compressor suggestions

C

Chadwick

New member
I purchased 4 DBX 266xl compressors when I shouldn't have. The fact is I new hardly anything about compression, limiting, gating(still don't) and trusted that the dude at guitar centers suggestion was a good one. I told him I will be recording drums and he said I should have a compressor for each mic so I can use them while tracking. So I bought them. After the fact I realized these don't have limiting ability. I need suggestions. I still have never recorded a single drum as the room I'm converting to a studio is taking way longer than expected. Should I take these back and start recording without compression, limiting, gating ability and wait until I have a clue? Should I keep them? Should I exchange them? I'm open for all suggestions.

Here's what else I have.
Digi 002
Digimax LT
3 sm-57's
1 sm-58
2 mk-012's
1 beta 52
Rode NTK

Thanks
 
You have four of the same moderate guality compressors. You do not need to compress going in to get good quality tracks, and may in fact be better to go for the best signals you can get, then experiment with compression after the tracks are recorded. Plugins I believe, can easily match or better the 266, and one 'purchase' can be used many times over.
For a hardware comp, the FMR Audio RNC you will never outgrow.
My 2 cents.:D
Wayne
 
I would take at least a couple of them back and get an RNC, as has already been recommended. I like to use some compression while I track drums to get a better idea of what the finished sound will be like, so I think there is some logic to what the GC guy was telling you. However, it makes more sense to have different flavors of compression (different units) for different tasks. You might consider an opto-compressor to round out your gear. I am confused by your statement that the 266 does not limit because limiting is generally considered a more aggressive level of compression, so it is really the same thing.

Joel
 
Yeah I know Joel. I'm confused by my own statement. I've been reading all about compression and I'm still confused. My understanding is like you said, limiting is compression with a higher ratio. So to me that means compression is limiting. So I guess the real question is how high of a ratio do I need on my compressor/s. Let me ask you guys this. Without puchasing compressors with higher price tags than the RNC and that being the only limit to what I can spend. What would you purchase? Keep in mind I will be attempting to record drums with a considerable number of mics. And what about noise gates. The 266 is considered a compressor/gate. Do I need something that is considered a gate? Thanks for your input guys.
Chad
 
Chadwick said:
limiting is compression with a higher ratio. So to me that means compression is limiting. So I guess the real question is how high of a ratio do I need on my compressor/s. Let me ask you guys this. Without puchasing compressors with higher price tags than the RNC and that being the only limit to what I can spend. What would you purchase? Keep in mind I will be attempting to record drums with a considerable number of mics. And what about noise gates. The 266 is considered a compressor/gate. Do I need something that is considered a gate? Thanks for your input guys.
Chad
Click to expand...

First off, you need to shoot the guy at guitar center. The dbx 266xl compressors are crap. Just really cheap crap. They do more coloring than compressing, although they do sound better than the Alesis 3630 compressor.

Secondly, although I will not doubt that a compressor will limit at a high ratio, I will say this: MOST COMPRESSORS AT A HIGH RATIO WILL NOT SUBSTITUTE A QUALITY Brick wall LIMITER. If you are into dbx, the 1066 I believe has a decent limiter on it and also the old 166 compressors have decent brick wall limiters on them as well.

Thirdly, you say you have the digi002. Protools LE I'm assuming. WHY ARE YOU EVEN BOTHERING WITH THE DBX COMPRESSORS YOU BOUGHT?
 
Chadwick said:
limiting is compression with a higher ratio. So to me that means compression is limiting. So I guess the real question is how high of a ratio do I need on my compressor/s. Let me ask you guys this. Without puchasing compressors with higher price tags than the RNC and that being the only limit to what I can spend. What would you purchase? Keep in mind I will be attempting to record drums with a considerable number of mics. And what about noise gates. The 266 is considered a compressor/gate. Do I need something that is considered a gate? Thanks for your input guys.
Chad
Click to expand...

First off, you need to shoot the guy at guitar center. The dbx 266xl compressors are crap. Just really cheap crap. They do more coloring than compressing, although they do sound better than the Alesis 3630 compressor.

Secondly, although I will not doubt that a compressor will limit at a high ratio, I will say this: MOST COMPRESSORS AT A HIGH RATIO WILL NOT SUBSTITUTE A QUALITY Brick wall LIMITER. If you are into dbx, the 1066 I believe has a decent limiter on it and also the old 166 compressors have decent brick wall limiters on them as well.

Thirdly, you say you have the digi002. Protools LE I'm assuming. WHY ARE YOU EVEN BOTHERING WITH THE DBX COMPRESSORS YOU BOUGHT? The compressor that comes standard issue in protools isn't much better than the 266xl, however, you have some serious flexibility when it comes to protools LE.

Here are my suggestions, get these following plug ins. They are better than most outboard hardware plugins:
Get the waves C1 compressor. It is awesome. Get the waves L1 limiter. It is even more awesome. You can download fully funcional demo versions at www.waves.com

I advise against this, but if you are desperate enough, download pirated/cracked versions of these. They do exist.
 
Fenix,
Thanks for your advice.

Q: WHY ARE YOU EVEN BOTHERING WITH THE DBX COMPRESSORS YOU BOUGHT?

A: First off, you need to shoot the guy at guitar center.

You answered your own question.

I am taking them back tonight. I think I'm going take your advice. I can get some experience with using the plug ins and along with the time in the studio with my instructor I will eventually know what to get to satisfy my needs.

In case your wondering why I rushed into buying all this stuff without knowing what the hell I'm doing. Here's the answer. My wife gave me permission to take a substancial portion of the money from our home improvement loan to build a home studio and for engineering school and I figured I better spend it before she changes her mind.

Thanks again.
Chad
 
I have 2 dbx 266xl's that I use. I bought one a long time ago and the other just fell into my rack. I don't like the way the gate work to much, but i have used them as an expander with some mild success. The unit does not do limiting very well. You can turn the ratio up to infinity, but when it hit's threshold, it "pumps" more than limits. I do like the overeasy compresion mode on some things, the trick is to tickle it just a little, with a lower ratio about 1.3 to 1. Can be a nice effect on vocals and I use it for hand percussion too. I would suggest possably keeping one of the units and learning how to use it along with learnign how to use plug-in compression. And an RNC too. :D
 
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