Hey,

I wonder what is your choose. And why?

 

http://analogobsession.com/product/buster/

Really nicest one out there

 

I was about to make a kinda simmilar thread. I dont want to hijack this but some of you might answer my question too.
Is there a vst bus comp in 2018 worth checking out?
A VST that can compete with (low) midrange hardware? Like my Tegeler creme?

 

Try this

http://www.thehouseofkush.com/plugins/novatron

 

Ccan some1 teach me what should be the difference in track & bus compression, should the bus comp be more subtle & with fast dynamics ?

 

Volkswagen. Noisy but good.

 

I use UBK1 and love it, pure magic

 

Waves API-2500 works on pretty much everything, and on different settings. However nowadays I mostly use Slate FG-Grey because it has more "character" and makes the mix sound more polished.

There are generally no rules. Most people use a (master) buss compressor in order to "glue" all the tracks together, make them fit better with each other, make them move together, make the track more punchy and give it more energy.

You'd normally want to mix into it from the start or a bit after the start - if you only apply it in the end, it might not fit. Most mixers don't go beyond 2-3db of gain reduction because there's not that much dynamic range in the overall mix. A soft knee compressor fits better than a hard knee - sounds more natural.

The most common settings are 10-30ms attack, 100-500ms (or auto) release, 2:1-4:1 ratio, with 1-3db of gain reduction.

 

I have the luxury to have access to an SSL 4000G console and its bus compressor. I gotta say it sounds amazing. It just does something to the whole mix. It's creamy, for the lack of a better word.

 

Marketing.

 

Way back in the 80's at EMI studios I still recall the engineer praising the consoles bus compressor. I couldn't believe that with all the amazing outboard gear available the desks own compressor was the best. Only recently did I get Universal Audio's G Bus and it's just as you said 'creamy"... can't believe I waited so long.

 

Yup, Universal Audio SSL G all the way.

 

It can in my mind behave any way you envision your mix to sound. I believe that absolutely any compressor that handles a stereo signal can be used as a buss compressor. That said, however, I would hope the candidate would be aggressive and be able to catch pointy headed peaks to help smooth out the greater complex signal and help the many parts to gel, to create an acoustic atmosphere where the parts ooze the same vibe, something the individual tracks and other joined busses can share, all having this last channeled process in common.

Mine for ages has been The Glue. Baxter, would you adopt me?

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jan 30, 2018

TDR Kotelnikov. But "why?" is not a good question imho. "On what?" would be better. Half of the things that old pop/rock engineers do in a mix is to thicken up everything, to generate harmonics, to add silk & shine & depth & warmth & width & height & thickness & punch & clarity (well, one does not quite add clarity but you get the point), generally (and ironically) they process the sh!t out of real instruments.

Electronic music is processed too, but here we have the luxury of dialing-in as many harmonics as we like, mo' oscillators, mo' detune, mo' "analog". So generally I don't want a ssl buss comp or a vari-mu to add more than I already have - imagine sending a very clean kick, or a sine sub bass or a deep organ sound straight to the master channel only to add more harmonics with a vari-mu. I don't want them. If want such things I'll apply proper saturation on the spot. I want a bus comp just to tame any rogue peaks left after the mixing session. And Kotelnikov is freaking transparent. If I want the sound creamy, I'll just add cream on top.

 

This is tech-poetry on a high level ! Lovely

 

Cytomic The Glue. Most importantly, it sounds great and really does glue mixes together. It's crazy configurable, has A/B selection, has separate realtime and export oversampling settings, the oversampling goes to 64x, it has sidechain, it works well with everything I've thrown at it, it is super stable, it is cpu friendly, the gui is nice and clear (and doesn't hurt the eyes at night), the gui is resizable, it goes from subtle to extreme, it's great for parallel compression on drums, etc.

If you can't tell, I'm quite a fan. I haven't looked at another bus compressor in years.

 

It depends heavily on the genre/track I'm working on.

But usually I like to use SSL Bus emus (The Glue) to get punch, shine in the top end without harshness and solid low end (usually on pop, rock subgenres, metal, RnB, hip hop).

If I want some vintage glue I usually crank up Neve emus preamps like Kush transformers, Schoeps 73 (Sorry if I don't get the name right) because I don't like so much 2254 and other Neve comps emulations.

For electronic music, ambient, heavy pumping vibe Hip Hop or RnB I usually like something API inspired like the 2500, you can easily control transients, get a vibey moving low end and airy high end.

If I'm into transparence then my go to is TDR Kotelnikov which I love deeply (you can get width and depth too with the harmonics buttons).

After I get a solid mix if the track requires some excitement I might give a chance to colored stuff like 670 emus, Mjuc, varimu stuff, or an LA2A to bring the upper mids upfront.
For metal and hard genres sometimes a parallel 1176 might give some extra bite.

If I want sheen and silk top end I usually go for my Millennia TCL2 without compression, just using the Solid State transformers, if I want fatness than I would switch to the FET ones.

If I still need excitement I might use exciters (Izotope Ozone, Black Box (if I had one), the one from Waves which I forgot the name maybe it's Aural, Acustica Audio Amethyst, Sonnox Compressor or Limiter Saturation circuits or Decapitator).

It depends heavily on the material and how much you know your gear.

 

Last edited: Jan 29, 2018

Thanks for noticing. :>)

 

Favourite bus compressor? Still The Glue. At subtle settings, about up to -3dB. I track slightly compressed through my outboard compressors so I don't need much compression ITB.

 

I am very much a noob when it comes to mastering but I have been using Cytomic "The Glue" (use transparent preset) in my master bus for over a year now. To my ears, it seems to make my tracks more coherent and transparent without coloring the final mix too much.

Cheers!