Rightfully, what you first notice isn’t the compression working, but what it’s doing to your mix: the big ‘In’ button could just as easily be called the ‘Sounds Like a Record’ button, gluing the track together into a cohesive, united whole without sacrificing clarity. Ratio is switchable between 2, 4 or 10:1, and sits next to a large In/Out ‘bypass’ button.Īs you’d expect, operating the SSL 4000 G is intuitive from the get go, and there are a host of presets from nine producers and engineers to use as starting points.
The Attack control is stepped (choose from 0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 10, and 30 milliseconds), as is Release (0.1, 0.3, 0.6, 1.2 seconds, plus a program-dependent Auto release setting). The original hardware version didn’t have this, but radio mixes in the 80s were always very bright and bass-light! More extreme settings are doable on drum buses, to up the power and energy - try lowering the threshold and keeping the release fast to get things pumping. If your mix is bass-heavy and you can hear high-frequency ducking when kick and bass hit, you may need to raise the SC Filter to reduce the impact of the low frequencies on gain reduction. Toggling the In/Out button is useful for smooth A/B comparison. Tweaking the threshold to show between 2 and 4dB of gain reduction, and raising the Gain Make-up to restore program volume refines the outcome. Lowering the threshold kicks the compression in, while the classic bus setting of slow attack, fast release, and a ratio of 2:1 or 4:1, gives a good transparent starting point. they sound amazing and are super quick to dial in.This is a compressor primarily designed for transparent smoothing.
I do suggest you do a search for on this forum for Lagerfeldt's SSL 4000-G channel compressor presets (for use with the Logic Compressor). I also use the Renn Vox plugin from time to time. PS - I use both the Waves Renn Comp and the Logic Compressor quite a bit.
But the demo's are free and you never know until you try them whether you'll prefer them or not. It may be that you find the Renaissance Compressor's controls easier to work with than Logic's Compressor - or vice-versa - to get the sound you're looking for. (the exception being on something like Waves' "Helios / HLS" EQ where they've emulated the fixed band 'Q' settings of the old piece of hardware, and also added characteristics like distortion and noise (hum) such as the old units might give.)Īgain - I would suggest you purchase an iLok and experiment with their demo's. Like I said, at the end of the day, you're either adding/subtracting frequency content in either application. The Linear Phase EQ than to worry much about how the Waves RennEQ sounds vs.
It would probably be more helpful to learn what specific frequency bands sound like on different instruments, the difference (and best uses) of The Channel EQ vs. but at the end of the day, unless you are paying for a specific 'coloration' or added harmonics from an emulated piece of hardware, you're basically dealing with the same thing in all EQ's: the subtraction or addition of frequency content. Some people subscribe to this notion, some don't. There are many articles about EQ's and why they are basically "all the same". but Logic's compressor is very versatile and good-sounding as well. The compressor is versatile and "good-sounding". The Renaissance series has been around a long time - and for good reason. Hmm, that's really a strange and personal preference kind of question no? Probably the best answer would be: buy an iLok and try some of the demos of their plugins.