as hens' teeth, the widespread availability of Chandler's TG1
reissue (and its more exible TG12413 Zener sibling) and EMI's more recent plugin emulation
has ensured this sound aregular role in mainstream commercial mixing.

"Ilike the EMI compressor for its fast attack, remarks Joe Barresi, and this is arecurrent theme
in other producers' descriptions, but the tone of the TG12413's unique diodebased
gainreduction circuit is also an important factor. Although Joe Chiccarelli characterises it as
"more of around, warm, vintage sound, pushing harder transforms it into something more
aggressive. Nick Launay: "Idon't like alot of compressors because I nd they're not fast
enough or they're abit too subtle or they make things sound too nice. Ilike the stu that's got
abit of grit, like the old EMI compressors, if you can nd them. Michael Brauer concurs,
speaking on the Chandler web site: "When used across the drum room [the TG12413] brings
out an aggressive quality that I've not yet heard from any other compressor. When used as
asend, it brings out the punch and clarity of instruments without a ecting the overall level of
the stereo output.

If you read Will Haas's article about mix-bus

compression back in SOS May 2008, you'll
already be aware of many of the
industrystandard mixbus compression
choices, but it tuns out that two of these
regularly appear in the role of drum submix
processor too: the API 2500 and the SSL
Gseries console master compressor. Both of
these feature fairly clean, VCAbased gain
reduction and are good at increasing average
levels without trampling on the punch of
transients or robbing too much low end. The RCA BA6A. Like the Fairchild 670, this compressor
However, the SSL also has areputation for is often used as much for it's sound as it's ability to
adding adose of desirable midrange crunch achieve the desired gain reduction.
when more heavily provoked, and Smart
Research's C2 emulation emphasises this aspect of the unit further with its additional 'Crush'
mode.

"[The C2's Crush mode] adds elde ect transistor distortion, explains Jason Goldstein. "I'm
abig fan of using distortion, in small amounts. Tubes distort more harmonically, whereas
transistors and ClassA stu are more aggressive, which is why Ithink many guys still like to
mix on the SSL 4000 those consoles are always just shy of distorting. It adds to the overall
aggression of the mix. But that's not all that Crush does. According to Tom Elmhirst, it
"completely annihilates all the transients and brings up the air. Small wonder, then, that
Goldstein, Elmhirst and Rich Costey all take aparallel processing approach with the C2, for
greater control.

Max Bass
That the Urei 1176 convincingly topped the polls for bass processing in my survey of producers
might raise an eyebrow, given what I've said about it thus far. After all, fast compression can
introduce serious distortion on slowmoving bass waveforms. However, as long as the time
constants are kept away from the fastest settings (in other words, somewhat
counterintuitively, away from the highernumbered, clockwise end of the control settings on

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the unit), the circuitry's tonal brightening and
subtle FET distortion really help the bass to cut
through the mix in away that other designs
can't match. The lowest ratio (4:1) is the most
common choice, as evidenced by independent
recommendations from Steve Churchyard,
Chris LordAlge and Ralph Sutton, although
Tom Elmhirst likes the result you get when you
push in the 4:1 and 8:1 buttons together.

Not far behind the 1176 in popularity is the

Teletronix LA2A, numbering people like Mike
Clink, Mark Endert, Tony Maserati and Jim Scott
amongst its friends: the slowermoving,
electrooptical design is clearly better suited to Bob Clearmountain.
clean level management of lowfrequency
sounds. The valve sound, though, is clearly acrucial part of the equation too, lending thickness
and warmth to the tone, as evidenced by the wide range of other valve units from Altec,
Fairchild, Gates and Summit that turned up in the interviews from time to time. That said, mix
engineer Chuck Ainlay raves about the original Joemeek SC2 solidstate optical compressor for
bass, so that might be worth alook if FET or valve additives don't suit your taste.

What About Other Instruments?

I've spent agood deal of time looking at
compressor choices for vocals, drums, and
bass, and in each of these cases I've been able
to distil some degree of consensus from the
available evidence. What I've discovered in the
process of my research, though, is that
compressor choices for other common
instruments, such as guitars and keyboards,
are much less commonly discussed in
interview and, furthermore, that there also
seems to be very little agreement between
di erent producers as to what processors to Joe Barresi.
use on them.

For example, with electric guitars,

aforementioned units from Dbx, Fairchild,
Gates and Urei all turn up sporadically, as well
as Neve's 2254 and 33609 models (both of
which use similar bridgeddiode gainreduction
elements and lots of transformers, to deliver
asilkysmooth tone that often seems to be
called on to remedy thinness or abrasiveness
in arecording). However, little justi cation is
given for these processing decisions, so any
attempt at generalisation remains rmly in the
realms of surmise.

Perhaps the lack of information on processing Joe Chicarelli

other instruments simply re ects that vocals,
drums and bass are more important than other elements in modern productions so by the
time an analogue engineer gets to mixing the brass parts, for instance, the most desirable
compressors will probably already be in use, and he or she will, in practice, be more concerned
with the compressor settings than the speci c choice of unit. Or maybe it's that vocals, drums
and bass just tend to need the most dynamicrange control in atypical mix, so the choice of
compressor (and indeed the use of compression at all) becomes less crucial with instruments
holding amore consistent level.

Another argument for the lack of consensus

with regards to compressor choice for things
like electric guitars and synths could simply be
that parts like these vary so much in character
from mix to mix. Aclean and choppy funk
guitar is clearly avery di erent beast to Well known forbus compression, amongst other
aheadsdown Emo wall of noise in terms of things, the Neve 33609, which o ers silkysmooth
gain reduction, is equally at home on electric guitar.
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attributes such as transient de nition, dynamic
range and frequency balance, so it makes sense that the same compressor would not
necessarily suit both.

Whatever the reasons, though, hopefully this article has provided enough of an insight into the
basic characteristics of di erent classic compressor models that you can begin to extrapolate
towards more educated guesses when it comes to processing other instruments. The
aforementioned funk part might bene t from the speed of adrum compressor to catch its
transients, for instance, while the Emo landslide might need some of the 1176's tonal de nition
to make it bite. Once you get used to the way in which compression can react on vocals, drums,
and bass, you'll nd that there's alot less guesswork involved in processing pianos, guitars,
strings, brass, zither, nose ute, onehanded clapping...

Chained Compressors & Precompression Fader Rides

While auditioning di erent classic compressor emulations in isolation is avaluable
exercise in itself, what alot of smallstudio musicians don't properly understand is that
analogue compressors were often used in combination for processing the signals on
their favourite records. For example, many top engineers grew up working on tape,
where moderately compressing sounds on the way to the recorder, to maximise
signaltonoise ratio while tracking, made alot of sense. The tape may also have
compressed the signal slightly too, and then on mixdown the tracks would be
compressed further, often with di erent compressor models than were used for
tracking, serving up agenerous helping of tasty analogue-processing sidee ects.

With vocals, the engineers on classic recordings also routinely

rode the fader in real time while tracking, either into or out of
the tracking compressor ahighly skilled operation now
largely unheard of amongst younger engineers, but which can
subsequently enable smoothersounding compression at the
mix stage. "When the guy is singing the vocal, Idon't just sit
there and listen to him, explains Mike Clink. "I'm feeling the
emotions in my ngers, so to speak. When he's down I'm
pushing him up so Ican hear every single syllable. It's kind of
aperformance. As you do multiple takes, you actually learn the
moves and I'm following where he's going as far as how
much he's projecting it. So by the time Iget to the mix, I've
done alot of the fader riding.

Using more than one compressor at the mixdown stage is

commonplace as well, particularly on vocals, in order to
achieve the most successful combination of tone and level
control. Steve Churchyard and Tom Elmhirst, for example, both When researching
compression techniques of
suggest combining the Urei 1176 and Fairchild 670, while
other producers, it's
Robert Orton chooses to match the Fairchild sound with Waves important to think also
Renaissance Compressor instead. Sylvia MasseyShivy o ers about recording media. In
another couple of alternatives: Urei 1176 plus Teletronix LA2A, the days when people
and Universal Audio 175 plus RCA BA6A. routinely tracked through
compressors to tape, there
As I've mentioned many times in SOS, it's now commonplace were often several di erent
stages of compression
for digital tracking sessions to use no dynamics processing,
going on, including some
because of the low noise oor of modern 24bit AD from the tape itself so
converters, and the general desire to keep options open for the simply using acompressor
mix. This means that alot of people don't experiment with emulation and replicating
doublecompression and precompressor fader rides, so it's no someone's 'golden settings'
won't necessarily give you
surprise that they nd it di cult to match the kinds of sounds
the same result.
that they hear on bigbudget analogue productions. Yet, now
that almost every sequencer o ers multiple e ects insert slots in its virtual mixer
channel, the time has never been riper to use this tactic and I'd encourage you to try it
out if you've avoided it until now.

Parallel Compression Explained

I've mentioned the idea of parallel compression at anumber of points in the main article
without going into much detail about it, so in case you're not familiar with this particular
processing con guration, let me expand alittle. The basic concept is to mix both
compressed and uncompressed versions of the same signal, thereby gaining some
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advantages over normal insertstyle processing when using characterful vintage
dynamics devices. In aparallel setup, even if you hammer the compression into the
endstops, you can still keep the mixed sound fairly naturalsounding, simply by keeping
the overall level of the compressed stream low relative to that of the uncompressed
stream. This means that you can overdrive avintage compressor to emphasise tonal and
distortion artifacts without nearly as much danger of ending up with alifeless mixed
sound.

This technique is probably most often

associated with drum tracks, because
transients can be the rst thing to su er
from overzealous insertstyle
compression, but that doesn't mean that
it has no application for other
instruments. For example, Tony
Maserati, Justin Niebank, and Thom
Panunzio have all talked about using the
technique for vocals, while Rich Costey
Michael Brauer with amass of outboard. Brauer has
mentions using it for bass. In the latter
developed areputation for blending myriad
case, the tendency of many analogue compressors in parallel to shape the sound of vocals
compressors to dull the tone with and other instruments.
increasing gain reduction has led the
technique to have something of areputation for emphasising lowend warmth. The most
virtuoso proponent of parallel compression, though, has got to be Michael Brauer, who
not only runs anumber of parallel compressors from auxiliary sends, but also mults his
lead vocals through multiple di erent compressors, and also compresses complete
groups of instruments via afourway stereo output-bus system on their way to the main
outputs of the mixing console!

Which Classic Hardware Is My Plugin Modelling?

So you fancy trying emulations of afew of the compressors I've talked about in the main
text of this article... but how do you go about it? The good news is that plugin emulations
are thick on the ground these days, given the powerful in uence that vintage units have
had on the minds of software developers. The bad news is that although some of the
emulations are o cially endorsed by the hardware unit's manufacturer, some aren't,
and agiven emulation's vintage 'muse' may well be referred to rather coyly, perhaps for
fear of litigation which means you may even already have emulations in your existing
plugin collection without realising it! The trick is working out how to interpret the hints
that the designers give you, so that you have an idea of what to expect of the processing.
Here are some quick tips.

Check the manual and the designer's web site. Focusrite, for example, provide extra
information on their site about the gear they've 'sampled' for their Liquid Mix, while
URS Console Strip Pro's manual lists enough characteristics of the di erent models
(circuitry information and year of manufacture, for instance) that it blows the cover of
many of them.
The name of the plugin or emulation preset may also give the game away, of course:
you don't have to try hard to guess the inspiration for URS's Opto2a emulation!
While you're on the web, it's worth doing aquick search: Internet forum users may
already have posted their own 'translation tables' showing suspected emulation
mapping for the plugin you're using.
Look up pictures of original units via Google's image search. Software graphical user
interfaces frequently mimic visual aspects of their hardware forebears. Even where
the visual stylings are di erent, similar control legends or layouts can also give the
game away.

Help! I'm Drowning In Jargon

Compression can be apretty technical topic, which means that there's alot of
terminology to take on board if you're coming to it for the rst time. If there are terms in
this article that leave you scratching your head, there are acouple of sources I'd
recommend turning to. The rst is the 'Advanced Compression' series we started back in
December 2000 (/sos/dec00/articles/adcompression.htm), which, despite the

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imposingsounding title, covers the internal workings of compression parameters from
the ground up in afair bit of detail.

Suggested Compressors In Brief

Here's a summary of the classic compressors Mike's research found to be most widely
used by name producers. Read the main text for full details of what these units o er.
Many budgets won't stretch to prestigious hardware, of course, and in that case you can
search out lower-cost software that has been inspired by these devices (see 'Which
Classic Hardware Is My Plug-in Modelling?' box).

CLASSIC VOCAL LEVEL CONTROL

Avalon VT737SP
Dbx 160-series
Focusrite Red 3 & Red 7
Summit TLA100 & DCL200
Teletronix LA2A & LA3A
Tube Tech CL1B
Universal Audio LA2A

VOCAL COLORATION & ENHANCEMENT

Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor

Fairchild 660 & 670
Fairchild-style replicas/variations: Anthony DeMaria ADL670, Analogue Tube AT101,
EAR 660, Farman TMC, Manley Vari-mu, Pedulum Audio ES8
Purple Audio MC76
Universal Audio 1176 & software 1176LN
Urei 1176 & 1178
Valve-based Vari-mu software emulations: Altec 436, Collins 26U1 & 356E1, Federal
AM864U, Gates Sta-Level & Level Devil, RCA BA6A, Universal Audio 175 & 176

DRUMS

API 2500
Dbx 160X
Empirical Labs Distressor
Fairchild 660 & 670
Neve/EMI TG12413 and re-issues/emulations: Chandler TG1, Zener TG12413, EMI
plug-in emulation
SSL G-series console master compressor and Smart Research C2 emulation
Urei 1176 & 1178

BASS

Joemeek SC2
Urei 1176
Teletronix LA2A
Valve compressors from Altec, Fairchild, Gates & Summit

The Producers: Selected Discography

In case you're unfamiliar with some of the producers mentioned in this article, here's a
very brief discography, picking out some of their more prominent work: Chuck Ainlay
Brothers In Arms (Dire Straits); Roy Thomas Baker Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack
& A Night At The Opera (Queen), Zeitgeist (Smashing Pumpkins), Transformers (Motion
Picture Soundtrack); Glen Ballard Wilson Phillips (Wilson Phillips), Jagged Little Pill (Alanis
Morissette), 'Man In The Mirror' (Michael Jackson); Joe Barresi Stoosh (Skunk Anansie),
Lullabies To Paralyze (Queens Of The Stone Age); Michael Brauer Viva La Vida (Coldplay),
Tourist (Athlete); Joe Chiccarelli Icky Thump (White Stripes), Joe's Garage (Frank Zappa);
Steve Churchyard Listen Like Thieves (INXS), Laundry Service (Shakira); Ed Cherny
Unplugged (Bob Dylan), Nick Of Time (Bonnie Rait), Good Stu (The B52s); Rich Costey
Absolution, HAARP (Muse), Our Love To Admire (Interpol), Together We're Heavy

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(Polyphonic Spree); Bob Clearmountain Born In The USA (Bruce Springsteen), Tattoo
You (Rolling Stones), Kick (INXS), Let's Dance (David Bowie); Mike Clink Appetite For
Destruction, Use Your Illusion, The Spaghetti Incident (Guns n' Roses), Eye Of The Tiger
(Survivor), Rust In Peace (Megadeth),Whitesnake (Whitesnake); Tom Elmhirst Back To
Black (Amy Winehouse), 19 (Adele), Black Cherry (Goldfrapp); Geo Emerick Revolver,
Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles); Mark Endert Music
(Madonna), Makes Me Wonder (Maroon 5); Jon Gass, mixes for Whitney Houston, Toni
Braxton, Madonna; Humberto Gatica Call Me Irresponsible (Michael Bubl), Bad
(Michael Jackson), Falling Into You (Celine Dion); Jason Goldstein B'Day (Beyonc);
Stephen Hague True Faith (New Order), The Innocents (Erasure), 'Freedom' (Robbie
Williams); Eddie Kramer Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland,
Band Of Gypsys, The Cry Of Love (Jimi Hendrix), Led Zeppelin II (Led Zeppelin); Nick
Launay Neon Bible (Arcade Fire), Diamond Hoo Ha (Supergrass), The Dreaming (Kate
Bush); Chris Lord-Alge Living In America (James Brown), Batman soundtrack (Prince),
Unchain My Heart (Joe Cocker), American Idiot (Green Day), The Black Parade (My
Chemical Romance); Tom LordAlge Pink Box, Funhouse (Pink), Best Damned Thing (Avril
Lavigne), Blink 182 (Blink 182); Fabian Marasciullo 'Low' (Flo Rida & T-Pain); Tony
Maserati 'Save Room' (John Legend), Elephunk (Black Eyed Peas), J.Lo (Jennifer Lopez),
Diary Of Alicia Keys (Alicia Keys); Manny Marroquin 808s and Heartbreaks (Kanye West),
'Mercy' (Du y), 'Umbrella' (Rihanna), Unplugged (Alicia Keys), 'Heartbreak Hotel' (Whitney
Houston); Sylvia MasseyShivy Unchained (Johnny Cash), 'Love Rollercoaster' (Red Hot
Chili Peppers), System Of A Down (System Of A Down); Mark Nevers Nixon (Lambchop);
Steve Power Life Thru A Lens (Robbie Williams), 'Sit Down' (James), Reload (Tom Jones);
Jack Joseph Puig Eyes Open (Snow Patrol), Let Love In (Goo Goo Dolls), Monkey Business
(Black Eyed Peas); Robert Orton The Fame (Lady Gaga); Jim Scott American Recordings
(Johnny Cash), Bridges To Babylon (The Rolling Stones), Californication (Red Hot Chili
Peppers), Renegades (Rage Against The Machine); Elliott Scheiner In Your Honour (Foo
Fighters), Gaucho (Steely Dan), The Way It Is (Bruce Hornsby & The Range); Al Schmitt
Genius Loves Company (Ray Charles), Unforgettable (Natalie Cole), The Look Of Love
(Diana Krall); Serge Tsai 'Hips Don't Lie' (Shakira & Wyclef Jean); Butch Vig Gish, Siamese
Dream (Smashing Pumpkins), Nevermind (Nirvana), Bricks Are Heavy, 21st Century
Breakdown (Green Day).

Published September 2009

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