was wondering if its common practice to throw a compressor in with 0 threshold......just to use the make up gain?

 

yes.

"If you want to use the VSC-2 adding some coloration without Gain Reduction then turn the thresholdpots fully clockwise to the right and use the Make Up Gain to control the amount of harmonics added to the signal.
In many large format older consoles like SSL, MCI, Quad Eight the discrete VCA stayed in the signal path of the output section also when deactivating the compressor"

https://files.plugin-alliance.com/products/vertigo_vsc-2/vertigo_vsc-2_manual_en.pdf

 

IMH, Quad Eight is the best sounding vintage analog console to come out of the USA.

 

I think it largely depends on what compressor your using.
With 0 threshold on certain compressors wont yield a good result, others however do it well.
My favourite compressors would probably be>
The glue
Flux series
Elysium series, very underated but excellent inmho.
Fab filters overated i reckon..I think alot of people tend to use it because everybody else does, but personally although fab filters good, its doesnt deserve the king of kings kinda reputation it has, even tho i do use it myself here n there.
Dee comp actually quite good, and has a fast attack n release time, with the right threshold n comp ratio, its good for accentuating transients on drums.
Boz digitalz manic comps a beast of a compressor which i use alot on drum sounds particularly.
+10db is only good for short drum sounds or a short percussion or drumloop with heavy transients and not for use as a mix buss.
Klanghelms Dc8c3 is interesting but not for the faint hearted , but i dont use it because i genuinley think it doesnt have much character compared to other compressors..
Maag Magnum K is fukn excellent and has tonnes of character.
Sonible smart comps good, and has hidden tricks up its sleeve.
I could rammble on n on n on, the choices are endless.
Obviously the digital equivelant of Analogue is never gonna truly encompass the sound of the real deal.

 

Last edited: Apr 10, 2020

For makeup gain you'd usually go with a simple utility plug (no signal coloration, much lower CPU use, quicker to set up).
Using a compressor will probably give you a lot of the compressor's "color", or in other words the kinda unique sound of its circuits which it has as a side effect of how it's built. Confusingly this is a whole another "color", different from its "compression characteristic" which is sometimes also called "color". Digital emulations sometimes have this color too, as part of emulation.

Some compressors are often used with really high threshold (so they're not cmpressing the sound at all or very little) exactly for the purpose of getting that desirable color that they give off. I can see how going for a very low thresh might (with some comps) exaggerate the color even more by overdriving inner parts, and be useful.