Stam Audio SA-4000 Stereo Bus Compressor

My friend Nick brought over his Stam Audio SA-4000 (Without the transformer mod) for a quick test.

Overall I was impressed with how close I had remembered the compressor sounding from my time hearing Eric Sarafin's (Mixerman) GL384. It had the same warm sound, but still had the full spectrum of highs, mids, and lows.

Most importantly, it didn't have a "Small" sound when pushed. Many compressors will get small when pushed, and it means it is an unforgiving unit. However, the SA-4000 didn't sound that way to me, and overall a very musical compressor.

My standard settings for stereo bus compression are a slow attack at 30ms, a fast release at .1 or the auto release, a ratio of 2 to 1 OR 4 to 1, and gain reduction of around 2 to 4 dB. This gives the mix a great sound that is stronger than the original uncompressed sound, but still allows the original character to come through.

Nick really enjoys using the Stam Audio SA-4000 with a more aggressive compression setting at over 4 dB of compression. Many times he commented that "This was a good sound" when the needle was at around 8dB of reduction. There is no wrong way to use the compressor. I think that because the SA4000 is a forgiving and very musicial compressor, that you can have that flexibility.

For more go to: http://www.creativesoundlab.tv