Hardware Compressor Shootout- files inside!

if6was9

I've got a few hardware compressors so decided to do a shootout between them to see how they all fare against each other.

To more clearly hear the effect they were having I sent both the Kick and Snare buses to another bus and comp'd them both together disabling the compression I'd done on the respective buses. Since the controls and metering for each unit is pretty different I decided to go with a fairly heavy handed compression and a medium attack/release settings where possible.
I didn't use any EQ and didn't use the harmonic exciter part of the VC3 or the gate on the LA 4X4.

I tried to match the volumes as much as possible too by soloing each of the tracks and matching their RMS volumes for the first few seconds.

Unfortunately I'm using a Presonus Firepod so the D/A and A/D isn't going to be the best but it's all I've got to work with so it'll have to do.
I used a section of a song of a band I recorded with natural kick and snare rather than one thats blended with samples. Picked a part that has both faster and slower parts so there's some variety in the music.

Comps used are
DBX 160xt

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1547445/Comp...Test%20DBX.wav

FMR RNC

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1547445/Comp...Test%20RNC.wav

Joe Meek VC3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1547445/Comp...20JM%20Vc3.wav

LA Audio 4X4

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1547445/Comp...20LA%204x4.wav

I've also included the raw files for the bus and the backing if anyone else wants to give it a try with their outboard comps.
Bus
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1547445/Comp...0Bus%20Raw.wav
Backing
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1547445/Comp...%20Backing.wav

So any thoughts or comments guys?

PaulBrewer

What's the purpose of doing this if6was9 ?

if6was9

To see how the different comps sound against each other.

Figured I'd put it up here since I was putting it on another forum I go anyways. Thought people might be interested and might put the audio through some of their own comps to see how it all compares.

dav nagle

PaulBrewer wrote: »

What's the purpose of doing this if6was9 ?

Dr.Egan Spengler!