compressor / limiter

[mclaud]

hi!

i am a bass player and i am interested in getting a compressor / limiter, and my choises so far are the DBX 166 Xl and the Behringer composer pro MDX 2200. i play with a yamaha bass, a warwick head (Quad VI) and a warwick Cabinet (411 Pro). so my question is, what in your opinion is the best choice.

Tanks,

Mclaud

[MISTERQCUE]

Brutha' bass player here also. In recording,I plug my bass
into a Sansamp modeler into my board.I use the MultiCom in
a dual channel format on channels 6(bass) and 7("canned drums"AKA drum machine)I use my Composer Pro in the sam e format and the RNC in Auxes.I also have the dreaded 3630 which I used to use with my bass,but stopped after noticing
a faint "click" sound upon gating and ominous "breathing" sounds upon comping. I use very little comping on my bass as
the SANSAMP provides clarity and subharmonic control beneath
75hz,but IMHO,the MultiCom or ComposerPro works well enough on bass.But at the same time I haven't cross-referenced other comps on bass,but at bargain-basement prices,you can't go wrong.

[Wide Awake]

Mr.Q-

I know it's recommended that compressors should use inserts because the whole signal is passed through it. You said you use the aux, do you set the wet/dry balance of the aux to a certain amount, say 100 % or 50 %. Also, should you set the aux to pre or post fader ?

I'm a bigger believer than most about using compression on just about everything as long as it doesn't completely destroy the dynamics. Part of what made analog tape recordings sound so good was that there was a natural compression that occured just by putting a signal onto tape. It makes sense to add that compression to digital recordings to try to achieve a similar effect. I have a friend that operates a big studio in Hollyweird, California and he recommended the ART Pro VLA tube compressor for me, and I run my whole mixes through that or individual tracks. Most of the stuff he recommends is insanely priced and I didn't want to spend $500 on a comp. but I did anyway. I put compression on drum machine sounds too, even though they were compressed when they were sampled. It's makes them sound huge.

Thanks Q