Old Standards_Distressor

[jonathansorensen]

It's spendy but if you buy one piece of outboard gear, get the Distressor. I've been working with it about a year now and it's ridiculous how musical it is. It's really hard to mess anything up. You can mix through it, you can track through it. I constantly run software drums through it and it makes a HUGE difference in warmth, punch and how natural they sound. I love tracking vocals through it. It's so warm and natural sounding.

If you want something to take off that digital harshness, here's the piece of gear.

Best,
jon

[mojobone]

An excellent point; if you can buy only one outboard/hardware compressor, Empirical Labs' Distressor should probably top the list, as it can emulate nearly all of the classics, barring extremes like the old Level-Loc and a few others that are probably more properly identified as limiters or leveling amps.

[dschreiberjr]

Very cool. Thanks for the recommendation. I had tried a pair of these while I was at school (gotta love music school's gear budget), and thought they rocked. I used it on some sound design for film projects. Never on music. Great to hear it's so loved.

Do you work with a pair of them or just use one?

[mojobone]

I don't have any at home, but have used them at other peoples' studios; for druthers, get a pair, as they're great on drum overheads, among many, many other uses. You want the one with "British" mode: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ELI8XM/ , it's a worthy upgrade.


There are lotsa great tips and application notes in the manual

[jonathansorensen]

Very cool. Thanks for the recommendation. I had tried a pair of these while I was at school (gotta love music school's gear budget), and thought they rocked. I used it on some sound design for film projects. Never on music. Great to hear it's so loved.

Do you work with a pair of them or just use one?

I have only the one but I'm itching to get the second. It's great for mastering. I have the british mode. The unit is bizarre in that it's hard to make it sound bad.

Jon

[dschreiberjr]

Nice. Thanks for the replies, guys.

Jon, do you find it limiting to have just the one? I'm curious if it is difficult to get a proper stereo signal out of just one. Say you have some drum overheads, I was thinking you could send the left channel through it and bring it back into the DAW, and then send the right channel through it and back into the DAW and just hard pan them and get a stereo signal out of it.

I see that method being a pain in the a$$, but curious if it sounds good (especially compared to having the pair)

Dave

[mojobone]

According to the manual, (see my prior post, upthread) dual mono is preferred to link mode for certain applications.

[dschreiberjr]

Thx mojo. I had a look at the manual, but I didn't really absorb that part. It sounds like, a stereo pair is preferred most of the time and in other situations, a dual mono approach is preferred.

[gtrmann]

I am not familiar with the distressor, how does it compare to the DBX 160X, or the Valley Dyna-mite. I use a Dyna-mite on Kick and Snare, and use a pair of 160Xs for parallel compression. I also use a 160X also on bass guitar.

[jonathansorensen]

Nice. Thanks for the replies, guys.

Jon, do you find it limiting to have just the one? I'm curious if it is difficult to get a proper stereo signal out of just one. Say you have some drum overheads, I was thinking you could send the left channel through it and bring it back into the DAW, and then send the right channel through it and back into the DAW and just hard pan them and get a stereo signal out of it.

I see that method being a pain in the a$$, but curious if it sounds good (especially compared to having the pair)

Dave

I've actually experimented with that on stereo mixes. I isolate the left channel, run it through an EQ and the distressor and back in. Then switch up cords and run the right through the same process. It did a great job on a couple of mixes but on a couple, it seems like it messed up the stereo image. I'm not sure how or why or if mixed up somewhere else. Anyway, I'd REALLY just like to get a second though that may not be in the cards for along while. . .

Jon