What I think people do is add them on as insert fx -after- mixing and then, yeah, they sound different.īut again, if you start from scratch? They can sound -very- similar. use them at the start of the mix process. and pretty much -can- sound almost identical to one another so long as you.

They just do NOT sound all that much different. I've been spending what is (for -me-) an inordinate amount of time A/Bing the Fairchild and SSL 4k Buss and here is my 2p. I watch the threshold because I don't like to have my mixes 'pump' too much, I don't like the compressor for that, I like it more for I set the Makeup gain to the point where I'm filling up the dynamic range of my digital bus (maxing out at -1 dB or so).Īgain you need to monitor the threshold to make sure it's not reducing too much. Set ratio to 4:1 and I then adjust the threshold so that I'm only getting 1 or 2 dB of reduction on peaks at most. I find that I like 10 msec best (.1 msec doesn'tĭo it for me).

1msec attack time and I think 3:1 compression ration.įor the SSL set the release to Auto and set your attack to something you like. Now the Fairchild in this mode has an auto release, about. (You just need to keep checking the threshold as you mix to make sure you're not getting to much reduction.)

I then set the threshold so that I get only 1 or 2 dB of reduction at any given time. I like it's cleaner sound - I'll use the Fairchild for more rootsy stuff and the SSL when I wantįor my Fairchild use I started with the Ocean Way preset and then turned the bias controls back a little bit to get more ofĪ stomp on the transients. I religiously use the Fairchild as my master buss compressor and have been testing the SSL 4K Buss Compressor which To my ears the 4k Buss Comp does this job even better than the precBussComp, which sounds a little more surgical and cleaner, not that 'fat' and pumpy. It tightens everything in a very musical way.īut it is also suitable for heavy and hard rock music: when you set the attack to 30 msec and the release to 300 msec then it gives you this incredible 'in-da-face' punch and sort of pumping sound that you cannot achieve with the fairchild, for example. It has many attack and release times and is very flexible regarding different musical genres.įor example, smooth pop/chill music, I like it with 3 msec attack and auto release. The release characteristics is also more natural on a mix. I like it best with TC6 (auto) on the mix.īut I prefer the Neve 33609 (with a1 release setting) because it's a lot punchier, lets more kick and bass through. Although the Fairchild sounds great on the stereo bus, it takes away quite a lot of the bass of the mix, maybe due to its very short constant attack time.

Puigchild vs uad fairchild