Softube compressor shootout: Summit TLA100, Tubetech CL1B, FET compressor

McDsp Ultimate Compressor review

When the McDSP Ultimate compressor was announced it was unique and very interesting to me. 10 compressors in one plugin modeling many famous compressors all for $229 native. To break it down with UC you get a fairchild ($149 from UAD, $320  from Waves) La2a ($149 from UAD, $160 from Waves) 1176 emulation ($149 from UAD, $400 from Waves, which includes the blue and black face model) and 7 more compressors for only $229. You can easily see the value your getting here.

I was going to wait until I found a favorite use for all 10 compressors before I wrote this review but that may be a very long time. The UC in a way is like a sample library to me. You will only use the samples you like. So out of the 10 compressors in UC  I’ve only been using the ones I really like so far. Now this doesn’t mean these others are bad, just means I didn’t find a use for them as quick as some of the others. To be fair I don’t spend 15-20 minutes trying to get good results from a plugin. If I’m not in the ballpark of getting good results in 5 minutes or so I pull up a different plugin and try again. So with that being said lets get into my thoughts.

When I first opened up the plugin my first impression was that it could be a little bigger, I found myself squinting to see some of the setting until I really learned it. The UI is very user friendly and easy to navigate. When you first open the plugin it opens to the U670, made from the fairchild 670. Here are my thoughts on each compressor.

1. U670- This was the biggest reason I purchased UC. I really wanted an emulation of this compressor after all I’ve heard about it. First up lead vocals. The U670 added smooth compression with transparency. Also tried it on background vocals and acoustic guitar with good results.
2. Moo Tube- This is of course a tube compressor emulation. Preformed good on vocals, nice on bass, and well on guitars and background vocals. Did not try drums.
3. icomp- this is one I haven’t found a place for yet but didn’t blow me away on anything I tried it on. However only having two knobs allows for quick and easy dialing in of the settings.
4. Opto C/Opto L- these are La2a emulations and OMG do I love them! I’ve never had a go to plugin for vocals because I’m always switching it up but there is a party going on in my ears whenever I insert the opto C on vocals. This is strange because I never really cared for the hardware version of the La2a (the UA version) that I’ve used in a recording studios. The otpo C really pushes the vocal forward in the mix. This is by far my favorite compressor out of the 10. I used the opto C on a recent mix I did for JaShayla and immediately got great results. The one knob on the compressor makes its really quick to dial in. The opto L is the same, just a limiter instead of compressor.
5. British C- this one emulates a Neve compressor I believe, and its one of the smoothest, if not the smoothest, compressor in the plugin. Even at 12-15db compression I couldn’t hear it working. This preformed beautifully on background vocals, and if it wasn’t for my love for the opto C on lead vocals it would be placed there as well. Because of its smoothness I used it on mix buss once giving my 7720 a break and it preformed very nicely. This is my second favorite compressor of the bunch.
6. Over EZ- This is one of the more versatile compressors to me. I tried it on a variety of sources and it worked well on all. You’ve got the basic compressor setting you can really dial in what you need. If I had to choose a favorite source I would go with bass and snare. Vocals worked well but not as good as the British C and opto C.
7. SST76- obviously a 1176 compressor. This compressor sounded good on everything you’d expect a 1176 to work well on, which is vocals and bass. If you’ve never used a 1176 this compressor can be a little confusing at first with the attack and release labeling, but will be worth it once you get it down. Also an all buttons in mode would have been cool to have. 1176 users know what I’m talking about.
8. FRG444- or the “frog” as Colin calls it, worked really well for me as a parallel drum compressor. Its slightly aggressive tone added a nice thickness when mixed the dry signal of the drums. Kick as well as snare gave good results to.
9. D357- by looking at the layout this is obviously meant to be used to crush drums, and for that it works very well. Never tried this on any other source. This is definitely the most aggressive compressor in UC. It will have you scratching your head when you first open it. Attack, release, and threshold are labeled as min and max instead of fast and slow. The attack doesn’t get super fast, but you typically don’t want a fast attack for drums anyway because you will kill the transients.

Overall I think UC is a very good product that Colin could easily charge $499 for. But with a $229 price tag (and even cheaper with a McDSP sale) I find this to be a steal. I don’t get caught up in the whole “does this plugin sound exactly like the hardware”. To me it just matters if it sounds good or not, and I find a few of the UC compressors to sound great. With UC there is a compressor for everyone, and everything. Highly recommended if you want to add 10 more compressors to your plugin collection without breaking the bank. You can find more info on UC on www.mcdsp.com and in Colin’s corner. After making the Ultimate compressor I hope Colin knows he must now bless us with the Ultimate EQ.

JDK R24 review

JDK R24 review

Let me start by saying this. I admit I had low expectations for the R24. With the majority of stereo EQ’s costing $2000-$2500 just how good could a $1000 stereo EQ be? So why did I purchase one? Glad you asked. There are only three stereo EQ’s on the market for $1000, Black Lion audio AM/CHA1, TL audio 5013, and the JDK R24. Why more companies haven’t tapped into the $1000 stereo EQ price point is a mystery to me. The AM/CHA1 has some frequencies missing I like to use, and the lack of customer support from tl audio knocked them out of the running. Sure I could contact dealers about the product but I like to know that if I have a question I can talk to the people who made the gear rather then the people who sell the gear. My emails to JDK were returned no later than 24 hours and were very helpful. Its always nice to know you will have good support for a product.

I went to Sweetwater’s Gearfest this year with the JDK R24 on the top of my wish list. When I arrived at JDK’s booth I was greeted by Jordan from API. They had the R20, R22, and R24 on display with a demo song running through them. I immediately grabbed the headphones and began turning knobs. My good friend Darius Lyles, owner of Heat Factory Studios in Memphis, made the trip with me and listened while I turned knobs on a second pair of headphones. In my opinion, the demo song was not doing the gear justice. I remember walking away telling Darius I wasn’t going to get it. He told me to sleep on it and come back day 2 and try it again. So that’s what I did. Day 2 of Gearfest I must of visited the API booth 6 times. In fact, I visited so many times Jordan ended up giving me a JDK T-shirt. He told me a lot about the EQ and the Sweetwater reps were bragging on it as well. The fact that it was on sale plus the background information I received from Jordan ( like pointing out the R24 uses the same transformer output as the API eq’s) I went ahead and purchased it. The ties to API didn’t hurt either. Who has ever said anything bad about an API eq?

I honestly thought I would be sending the R24 back. Being the gadget geek I am I wasn’t thrilled about the old school vintage design. I like shiny things with lights, but the look of the R24 really grew on me. For fun I called up Blackbird studios and rented one of the $2500 EQ’s I’d been hearing a lot about to do a shootout. Now the fun begins! Darius and I did not think the JDK stood a chance. We matched the EQ settings on both units and a/b’d them. The JDK sounded more polished and exciting, the other EQ sounded dark and dull. Round One to JDK. The same thing was repeated for 2 more mixes with the same results. JDK now up 3-0. For the final test we set both eq’s flat just to hear the tone of each unit. Same results, the JDK added a slight punch and presence, the other EQ was dull and dark. We even brought my wife in the studio who knew nothing about these EQ’s or their prices and a/b’d the mix for her.

She also chose the JDK. 4-0 unanimous victory for the R24! I kept the name of the other EQ anonymous because I did not want it to seem like I was tarnishing their brand or trying to down them. The sparkle you get from the high end of the R24 is very pleasing. The 4 bands ranging from 20hz to 20k make this a very versatile EQ. The controls are continuously variable not stepped.

So what don’t you get with the R24? There is no input or output trim, no shelf switch, Q control, and no individual band bypass. Are these deal breakers? For me absolutely not. If I need to trim the input or output, I do it before it hits the R24. As far as shelving I have not missed not having it. The R24 Q is wide, but the more you boost or cut the more narrow the Q becomes. This has not been a problem for me. Individual bypass is nice to have but even most of the $2500 EQ’s don’t have this feature. Not a big deal to me, I just move the knob back to zero if I want to hear that band flat. One feature the R24 has that is mostly found on a lot of high end gear is a hard bypass. This means you can pass audio through it with the unit powered off. To take advantage of the analog circuitry though you will need to power it on. Since purchasing the R24 it has lived on my mix buss and I have been extremely pleased with the results. It really polishes my mixes and gives them a more finished sound. Comparing the R24 to all my plugin eq’s (waves, softube, McDsp) the JDK just sounds better to my ears. Now no mix leaves my studio without running through the R24 first. For the price this EQ is a absolute steal. I emailed my Sweetwater rep the next day after we did the shootout and told him he would not be getting this EQ back. For my first outboard EQ the JDK R24 is excellent and I’m in love with it as you can tell. I look forward to more products from JDK and as well the possibility of the R22 as my next compressor.

For more info please visit www.jdkaudio.com

My Top 3 Affordable Plugin Bundles

Good plugins can greatly enhance your mixes. Of course not every one can afford some of the high price plugin bundles out today. So I’m going to share with you my top 3 affordable plugin bundles. While these bundles are affordable ($350 and less) plugin companies like Waves and McDsp run sales ALL the time, so you can end up getting them for less. I have never paid full price for a plugin bundle. I patiently wait for it go on sale. I strongly recommend going to these companies’ websites and signing up for their newsletters. This way you are always in the loop of when a sale occurs. It’s a good idea to follow them on Twitter and Facebook as well. Now to the bundles.

From affordable plugin bundles

1. McDsp Classic Pack
a. price $350
b. plugins 4
c. tweaky, versatile plugins
d. www.McDsp.com 


The McDSP Classic Pack gives you a compressor, eq, multiband compresspor and an analog console emulator plugin in analog channel. Technically this bundle gets you four plugins, but if you break it down you really get 3 versions of compressor bank, 3 versions of filter bank, 3 versions of the multiband compressor, and 2 versions of analog channel. So when you look at it that way you really get 11 plugins total. Though the Classic Pack is the most expensive of the three, I feel its the most versatile. You really get a lot for your money. Compressor Bank is the most versatile compressor plugin out there IMO. You can literally use it on anything. Filter Bank, like Compressor Bank, is very versatile and with three versions you can really do a lot. Analog Channel emulates tape machines and analog consoles. All the plugins in the bundle are extremely “tweaky”, very versatile and if your into presets you get a ton of them here. Again, $350 is more than the other two bundles I listed but Colin runs sales ALL the time. Be patient if you have your eye on a particular thing. I picked mine up this year when McDSP had a $199 sale going on. If I had no other plugins for my DAW and had to choose between these 3 bundles I would take this one for its versatility.

From affordable plugin bundles

2. Softube Mix Bundle
 a. price $300
 b. plugins 5
 c. battling UA for top analog modeling plugins on the market
 d. www.softube.com 


Softube has really made a name in the audio game for analog modeling. For those who don’t know what analog modeling is its taking hardware and creating software that sounds just like the hardware, or as close they can get it. With the mix bundle you get their passive-active pack, which features 3 EQ’s, the FET compressor, which models the 1176 and the TSAR-1R, which is a mini version of the TSAR-1 reverb. The passive-active pack is modeled after 60’s and 70’sBritish EQ’s. These EQ’s aren’t surgical EQ’s, but they are very good and boosting and sweetening your tracks, especially in the high end. The FET compressor is a 1176 on steroids. low and high cut filters, look ahead and a mix knob makes this a very versatile compressor. The reverb is the best I’ve used in a plugin. I’m comparing that to Digidesign D-verb, AIR verbs, Sonnox reverb (which is a very good reverb!) and McDSP revolver verb. I just finished a mix for JaShayla where I used this reverb on her vocals and the results were amazing. This bundle is versatile, but the least versatile IMO. However these are really, really good sounding plugins.

From affordable plugin bundles

3. Waves Musicians Bundle 2
 a. price $99
 b. plugins 6
 c. plugin originators, veterans in the game
 d. www.waves.com 


If there is one thing you are guaranteed to see in commercial studios besides pro tools and an analog console its plugins from Waves. Waves has been making plugins since 1992 and has what I believe is the largest number of plugins available than other company at 128. Waves has also been the most expensive I’ve seen, but over the last few years they have been lowering their prices to help compete with all the new competition. The Waves Musicians 2 bundle, which I paid $199 for two years ago, gives you some nice plugins for an affordable price. These were the first plugins I ever purchased. This bundle gives you eq, 3 compressors, and a delay. The Rvox compressor is easy to use and easy to get good results with, making it my favorite plugin in this bundle. You get Raxx specifically for bass, Rvox for vocals, and Rcomp can handle everything else. The Req is good, and considering it comes in a $99 bundle makes it great. Waves also runs specials all the time. This bundle ranks #2 in versatility to me of the three.

Sending your beats and sessions to artist and engineers

Since I get so many sessions that look like WTF I decided to write some some Do’s and Don’ts when sending your beats to artists. This is mostly for producers but some can be applied when sending off your session to a mix engineer. 

1. Do not send mp3’s! A mp3 is good for listening and in some cases tracking to, but once a beat has been purchased the artist needs Wav files to have the song mixed once it has been recorded. Wav files should typically be 44.1k or 48k and 24bit.
2. Each sound should be separated on its own track. This includes the kick and the snare. This will allow the mix engineer to properly mix the song. If there are 20 sounds in the beat, then the artist needs to be sent 20 different wav files. These will of course be too big to email so use a service like dropbox or wetrasfer to upload and email the files.
3. Name your files. This will make you look more professional and will make your mix engineer very happy. Even if you just label your tracks kick, snare, hi hat, etc. Its better then audio 1, audio 2, audio 3. 
4. Your tracks should have no clipping. If its hitting the red then pull it back some. Clipping in the digital world is never good. 
5. Include a a master track with your beat. This way if you full beat needs to be heard instead of playing all the wav files together the master track can be played. 
6. While we are on master tracks make sure to leave some headroom on the master track. Many sessions I get when I go to track the song the master track is so hot its pinned into the red clipping. I have to trim it down 12db just to have it at a level where I can hear the artist on top of it. 
7. Always include the BPM. Easiest way to do this is to add it to the name of the beat, or to the master track. For example mybeat1_BPM95. When its time to record having the BPM will make the engineer’s a lot easier when its time to copy a hook, or the mix engineer when they want to add delays. This also beats opening up a session just to see the BPM.
8. When moving beats and sessions from one DAW to another its best to start the song at bar 1, but the beat or music at bar 2. This will ensure if something needs to be looped it will loop properly. I’ve noticed starting at bar 1 can chop of a few milliseconds or samples of the song. Then when you go to loop it the track won’t loop smoothly. Starting at bar 2 gives your DAW 1 bar to start  up ensuring that it captures the whole start. Basically be careful of your DAW chopping off the beginning on the music before you track it out into wav files. 
9. If you can, contact the artist’s engineer and see how he or she wants you to deliver the files and if they have any special requests. This way you can get the beat to the artist’s engineer just how they like it. 
10. Ask the artist how he or she wants the arrangement to be or if they want to sequence the track on their own. Don’t assume the artist wants three 16 bars verses and four hooks. If the artist wants to sequence the track on their own then send them the 4 or 8 bar loop of each sound. Again be sure to start the music at bar 2 but export from bar 1. Then the artist can loop the track out how they please.

Dangerous D-box review

After comparing a ITB mix to a mix I did on a SSL duality I knew the analog console sound is what I wanted for my mixes. Since I won’t be spending $300,00 for an SSL Duality console or $23,000 for the SSL Matrix, I knew an analog summing box was what I needed. I was very close to purchasing the SSL 8 channel summing mixer and mynx, but learning it needed special cables was a turn off. Plus the vertical case design of the Mynx would make for an awkward set up in my studio. When I told my Sweetwater rep I was looking for an analog summing box he pointed me to the Dangerous D-box. After researching it and seeing its features compared to its price I went ahead and purchased. The D-box is really bang for your buck gear. You get 8 channels of analog summing, 2 headphones jacks, an extra analog input, talk back, outputs for 2 pair of monitors, a mono switch, and my favorite feature, 2 digital inputs for Dangerous d/a conversion. All this for $1,399. Combined with the Dangerous 2bus-lt and you have 24 tracks of summing plus the d-box features for less than $3,000. Since I mentioned the d/a conversion was my favorite feature lets look at that first. The d/a conversion on the D-box sounds so good I would pay the price of the D-box just for it. Seriously. Its not transparent like my Lynx Aurora, but compared to it the D-box has a more “hi-fi” sound to me. Switching between the two the D-box has a slight lift you can feel. With Focal CMS65 monitors and the D-box d/a conversion all my mixes have translated very nicely. There is also a second digital input you can use labeled CD. So that gorgeous “hi-fi” sounding d/a conversion can be used for whatever else you like. Think of it like dating two beautiful twins that you can switch between. The monitor selector is one switch that toggles two pair of monitors. Cool thing about the switch is that it has momentary toggle. This means when you hold the switch it will switch monitors, and when you let go it will revert back to the monitors you were originally listening to. It also has a mono switch which I love. I always check my mix in mono to make sure I can still hear everything clearly. Also when I have background or lead vocals that I spread out a little, I can quickly get it back in the middle by soloing the track and pressing mono. Now I have it in the middle of the mix and I’m able to add processing without losing my panning I have set. Incredibly useful. The talkback also has momentary toggle. Press to talk, release and the talkback mic is off. Now for the main reason I purchased this, the analog summing. I find the analog summing from the D-box to be on the clean side, but definitely a winner for removing digital harshness. The D-box added punch, and widened the stereo image of my mixes just like the SSL board. I feel the SSL had more separation but that could also be due to the SSL Alphalink converters the console is connected to. The d-sub connections on the back make for easy connection as well. So what don’t I like about the D-box? Not much, my few gripes are in no way deal breakers. One, I wish it had a dim switch, and two, I wish I could run both pair of my monitors to my sub and into the D-box. Spoke with Dangerous and found out the dim switch would make the price go up a lot. I’m still hoping for a sub control if Dangerous decides to do a mkII. Even if they don’t the D-box is the heart of my studio and It will continue to be for many years. I plan to purchase the 2bus-lt in the future for 24x2 analog summing, making my setup extremely, dare I say, DANGEROUS!

Empirical Labs Mike-e Review

So I’ve had my Mike-e for about 5 months now and I’m ready to write a review. To start, when the mike-e says its a mic pre amp with new tricks, its not lying. This has been my go to pre since first using it, defeating my previous favorite pre, the Avalon 737. First off, when I got my mike-e hooked up for the first time I could not get the phantom power to work. After extensive troubleshooting I contacted Empirical Labs. Dave Derr quickly responded and sent me a new mike-e. When I got the new mike-e, I couldn’t get phantom power to work either. WTF! Took to it to another studio and phantom power worked fine. At this point I’m going crazy trying to figure out why I can't get phantom to work. Well Dave ends up sending me an email telling me to make sure I don’t have the mic and line input connected at the same time. Well sure enough I did. So basically if you have a mic and line input connected at the same time it will cancel out the phantom power. This is no problem for me because I just mix in my studio, I don’t record, so I leave the line input connected. For a recording studio this could be tricky since both can’t be connected at the same time. The mike-e to me is parts of all empirical labs products rolled into one, excluding the lil freQ. You get a very clean mic pre with saturation borrowed from the fatso, and a compressor borrowed from the famous distressor. In tracking hip-hop vocals I found the mike-e to sound bigger than the Avalon 737, way bigger than my Joemeek TwinQ, and a tad bigger then Great River 500 series pre. It makes vocals sound huge with the comp/sat section. Between hitting the mic pre hard and really driving the saturation circuit, you can get a lot of different tones from this channel strip. I’ve been running lead vocals for almost every mix I do through it with great results. It really brings the vocal forward and in your face in a mix. I also tracked bass with it through the DI adding a little saturation and compression. The bass player was very pleased with the sound. One of my favorite features about the mike-e is that when you power it off it saves your setting. So lets say you or your assistant forgot to fill out the recall sheet for the session, or you want to run the signal through the same setting you recorded it with when its time to mix. Well when you power it back it on all your setting that are digital like attack, release, etc, will be maintained. Pretty cool! Since I thought I had a bad unit and ELI sent me another, for a few weeks I had 2 mike-e in my possession. What to do with two mike-e’s? Put them on mix buss of course! I normally use a chameleon labs 7720 on mix buss. I used the mike-e’s with its slowest attack and fastest release will driving the saturation hitting the toasty light on the peaks with no more than 3db gain reduction. I don’t know how much was the mike-e and how much was my mixing skills but having it on mix buss gave me what I think is one of my top 3 mixes ever. I love the distressor on drum buss so its not surprising that two mike-e’s on drum buss worked very well. The mike-e has a wet/dry knob for parallel compression on the unit. No need to blend in your parallel compression with your DAW fader. As I said before, this is now my go to pre for tracking vocals. Empirical Labs customer support was great. I hated to send back the second unit but I didn’t have an extra $1600 laying around in my account. But after a few more purchases I will definitely be picking up a second mike-e. There is a insert mod available and a transformer output mod will be available soon. Not crazy about the insert mod but the transformer mod will be mandatory for me once it becomes available.